r/antivirus • u/goretsky • Feb 22 '24
Hello,
Welcome to r/antivirus's new top-level Announcements post. Since Reddit has a limit of two (2) stickied announcements per subreddit, this will be a way to provide links to important information like announcements about new rules and moderators, activities in the subreddit, and so forth. If you are new to r/antivirus, please take a quick look at them. You can even take a look if you are not new here.
| DISCUSSION | DATE POSTED | DATE LAST REVISED |
|---|---|---|
| [MOD POST] New rules, staying safe, and an update from your Mod Team | 2025-JUN-03 | - |
| [MOD POST] We're back in business! and an update on automod rules | 2024-MAR-11 | - |
| News & Updates from your r/Antivirus Mod Team, Q1 2024 Edition | 2024-MAR-04 | - |
| Updates & News from the r/Antivirus Mod Team, Autumn 2023 Edition | 2023-OCT-04 | - |
| Notes from your Moderators (Summer Edition) | 2022-JUL-08 | - |
| Quick Note from the mod team about spam | 2021-JUN-01 | - |
| To the people asking for opinions on a specific file | 2020-JUL-05 | 2020-JUL-05 |
Additionally, the r/antivirus subreddit operates a bit differently than other subreddits you might be familiar with and normally use. Here are some tips and tools to help you use it.
The subreddit has a wiki that is regularly updated with answers to commonly-asked questions. Check it out. The answer to your question may already be in there.
Asking a question about a report on a file or website from a service like Hybrid Analysis, MetaDefender, Triage, or VirusTotal? You must include the actual link to it and not just a screenshot, or your post will be removed.
Be kind to each other and be professional in your conduct here. Personal attacks will not be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately.
Do not ask for copies of hacking tools, malware, or suspicious files. If someone sends you a chat request or private message asking for a file or offering assistance based on what you posted here, report them to Reddit and notify the mods.
Do not post direct links to malicious, suspect, or potentially unsafe files or web sites.
Follow Reddiquette. This means correctly upvoting and downvoting posts, and reporting posts with dangerous or unsafe advice to the mods.
If you work for a vendor of security products, services, or in a related field, you must identify yourself as such, either in the post or with flair. Also, you may not steer conversations to your products or services, only respond to posts about them to clarify or defend.
No low-effort, off-topic, spam, or meme posts. This includes AI/ChatGPT/LLM-generated text, questions about password manager or VPNs, requests for assistance with non-security related software like autoclickers or MP3 downloaders, and so forth.
No requests for assistance with pirated software or media.
Posts may be removed and threads closed at any time based on the moderators' discretion
The complete list of rules for the subreddit can be found here. Read them before posting.
Questions, comments, feedback on this post? Just reply here. Thank you.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
(on behalf of the r/antivirus mod team)
r/antivirus • u/goretsky • Jun 04 '25
[UPDATE #1 (20250604-0916 GMT): Made some small updates to grammar for readability. ^AG]
Hello,
It has been about a year since our last Mod Post, so we wanted to give you an update on things, plus provide a dedicated message thread for discussing the state of the r/antivirus subreddit and to answer any questions that you might have.
We will begin with the toughest subject first, that of politics in the subreddit:
r/antivirus is a technology-focused subreddit, with the interest being in helping people protect their computers from malicious software, securing them after a security incident, and so forth.
In June 2024, the US Government enacted a ban on Kaspersky Lab's software, taking effect in October of that year. This has generated a lot of discussion not just in this subreddit, but across Reddit and numerous social media platforms as well.
The moderation team has tried to keep the political discussions about this out of this subreddit and to remain neutral, allowing Kaspersky Lab's customers to ask and answer each other questions, provide assistance to each other, and generally have a way to share information, tips and tricks with each other.
However, we do have to draw a line when these turn into political discussions, though:
Requests for how to circumvent bans, petitions to governments, etc., are clearly outside the scope of what this subreddit is for and will be removed.
Moderating the subreddit is an all-volunteer job, and we sometimes miss things. If you come across any political messages we may have missed, use the subreddit's report function to notify us.
We are doing our best to keep this a place where people can get help with whatever security software they prefer, including Kaspersky Lab's software. However, we cannot allow discussions to devolve into arguments over politics, which are never going to provide any kind of satisfactory answer to the parties involved.
If the political discussions continue, the moderation team will have to look into ways to prevent them, even if it means doing things which we would prefer not to do.
The rules of the r/antivirus subreddit have been updated:
Rule #7, which previously covered media download tools, has been updated to cover additional types of software.
To begin with, a more general prohibition to cover autoclickers (previously covered under Rule #8) and some other types of tools like aimbots and cheats. These types of tools often come from random sources and often require expert analysis to determine if they are safe. It can be difficult to determine if they are malicious figuring that out requires examining not just the tool, but whatever program it is attempting to modify, and what the intent is behind that modification.
Just because something was recommended in a Discord server with hundreds of members, a YouTube video with tens of thousands of views, or is seeded by several hundreds peers does not mean that it is safe to use: These are all inherently unsafe sources, and criminals will often exploit the belief that these are trusted sources to trick people into downloading and running malicious programs like information stealers and remote access trojans.
Rule #8 has been amended to remove autoclickers (etc.) since that is now covered under Rule #7.
Two new rules have been added:
Rule #9 covers bypassing core security features. Questions about how to disable security software, operating system updates, bypass security features and so forth are not allowed.
Rule #10 covers requesting assistance with obsolete software and hardware. This means discussions about how to secure computers running Windows XP, Windows 7, etc. are not allowed. There is no reason that devices running these obsolete operating systems should be connected to the internet and doing so exposes everyone to risk. Note that questions involving Windows 10 will continue to be allowed until at least October 2028, when paid-for Extended Security Updates for it end.
