I read in the thread Avast Pro and Microsoft Publisher that the problem may lie with Avast, but since my experience is a little different than described in that thread, and I’m using Avast Free, I started a new thread…
I’ve been using Avast Free Antivirus for two to three years. I’ve been using Microsoft Publisher 98 for a little over ten years. These two programs are currently on my laptop. I installed Pub98 on this laptop immediately after purchase in December 2006 - so Pub98 was on the laptop before I installed Avast.
Recently (within the past month or so), Avast has been throwing up a box advising me that it is analyzing a suspicious program, and identifies the file as MSPUB.EXE. But there’s a twist - the only time this warning pops up is if I:
1. Double-click a file that’s been created in Pub98 from where ever it’s saved on the computer, or…
2. Click on a file that’s been created in Pub98 from Start>Documents>*.pub
If I go to Start>Programs>MS Publisher to simply open the program, it opens fine - without incident, without the Avast “suspicious program” warning.
If I click on the “Change Settings” link in the warning before analyzation has completed, the “AutoSandbox” properties box opens. In that box, MSPUB.EXE is not only listed as a file that will be excluded from automatic sandboxing, it is listed multiple times, along with three games - one of which is listed twice.
I deleted all instances of MSPUB.EXE from the list of excluded files, and attempted to launch a Publisher file from Start>Documents> and still the warning came up. I went into the sandbox and added:
1. mspub.exe
2. *.pub
3. C:\Program Files.…\mspub.exe
There has been no change. Still, if I try to open ANY file created in Pub98 (new or old file), the warning pops up. Only if I open the actual program does the warning not come up. I realize I can avoid the warning by simply opening the program and then open the file I want from within the program…but it sure is easier to just go to Start>Documents>*.pub if the file is available there.
Windows XP Home, SP2
Virus Definitions Vs: 120719-2 (at time of this post)
Program Vs: 7.0.1456 (at time of this post)
Exp Date: 1.19.2013
Programs settings are password protected
I am the sole user of this computer
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks