Avast keeps detecting AutoKMS on boot, even after excluding it.

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have Avast Premium Security on my PC, and on boot it keeps detecting AutoKMS as a virus in C:\Windows\AutoKMS, even after adding this folder to the exclusion list.

Something else I noticed, Avast doesn’t add the detected “virus” to the Virus Chest.

Anyone else faced this issue?

2

That isn’t strange considering HackTool.AutoKMS is/can be used to hack windows.

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/detections/hacktool-autokms/

HackTool.AutoKMS is Malwarebytes’ generic detection name for hacktools that are intended to enable the illegal use of Microsoft products like Windows and Office.

There are many other such hits on a search for AutoKMS:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/help/4026234/automated-hacktoolwin32autokms
https://community.norton.com/en/forums/autokmsexe-dangerous

3

I obviously know what AutoKMS is and what it’s capable of, my question is why it keeps to detect it if I added it to the exclusion list?

4

You may be excluding the file, but that doesn’t exclude its actions.

If you are using this tool to circumvent product licenses, you can’t expect any assistance on the official Avast support forum.