Attention Devs: Avast/PunkBuster False Positive

[Stoutlagger]

After 5 years of brilliant service from Avast, I've just experienced my first problem in the form of a very annoying false positive. I've had false positives in the past, which I have been able to resolve by simply adding an exception, however the exceptions don't seem to be working this time.

I play a very popular game called Battlefield 3 (BF3) by Electronic Arts, which uses an anti-cheating program in tandem with BF3, called PunkBuster. PunkBuster is a program that allows "Real-time scanning of memory by PB Client on players' computers searching for known hacks/cheats". I believe this function is conflicting with Avast's simultaneous scanning of my computer, and is labeling it as a virus, much like it would if there were two AV programs installed on the same computer.

PunkBuster, however, is not a virus, nor is it malware. PunkBuster's website is here http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php

Now, as I explained earlier, when I received the false positive warning that the offending programs had been moved to the virus chest (thereby rendering my video game unplayable until I restored the files), I attempted to create some exceptions for PunkBuster, as well as BF3. I did this by going to:

Real-Time Shields > File System Shield > Expert Settings > Exclusions, and adding the following exclusions to the list

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.xtr
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.ex0
C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BF3\pb\PnkBstrA.exe
C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BF3\pb\PnkBstrB.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\*
C:\Program Files (x86)\Battlelog Web Plugins\*

However, even after adding these exclusions the virus warning continued to appear, and kick me out of the game. I called technical support via phone, and was told to disable my shields while playing the game, yet I'm not comfortable doing this as I surf the internet simultaneously on my other monitor.

Please tell me what files you need from me to properly look into this issue and get it resolved.

Thank you,
Stoutlagger

[TheMadCappR]

I am sure this will affect a lot of people. As of today, I too, cannot play Battlefield 3 with Avast running.

[true indian]

send the files to virus@avast.com with the subject:False positives...and wait for next VPS update 

[TheMadCappR]

I did 

[true indian]

I did 

then wait until next streaming updates..or next VPS update 

[TheMadCappR]

I was able to fix mine by excluding the files in the "Real Time Shields - File System Shield - Expert Settings Tab - Exclusions"
These 3 files were added
R W X    C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.exe
R W X    C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.xtr
R W X    C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BF3\pb\PnkBstrB.exe

[Pondus]

have you tried to manually update.....they said a fix was released yesterday

[jhax78]

what is the current defenitions numbers?

[true indian]

See screenshot 

P.S. reverted to version 1426 since beta caused some problems

[Stoutlagger]

See screenshot 

P.S. reverted to version 1426 since beta caused some problems

That's the version I have and it doesn't work with punkbuster on my system

[Hobbee]

This is only a minor issue since there are only a few million BF3 users, many Avsat users, and all my favourite servers were alomst empty this morning... 

I tried excluding all files I could think of for Punkbuster + the ones above, still no result. I agree Avast has been great for me in the past 5 years but I dont understand why you cant exclude en entire software on .exe level ?

*****

BTW, I could not find any tickets at Avast support labelled "Punkbuster", so I registered a problem description...

[thePure1]

These are my exclusions:

*\PnkBstrB.exe
*\PnkBstrB.xtr
*\PnkBstrB.ex0

On my pc PnkBstrA.exe did not get detected as a false positive. Able to play 3+ hours.
Our game servers where a lot more empty too

[DavidR]

See screenshot 

P.S. reverted to version 1426 since beta caused some problems

Haven't got a clue what this has to do with the topic as you haven't mentioned what problem is, the image could mean anything.

Guessing here, out of sync virus definitions displayed ?
If so - Try a repair of avast:
Vista, win7 - Control Panel, Programs & Features, uninstall a program, select 'avast! Anti-Virus,' click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.

You may need to reboot after the repair.

This has in the past resolved this out of sync issue between reported and actual VPS version.