The flagged file is a URL in Internet Explorer for a page on the SpyBot website.
This is the path:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites\Computing - Security\SpyBot - Search & Destroy.url
I can zip & attach the file if desired.
While it would be simpler to just delete the file from IE Favorites except that the file also exists in several dozen past backups on an external hard drive which Avast also scans.
I asked the Avast program to sequester (quarantine) the several dozen copies of the file but Avast stopped responding when it attempted this.
It sounds as if it would be easier to have it not be flagged by Avast.
What is the actual URL as the path you showed is a local file ?
Change the HTTP of the URL to hXXp to break the link and avoid accidental exposure to a suspect site.
Don’t attach suspect files to a forum (this one or otherwise) as the last thing you want is other avast users having the topic blocked, because of an alert on the attachment, kind of defeats the object. Anyway only .txt and .log files are allowed to be attached; trying to change the file type to be able to upload/attach will generally corrupt the file uploaded.
If this is actually a file and not a URL, then you could also check the offending/suspect file at: VirusTotal - Multi engine on-line virus scanner and report the findings here, post the URL in the Address bar of the VT results page. You can’t do this with the file securely in the chest, you need to extract it to a temporary (not original) location first, see below.
Create a folder called Suspect in the [b]C:[/b] drive. Now exclude that folder in the File System Shield, Expert Settings, Exclusions, Add, type (or copy and paste) C:\Suspect*
That will stop the File System Shield scanning any file you put in that folder.
DavidR: The path is a local file because it is an Internet Explorer “Favorite”.
I can do better than Change the HTTP of the URL to hXXp; I can simply delete the file/Favorite. I don’t really need it.
The problem with deleting the Favorite in IE is that it still exists in dozens of Acronis backups and I am not sure how to easily remove them manually. Avast flags each of the backups so the list is very long.
Next, I can’t test the file on virus Total because the file seems to have disappeared. Perhaps Avast removed it this morning before it froze.
Next step is to see what happens after tonight’s scan.
I’ll let you know.
Pondus: I have not been on the SpyBot website in ages.
I cannot remember if Avast gave it a malware name.
Well deleting the file doesn’t allow for it to be investigated further.
That is the point of the VT scan with 43 different scanners, and if it is a false positive, only avast detecting it then it can be sent to avast for analysis and correction.
Avast doesn’t go hunting other copies of a file that it alerts on, it only deals with the individual file in that location (it would alert on each individual instance). The default action is send to chest unless you changed that, so you could check there and see if they are all there.
There is a chance others submitted the file to avast for analysis and the virus signature corrected.
You can use the Restore function (right click on the file inside the chest) to send it back to the original location. Confirm it is in that location and you can delete the copy that remains in the chest (just in case the restore failed).