Hi. I have just started to use Avast Home. I’m using version 4.8.1335 on WinXP Pro SP2. In my first scan (two days ago), Avast claimed to find a trojan (Win32:Trojan-gen {Other}. The odd thing is that it was found in the setup file for an old version of HyperSnap, a screen-capture program I have used in its many versions for quite a few years. It is a very reliable program from a very reliable source. Also, the file that was supposedly infected has been on my computer for quite a long time, and no scans with any other anti-virus or anti-malware programs ever found it problematic. After Avast flagged it, I scanned it with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and with SpyBot, and neither of them found a problem. I thus think it’s likely to be a false positive. However, I have no idea how to report this to Avast. I think at one point, perhaps when I was moving the file to the Chest, there was something I could click on for reporting a false positive. I clicked on it, but nothing happened.
I’ve looked in the Avast Help file for information about false positives, but I found nothing about how to report them. I’d like to know what to do. Thanks in advance for your help.
Please could you upload the file to www.virustotal.com to confirm if it is a false positive and report back with the link to the results?
You could also send the file in a password protected archive to virus(at)avast(dot)com with ‘potential false positive’ in the subject line and the password in the email body.
or
You could add the file to the user files of the virus chest and send it from there:
Right click avast icon in taskbar -->click start avast antivirus -->right click scanner background → click virus chest → navigate to user files → click add files →
right click file -->email to alwil software.
NOTE:
The file will actually be uploaded when the next update is performed (you can do a manual update to get it sent)
Also you really should update to SP3 as it contains several security fixes and has been available for a while now.
Thanks very much, Scott, for your prompt and very helpful response. I think that when I clicked on Report False Positive earlier, I may have been told that it would be uploaded when the next update is performed, but there have been two updates since then (one I did manually today), and I’ve received no indication that the file was uploaded. Does Avast not bother to confirm that it has indeed updated the fie, or is there a setting I should have checked but didn’t, or a place I should have looked for notification? I’m still trying to find my way around in Avast, and I’d appreciate any help I can get.
Thanks very much, DavidR. I guess perhaps I wasn’t paying attention, because I didn’t see that image. Assuming that it did appear and the file was uploaded, when should I expect to hear back from Avast about whether or not they agree that it’s a false positive?
You will have to keep the file in the chest and scan it periodically to see if the detection has been corrected (assuming it is a FP)
Also the alwil team sometimes will post in the topic to let you know
OK, thanks, Scott, for another quick and helpful response! I’m planning to save your earlier instructions (the ways to report a suspected FP) in case I need it again. I’m a little surprised that the Avast Help file said nothing about this.
It is in the help file (in ‘virus chest’–>‘Working with the chest files’) but it is not as detailed and doesn’t have the email option
I suppose it could do with updating, since it is not actually sent by email…
Thanks very much yet again, Scott. Frankly, a newbie like myself wouldn’t think to look for information about false positives in “virus chest”. For a Help file to be helpful, users need to be able to find the information. Information like the message you wrote earlier should have been in the Help file AND it should have been findable if someone searched under “false positives.” Oh well…
You’re using Windows SP2 that has several security vulnerablilities and Windows SP3 has been available for a year that has perfomance enhancements and several Critical Security Updates so in IE go to Tools then Windows Update then download and install all updates.
Go to Control Center then Security Center then set it to Automatic Updates (Recommended) or at least Notify me about updates but do not download nor install them.
