Soda PDF

Viruses and worms
1

Hi. I use Soda PDF to create documents or at least I did until Avast started flagging every single file it uses as being infected. I installed a new version and same issue. I have excepted every single file that has gone into the Avast virus vault. I have whitelisted the main program file. Yet every time I restart the computer or a couple days pass Avast flags all the files again. How do I get Avast to leave the program alone and working?

2

And what does the Avast message say? Screenshot…

3

It says the files are infected with Win64:AdwareSig[Adw]. There are 12 or more files it flags, such as “ui-engine.dll”. If I except one file then it flags the next one until finally Soda won’t open at all.

Edit: added attachment.

4

So a program that comes bundled with some extras … adware/annoying popups

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/1013bb4b47eb6bb1f159dd1d31023485c2273f0af412ec1e763675feac22dbcb/detection

5

Yes, it has popup advertising for new versions of itself, sales, etc. Products from the company Corel also have the same behaviour. It’s not unexpected or even unwanted.

I still expect to be able to exclude it for more than a short time.

6

I’m having this same issue. If Avast is forcefully deleting everything that spams its users about the manufacturer’s other products, then… uhh… shouldn’t Avast delete itself? It’s constantly harassing me to buy more Avast-branded software to fix imaginary problems that are separate from viruses and malware!

This false positive is incredibly frustrating, as it seems to happen for only a few SodaPDF files at a time. When you create exceptions for them, it just deletes the next files in the directory when you try to use it again.

7

I am having this issue too. Looking forward to hearing a fix.

8

Reported to Avast. Let’s see what they have to say.

9

I was getting the same alerts and let Avast put things in the vault. Today it is flagging SODA.exe. I have the paid version and Avast won’t let it run. I will use a different PDF editor until I here the response from avast. Following.

image of the latest vault items - surprised onenote is in there too.
https://imgbox.com/7KU87IYJ

10

Please attach images, screenshots etc to your post using the “Attachments and other options” link under the text box.
Some on here do not like visiting 3rd party websites to view them.

11

Hi guys,

We considered to detect these files because:

After exit of the app a few processes still runs (soda.exe, updater-ws.exe and ws.exe).

There is an autostart service which start autoupdate process as a permanent (updater-ws.exe) and ws.exe process is also started as a permanent. Unfortunately in settings is not an option to disable this autoupdate feature.

Regards
Lukas

12

So where does that leave us who paid for the Soda software and want to use it? Avast was fine with it before…

I will try to insert my image that I previously used a hyperlink so you do not have to leave this site.

13

I am having the same problem with the November avast version. I used Soda PDF since 2019 with no issues until then. I submitted a “support package” to document akk the work I did to “allow”, “except”, and “restore”. But since this new version of avast considers Soda PDF “adware” it blocks it.

AS others have indicated, the Soda PDF program has ads, just as many as avast, and just as many as Adobe.

But avast does not block Adobe as “adware”…

14

→ https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/228/

15

You can also refer to the reply already posted by Avast in this thread.

16

I am having same problem. Please remove this problem Avast.

17

You have 2 choices.

  1. make an exception for Soda PDF
  2. find another product that isn’t considered dangerous.
18

I have been going back and forth with Soda customer service since July. I have tried to force Avast to allow Soda to load, but no luck. About a week ago Soda (someone named Molly) sent me instructions to disactivate Avast for 30 minutes and they sent a link to a program (that will load without Avast active) that removes Soda completely and another link that was supposed to download and install Soda again. Unfortunately, the second link did not work and I was unable to download the version of Soda PDF I had bought (Soda PDF 8 Pro). I have given up and will probably go ahead and buy Adobe PDF, as I can’t afford to have an inoperative PDF editor and I think that Avast would probably not introduce routines that would make an Adobe product inoperative. Avast has probably done a lot of damage to Soda (or Lulu Software). I suspect there will be a lot of lawsuits soon.

19

Depending on what you want to do with pdf’s, maybe have a look at Xodo as alternative to Adobe.

20

Thanks I will check it out.