Author Topic: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses  (Read 7320 times)

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yosecchi1098

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Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« on: October 27, 2013, 12:14:30 AM »
I have the game Petz 5, (I know, not a lot of people have it anymore...), and for some reason, I've had 6 important files go in the virus chest. After I took the files out of the virus chest, I turned avast! off and scanned them, and it said no threat found. That's what I don't understand. Also, anything that's named "SETUP.EXE" gets detected as a virus, so whenever I'm installing something, I always have to turn avast! off in order to do it.
And btw the virus that keeps getting detected is Win32/Evo-gen (Susp)
None of the files are suspicious. I don't know why it keeps telling me this.

A little bit of help would be appreciated :-)

~yosecchi1098

Offline Eddy

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2013, 12:17:48 AM »
Quote
anything that's named "SETUP.EXE" gets detected as a virus
That is a strong indication that your system is likely infected.
Please follow these instructions: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0

yosecchi1098

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2013, 11:15:18 PM »
Hi,

I really don't think that my system is infected. If it was, I would notice - for example, my computer probably wouldn't even start.

I'm not being told that the files are "infected", per se, they keep being classified as "suspicious". Suspicious doesn't mean evil. They also keep getting detected as Win32/Evo-gen. Turning avast! off and scanning the file always fixes the problem for some reason. :/ And about SETUP.EXE files getting detected as suspicious, (sorry, I meant to say suspicious and not virus), setup will still run when I turn avast off.
Also, I was trying to run a PowerPoint presentation from a CD, and while it works on other computers, it told me that it wasn't opening because my antivirus was keeping me from opening the file. And yes, I had to turn off avast!, and scan the file. It worked after that. Lastly, there's a screensaver that I made that keeps getting detected as Win32/Evo-gen and even if I turn off avast!, scan the file, and turn it back on, it keeps getting moved back to the virus chest. I've been trying to no avail. The screensaver will work on other computers though. And on mine, it will only operate if avast! is off. I'm guessing that there's something seriously wrong with avast! and not my computer. This wasn't happening before.

I'm sorry to say that you might be wrong about my computer being infected. :/

~yosecchi1098

Offline Cast

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2013, 11:28:51 PM »
Have you ran a full scan with avast or a secondary scanner to even verify if thats the case?


Offline Pondus

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2013, 11:30:19 PM »
Quote
If it was, I would notice - for example, my computer probably wouldn't even start. 
Not correct...
todays malware want your computer to work so it can do what it was designed to do undetected and silently in the background
Unless you have a Trojan Ransom the will give you a ransom popup   ;)

Offline Pondus

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2013, 11:32:11 PM »
Upload and test suspicious file (s) at www.virustotal.com / www.metascan-online.com / www.jotti.org

pidao

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2013, 11:48:44 PM »
Are you familiar with Eicar? It's a test file designed to set off antiviruses. Basically, if your antivirus detects this (Avast will), then in theory it means your antivirus should not have been tampered with. If you have to scan it manually, then chances are Avast was tampered with.

So try downloading the zip file:

http://www.eicar.org/85-0-Download.html


Also, did you try running a scan in the boot sector? Perhaps there is a rootkit setting off during the boot? So schedule one of those too.

« Last Edit: November 16, 2013, 11:53:14 PM by pidao »

olddog

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2013, 12:02:30 AM »
Are you familiar with Eicar? It's a test file designed to set off antiviruses. Basically, if your antivirus detects this (Avast will), then in theory it means your antivirus should not have been tampered with.

Eicar just provides a simple test. All that can be inferred from it is that if your antivirus system doesn't detect it in any of the formats it offers, then it isn't offering as much protection as it should. The fact that it does detect Eicar doesn't mean the antivirus system is fully working as it should be, nor does it guarantee that it will detect a more advanced virus or malware.


pidao

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2013, 12:39:54 AM »
True, but Eicar is still the first line of defence nonetheless. If you are having problems with your AV not reading it, then you're in trouble somehow. And in theory, if a hacker disables your antivirus, then your AV would not detect Eicar test file.

Offline Eddy

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2013, 11:52:37 AM »
First line of defence is the userm not any hardware or software.

RF

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2013, 11:21:15 PM »
I'm a longtime user of Avast (currently using 8.0.1489 on Win7-32) and I'm having the same problem as the original poster. It only started recently. It blocked the file that housecall places in TEMP and identifies it as infected with Win32/Evo-gen. It's flagging an executable "find" utility files in Powerdesk 4, and a couple of pdfs in my documents file. When I restore a file or order Avast to bypass the folder, and then scan it with avast, it says it's clean.

Now I have to actually put my security at risk by having the scan bypass the entire folder.

Housecall picked up nothing on a complete scan. This is an avast problem. These are false positives

yosecchi1098

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Re: Lots of innocent files are being detected as viruses
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2013, 12:12:08 AM »
I'm having the same problem as the original poster. This is an avast problem. These are false positives
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is having this problem. All I know is that if I were really infected, then I probably would have said that there would be an obvious sign of infection, such as my searches on Google being redirected, or something else obvious.

Now I wonder what to do now... :/