Where to find files erroneously marked as a false positive

system · 2017-06-03T14:54:31.000Z

Hi all. Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn’t get thru all the links in my search.

I recently had a file reported as suspicious by my PC’s Avast Free Antivirus and normally, I trust the antivirus but I was sure this was a false positive. So I allowed the file to proceed and added an exception/exclusion for it. That forever turned out to be a wrong move as my browsers have now been hijacked and they sometimes re-direct me to other web pages when I click my mouse, like what typical PUPs/malwares etc would do. It’s frustrating. I can probably solve this by completely un-installing my browsers and re-installing them, but I’m thinking with that exception/exclusion in place, the same thing would happen with the new installations.

So the question is, where do I find this exclusion instruction in Avast and remove it so that Avast would stop the file from running again? Sorry if I sound ignorant. I know a bit more about IT stuff than the regular folks but nowhere near those of you who talk about dll, scripts, Java etc.

Thanks for any help.

Pondus · 2017-06-03T14:59:25.000Z

FAQ
https://support.avast.com/support/home

Avast Antivirus: Excluding certain files or websites from scanning
https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB168#artTitle

Viruses and worms (see sticky posts at top)
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=4.0

How to report
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=14433.msg1289438#msg1289438

Asyn · 2017-06-03T15:01:54.000Z

Check where you added the exclusion(s) and remove it/them.
→ https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB168#artTitle (Excluding files/websites)

mchain · 2017-06-03T15:05:20.000Z

Hi manutd1972,

Welcome to the forums.

Really sorry this happened to you. Point of having an antivirus running is to protect you when the threat happens, and as you found out, avast tried to do so.

Real-time protection trumps manual scanning every time as when the malware gets in running a manual scan will not completely remove a threat once it gets in. Too many things get hidden and too many variables are at play.

So, the best thing to do is to follow instructions here, and attach the logs requested: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=194892.0

Please read Pondus’ reply and consider whether you need the services of a certified malware expert.

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