Author Topic: Is Avast mining my pc??  (Read 2986 times)

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Offline gado204

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Is Avast mining my pc??
« on: December 25, 2018, 05:59:57 AM »
So my internet on my pc was a little weird today and after trying anything to fix anything i ran different anti-malware softwares (Avast and Malwarebytes) to see if a malware infected my pc, but when i was doing the Avast scan, Windows Defender detected a threat. That was the CoinHive trojan and I was surprised that virus was in an Avast file as you can see in the pic:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/photo/118213722779932658073/6638787781895039810?authkey=CLv_1vvy-vr63QE

The info is in spanish but i came to this forum because it looks more active and I want to know if that was a false positive or if Avast is indeed mining my pc without my knowledge.

Offline Asyn

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Re: Is Avast mining my pc??
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2018, 09:47:11 AM »
Please attach your screenshot(s), some of us don't follow external links. ;)
W8.1 [x64] - Avast Free AV 23.3.8047.BC [UI.757] - Firefox ESR 102.9 [NS/uBO/PB] - Thunderbird 102.9.1
Avast-Tools: Secure Browser 109.0 - Cleanup 23.1 - SecureLine 5.18 - DriverUpdater 23.1 - CCleaner 6.01
Avast Wissenswertes (Downloads, Anleitungen & Infos): https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=60523.0

Offline DavidR

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Re: Is Avast mining my pc??
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2018, 10:41:15 AM »
I'm surprised that a text file is being pinged by an AV as a CoinHive trojan.

I would also like to know why Windows Defender (WD) detected a threat. 
Also when Avast is installed WD is meant to be disabled by the OS (you don't say which) ?   
Running two active AV at the same time is a recipe for potential conflict/false detection.

On my system my WebShield.txt file is 2KB and it is essentially when the web shield is started and stopped.  Also if the Web Shield makes any detections on the internet a record of that detection is entered in the report WebShield.txt file.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2018, 10:42:49 AM by DavidR »
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.6.6121 (build 24.6.9241.848) UI 1.0.809/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline gado204

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Re: Is Avast mining my pc??
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2018, 05:46:05 PM »
Please attach your screenshot(s), some of us don't follow external links. ;)

It's my first time on this forum so I don't know how to attach screenshots here.

I'm surprised that a text file is being pinged by an AV as a CoinHive trojan.

I would also like to know why Windows Defender (WD) detected a threat. 
Also when Avast is installed WD is meant to be disabled by the OS (you don't say which) ?   
Running two active AV at the same time is a recipe for potential conflict/false detection.

On my system my WebShield.txt file is 2KB and it is essentially when the web shield is started and stopped.  Also if the Web Shield makes any detections on the internet a record of that detection is entered in the report WebShield.txt file.

I'm on Windows 10 and the fact that WD detected a threat surprised me because it should be disabled because of what you said.
Maybe running WD while Avast was running (I don't know how that happened) could be the reason of the detection but I need to be sure.
How can I verify if it was a false detection or if the file got infected?

Offline DavidR

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Re: Is Avast mining my pc??
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2018, 06:25:52 PM »
1.  When you make a reply, just under the text input window, is a clue, Attachments and other options ;)
Just click that to expand it.

2.  Text files by their nature are inert (if it is truly a text file) which would make it pretty pointless to try to infect.   Given this, I really do wonder what the hell WD is scanning it for anyway.

3.  Files can be uploaded to VirusTotal.com for analysis, I just did this with my copy of the WebShield.txt and no detections
WebShield-txt-scan-results-at-VirusTotal.  That however is likely to be different as everyone's copy is likely to be different, based on their browsing habit and the content of the file, if you have had any detections.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.6.6121 (build 24.6.9241.848) UI 1.0.809/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security