Question CompuTrace / LoJack on Dell XPS 15 computer

[sirhawkeye64]

So I'm using ESET Smart Security (latest version) and my Dell XPS 15 (Model 9560) has the latest firmware/BIOS installed. Recently upon doing a full system scan, it complains that it found Potential malware (CompuTrace) in the EFI partition. Now, I'm aware of CompuTrace/LoJack but was wondering how much of a concern this is. When I visit ESET's site they say to contact the vendor (Dell) about removal. I have since then disabled Computrace in the BIOS (it must have been added at some point as this hasn't come up before in previous scans, but the last full scan I did was probably a few months ago--most are quick scans, which doesn't necessarily scan the EFI partition (I'm running Windows 10 by the way).

Thoughts on this? Is Computrace a risk or more of a "false positive". I think the reason ESET treats it as critical is because it's in the EFI/boot partition and can't or won't remove it because it will damage the Windows installation.

I've read that as much as 80% of the laptops (and some computers) out there have Computrace on them. I know that HP uses it, and I guess it looks like Dell is also putting this on their laptops.

 

[Ralston18]

False positive would be my thought.

FYI:

https://www.dell.com/support/articl...olute-module-in-newest-bios-revisions?lang=en

Some interim change that ESET does not (yet?) recognize.

 

[sirhawkeye64]

Thanks. Yeah I saw that when I started googling around. It appears that many mfr's use CompuTrace (I have an HP desktop that uses it too). No other AV's pick it up so yeah it's probably a false positive, and maybe got activated when I last updated the BIOS. I did set it to Disable now (hopefully it is in fact disabled).
Yeah I wish that ESET Would update the software so that it doesn't see this as a threat.

I suppose I could turn off detection of PUAs (which is how it finds it in the EFI partition--or I could just skip the scanning of the EFI partition too but I still think it's good to scan it periodically so I'll probably just turn off PUA detection).

 

[sirhawkeye64]

Although I don't fully agree with the including of this on laptops without making it known to the average buyer, it does appear that ESET just sees it as a Potentially Unsafe program, probably because when active, it can send usage data to another system. But it doesn't detect it as a virus, which is good. So by disabling the check for unsafe programs, it doesn't complain. Hopefully in a future release, ESET can make an exception for this.