I got caught up in the False Postive mess the other night.

I was on the computer when the False Positives problem came up the other night. Needless to say, I, like many others, was going nuts putting the false “Trojan Viruses” in the chest. As I was running a scan, I started getting messages saying the disc was full (I’m assuming it meant the “chest”)……….at that point my only option was to delete the items in question so the scan would continue. I had about 55 virus warnings and have no idea how many files I deleted after that! Obviously, I’m in a lot of trouble. I found the “fix”, but it didn’t fix all my problems. I’m no computer whiz, and don’t have the money to pay someone to get this mess straightened out. At this point, I think I have everything corrected, except one item. I cannot get my computer to remember user names and passwords for the Internet sites I frequent. I have to log in every time, even to my e-mail. I already know how to correct that in the Options/Security area……………only that doesn’t correct it. I’ve un-installed and re-installed XP Pro. I’ve done a systems restore.
I use AVAST Home Addition, 4.8. VPS is file version: 091204-0. I use Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2. I’ve got a Pentium II processor, with 1000GB RAM. I connect through AT&T DSL. My e-mail is through Yahoomail.com. In addition to AVAST, I use Malwarebytes, Spybot and Spyware Blaster.

Can anyone help me? I don’t have the computer knowledge or the money to correct this.

There are/were other options other than delete (that doesn’t help you now), like Move/Rename, this doesn’t place them in the chest, but in the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\moved folder and appends .vir to the file name.

I honestly can’t understand how this would have effected the ability for your browser to remember user names and passwords. You don’t say what browser you are using, normally when you enter a password IE pipes up do you want to save it, etc. Have you tried the help file for your browser, type passwords (or auto complete) into the search function and see what that brings.

See image that is what is in the search I did in IE7, this may differ for whatever version or different browser.

I got hammered by this as well. Ended up with a dozen or so win32-ZBOT/Delf false positives.

Sadly, I had deleted a couple files that couldn’t be moved.

What I did to fix all this BS was jump back to the restore point on 11/30. Afterwards, I updated the fix Avast! put out to address the false positive mess. Everything is working just fine and back to normal.

The whole mess did put a fire under my butt to finally do a comprehensive back-up LOL

So, if your systems can do it, I would suggest going to the restore point on 11/30 or 12/1 if possible. That should put everything back the way it was before you started moving things. Then do the Avast!@ update and run a scan just to be safe.

Good luck :slight_smile:

It’s been said before (and often by me). There is no sweeter outcome after a disaster like this than to have a recent backup image created by Acronis True Image, Paragon or some other imaging software. I realize that the horse is out of the barn now but prepare for next time…and there’s always a next time when it comes to computer software.

Well you talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time …that was ME! I was in process of cloning my PC’s HDD onto an external HDD when the false positive hit. It indicated my clone program was the culprit which I subsequently deleted the entire program. But it also told me that the virus was in memory and to immediately do a boot scan which I did. During the Avast boot scan it started deleting files in several important programs and the ones that it asked if I wanted to delete,move,repair,etc … NONE OF THOSE OPTIONS WORKED! The problem I now have is that some of the deleted program files are not in the Avast Chest OR in the recycle bin! So I have been carefully uninstalling the affected programs and reinstalling them one by one. The sad part is that even my cloned backup on my external HDD is corrupted :frowning: If my efforts do not solve these problems I guess my only option is to do a System Restore.
I have highly praised Avast on the several message boards I am a member of … but now, I don’t know anymore. This false positive should have never happened! Avast quality control personnel really let us users down. :cry:
Any comments Avast ?

Sincerely,

Richard W

I use Firefox as my browser, if that would help anyone help me. If I use I.E. everything works fine. ??? ??? ??? It has something to do with Firefox, obviously…I just don’t know what.

I restored my computer to the only date it will allow me to go to…which was the morning after!!! Do they have a “morning after” pill for that? ;D I know very little about computers, but I sure don’t understand why my computer won’t let me restore to a date prior to AVAST’s foul-up! There are highlighted restore dates. Doesn’t make sense to me.

We all had this problem. When I woke up early morning and saw these infections, I thought it was 2012 ;D

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=51783.msg438214#msg438214

The explanation and apology are both nice…but they don’t fix my seemingly un-fixable problem! :cry:

Surely there is someone on this forum who understands and knows how to remedy my problem. ???

How about removing and re-installing firefox? Maybe something was deleted or is now corrupt… a re-install should fix that.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I’ve un-installed and re-installed, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Windows XP, and have done system restore. Nothing has helped.

Does this help in anyway? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Username+and+password+not+remembered

Possibly a screwed up profile? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles

No, but thanks for the suggestions.

how about using a third-party password manager for a work-around?

I hate having my browsers remember passwords for me anyway. If I’m ever away from my computer, I wouldn’t remember them. So, I type them in manually every time, and it keeps them in my memory. I know that doesn’t help your problem, I’m just saying.

I’m so computer illiterate I don’t even know what you mean by a third party password manager. :-[

If you break down what is said, ‘third party’ something other than your browser, to ‘manage’ your ‘passwords.’ So it does the same as if you want your browser to remember and enter your user name and password when you arrive at the logon page.

They invariably offer other functions and a greater level of security of those user names and passwords, not to mention they are independent of your browser. So it can be used with multiple browsers and you only have to have one list not many over different browsers.

Thanks, David. I Googled it and found that out. But I appreciate your help. I’d never heard of such a thing before.

But that just bypasses my problem. I may end up doing that, but I’d sure like to correct the changes made to my computer because of AVAST’s screwup!!! It frustrates me because there’s probably some little “box” somewhere that needs a check mark in it to correct this whole mess.

It may be bypassing the problem, but it is a problem I will never suffer with as I simply don’t trust browsers to keep user names and passwords secure.

If I was going to go down this route then I would use a 3rd party password manager which has strong encryption and a master password that you have to enter (once) before it will allow user names and passwords to be automatically entered.

As for trying to deal with the problem (which I don’t believe is related to the FP issue), I would say you are either going to have to set the browser back to defaults, or as has been mentioned create a new profile, but possibly the quickest option would be to reinstall firefox and start from square one.

For the future, I would suggest that you start looking at hard drive/partition imaging software so you can recover from problems. I had a problem with firefox where I lost all my tweaks and settings and it was going to be a nightmare to resolve and get my add-ons, etc.

This would have taken considerable time and effort, all I did was restore my last weekly image back-up, job don in under 20 minutes. Compare this to all the trouble and time taken in this topic, not to mention your FP problem, no contest.

Wow, lot’s to digest here, David. I’ve un-installed and re-installed Firefox 3 times now. Don’t know how to set things back to defaults though. I’ll try and figure that out. And as far as hard drive/partition imaging software…well, I know nothing of such things, so I’ll have to Google that also. Lot’s of stuff here. Thanks for your help.