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Consumer Products => Avast Mac Security => Topic started by: jrethorst on July 03, 2019, 10:40:32 PM

Title: [SOLVED] Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 03, 2019, 10:40:32 PM
I have OS 10.6.8 on a 2009 iMac, running Avast antivirus version 12.9 (latest that will run on 10.6, apparently). All good until a few weeks ago, when Avast started posting warnings about malware infections from all kinds of websites, postings that could not be accurate. A full system scan reported all clear. Anyone else seeing all these alleged web infections?

Thanks,
John R.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: ondrej.kolacek on July 04, 2019, 06:36:29 PM
Hello,

when do the web infections occur? Is it when you start a browser or when you type url of the web page? I know that browsers love to load irrelevant webpages in these cases; assuming you have once browsed to these. Of course that assumes that the pages are indeed infected.

I need at least some of the urls that are detected as infected for our virus lab guys to verify whether something happened with the old vps.

Kind regards,
Ondrej Kolacek
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 06, 2019, 02:47:04 AM
The infection warnings post when I type the address and press return, that is, when the site loads.

It's exceedingly curious that I'm getting much less today than when I posted this (or at any time in the past few weeks), but a couple of sites causing warnings today are:

hxtps://www.thenation.com/
hxtps://www.thisclassicalguitar.com/

Thank you,
John
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 06, 2019, 02:54:17 AM
This site just posted about six warnings:

hxtp://classicalguitarforum.com/

Thank you,
John
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: DavidR on July 06, 2019, 03:33:22 AM
Please break links to suspect sites so they aren't active to avoid accidental exposure.

e.g.
thenation.com/
thisclassicalguitar.com/
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 06, 2019, 06:06:27 PM
Okay.

Two more today (again, this is much less than there has been):

hxtps://cdn.nybooks.com
hxtps://front.moveon.org

John R.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: DavidR on July 06, 2019, 07:34:19 PM
Once again, please break links to suspect sites to avoid accidental exposure.

Not only that this could lead to promotion of those sites gained from being listed in this forum, or is that your intention.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 06, 2019, 07:42:17 PM
> Not only that this could lead to promotion of those sites gained from being listed in this forum, or is that your intention.

No, it's not. I was asked to post sites where this happens.

John R.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: DavidR on July 06, 2019, 07:55:19 PM
The example that I gave i Reply #4 (and here), that is still showing/reporting the site location but those aren't clickable (from this forum), e.g. active.

cdn.nybooks.com
front.moveon.org
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: David1929 on July 07, 2019, 05:38:26 PM
Hi,

we can't really make out what the problem is. The URLs all seem to be harmless enough.

It would probably help if you could send us screenshots of the Avast detections when they occur.

D.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 08, 2019, 10:12:40 PM
Two screen shots attached.

Thank you,
John
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 08, 2019, 11:02:31 PM
Screen shot from one more site:

Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: Vladimirz on July 09, 2019, 03:59:56 PM
Hi, please check update and try if problem persists. And also send us screenshot of  "About Avast" dialog from main menu due to version of AVST and virus database. Thanks.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 09, 2019, 07:58:34 PM
The program has updated its virus definitions automatically every day. I don't see another command to update. Screenshot of About box attached.
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: darmaggi on July 12, 2019, 05:22:26 PM
Hi,
For what it's worth, I'm experiencing the exact same issue, and with exactly the same specifics as posted by: jrethorst.
I'm also on a Macbook, but late 2007, and still running 10.6.8, and my Avast version is 12.9.
This issue started for me a few weeks ago as well.
All of a sudden I started getting loads of what must be false alerts on random, and what must be safe websites, many that I've visited before, and the site types run the gamut, even including government websites.
I can't think of anything that I might have changed on my end that would cause the problem.
It seems the age of my computer and the age of my OS are certainly causing more problems than ever as they age out and are no longer supported or sent security updates.
This problem also ends up effecting my search engines since I can't update them any more because of the age of my OS.
I don't know why, but it seems as though Avast is acting sort of like an ad-blocker, or at least the infection alerts in some sense may be triggered by something as "benign" as an ad, no matter how intrusive and annoying they personally may be.
It's really a nuisance having to have to click on all these false alerts on so many websites to remove them, although I haven't disabled Avast yet as I assume/hope it is still working properly to detect any actual infections, malware, etc..
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: Vladimirz on July 12, 2019, 08:51:04 PM
Hi, this problem will be solved in some of next updates. Support for old versions (12.6 is from 2017!) is not so easy...
ZV
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: Vladimirz on July 16, 2019, 03:21:30 PM
Hi,

please update and check if you have Virus definition version 190715-04 - if yes, problem is probably solved. Thanks for your patience.

ZV
Title: Re: Suddenly, _lots_ of infection warnings
Post by: jrethorst on July 16, 2019, 05:46:04 PM
Hi,

I'm running program version 12.9 with virus definition version 190715-04 -- and the problem is now solved!

Continuing support for older program versions that are needed for older OS versions is not easy, I know, but there are a lot of users who run older OS versions since they have older hardware or software that is not compatible with newer releases. But some of these users count among the more productive members of the community, and appreciate the support.

All Avast users, regardless of hardware and software, appreciate _very much_ your fine program. Malware is an enormous threat, at all levels from the personal to the national, and your work helps a lot of people. THANK YOU.

Best regards,
John Rethorst