The list of rules is not meant to be exhaustive in scope. It provides a general listing of common rules that are more specific to and more frequently required by the r/antivirus subreddit when needed beyond Reddit's general rules and guidelines.
Moderators can and will remove posts and ban redditors, either temporarily or permanently, who are disruptive to the subreddit entirely at their discretion and are not subject to any discussion. If a moderator chooses to discuss a rule violation with you, it is entirely as a courtesy on their part.
If you have had a post removed or been banned from the subreddit and do not receive a response in reply to any questions as to why, ask yourself if your behavior could be interpreted as brigading, spamming, trolling, using disrespectful or offensive language, or consistently providing incorrect, low-quality, poor, or even damaging information.
As always, the latest version of the rules can be found at https://old.reddit.com/r/antivirus/about/rules/. If you have questions about them, ask below.
The moderation team is seeing an increasing trend where people ask for help while providing no information about what they need help with. This includes titles with 1-3 words like "Urgent! Help needed!", posts where the author shares a screenshot of *something* with no information about the operating system or antivirus involved, or is so small/blurry as to be unreadable, etc.
Everybody who participates regularly in this subreddit volunteers their time for free to do so. Provide them with enough information in your first post so they can start helping you right away without having to ask a lot of questions. This means your first post should contain things like:
The more information you provide, the quicker you will get your problem solved.
As a reminder, starting multiple posts on the same topic will not get you a faster answer, and may result in in a ban.
There is a lot of great information in the wiki about all the tools you can use, tips for using them, lists of antivirus vendors and how to contact them, and even a section on how to secure your computer.
We frequently update the wiki in response to questions being regularly asked in the subreddit, so you might want to check there first before posting.
Some of the questions we regularly see in the subreddit have nothing to do with computer viruses or malicious software at all, but instead are about scams, privacy-related questions, and so forth. Here are some subreddits that specialize in answering those types of questions:
As the subreddit grows (we just passed 100K users), so does the need for additional moderators.
The moderation team has been looking at the folks who have been regularly posting here and consistently given good advice to build a list of candidates, and will be reaching out over the next few weeks to see if any are willing to volunteer their time and expertise in the subreddit. There will be more coming on that, but I did want to let everyone know that the process is already underway.
That pretty much covers everything we wanted to discuss, so we'll now await your questions, below.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
(on behalf of the r/antivirus mod team)
r/antivirus • u/Past_Impression_6783 • 29m ago
Can some give this a look over and tell me if it's a false positive or not
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/855a0d4c255176a7bd6641d9e12c3723227d20b12f8dad9b5dfbca2abc5be38d
r/antivirus • u/RaspberryKooky3744 • 4h ago
Whenever I turn on my computer, I always get warnings about my computer instantly trying to connect to these websites. Did a scan, and I don’t see any suspicious program running in the background.
r/antivirus • u/please_commit_die • 3h ago
Stg Norton is just malware in of itself
r/antivirus • u/Yogurt_Cezary • 6h ago
Hello, hello!
I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit, but I'll post it here.
A while back I was dealing with what I assume is a Trojan and got rid of it by myself but installed Malwarebytes for another scan just in case.
None of my accounts were compromised and I have no lost files or running programs or so.
Malwarebytes came out clean in free trial mode
But as we all know, free trials end. And I've been wondering, should I buy Malwarebytes? Or should I return to my Windows defender and have Malwarebytes scans from time to time?
Technically speaking, it was my Windows defender that actually caught the Trojan, though people have stated Malwarebytes does a great job at catching those too.
It is rather pricey in my opinion but I'm not tech savvy and I would be quite sad if I get hacked (quite a loser behavior, I'm aware)
So, what are your opinions on this?
r/antivirus • u/Ill-Administration97 • 7h ago
Honestly, I am exhausted from worrying about bootkits and the possibility that my brother is doing this to mess with my games. On the internet, I search for information to understand how these things work, but all I find is complete AI-generated garbage that leads me nowhere neither a yes nor a no.
Here, people make fun of my posts with generic responses like 'it requires state-level resources,' but nobody explains why, how it would be possible, or why it wouldn't be possible on my MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI motherboard. Amidst this absurd misinformation, my anxiety only grows, and I don't have anyone to talk to about this or clarify my doubts.
If anyone is willing to help me in a private chat or can recommend a freelance cybersecurity professional who could help clear up these questions, I'd really appreciate it. It has been extremely difficult to reach a conclusion or find relevant information about this in this dark era of internet AI.
r/antivirus • u/BlenderGibbon • 8h ago
Hi all,
When uninstalling a game today, I've noticed a weird entry in the programs list. It's just called 'Quick Solution' by a company called 'Global Computing' and it's 56Kb. I don't have anything installed by those names (that I know of) and the name seems a little too generic and odd for my liking. I've tried uninstalling it and windows says it can't. I try repairing/changing it and it comes up with a command prompt with 3 options; 1) Activate the program, 2) Do nothing and 3) Exit.
I've searched google but as the name is so generic it's not coming up with anything useful. So, can anyone offer an opinion or advice please?
Many thanks 😃
r/antivirus • u/IshimaruKenta • 9h ago
I was browsing a GitHub of a project I was using, looking at the Issues tab. One post mentioned fixing crashes (which I was having), and to run a script to fix it. Stupidly I ran it. Then suddenly I got notifications from Google, Discord and others that they detected suspicious activity. I immediately changed passwords and added 2FA where it was missing. However, looking at each sites "Sessions", it only listed my IP/home. I then started noticing other odd things with browser tabs that had services logged in.
I then decided to wipe Windows and reinstall. Backed things up first, then wiped. But it seems that when restoring data (including browser data), weird things kept happening (GitHub added posts I never made, other things similar to that), but didn't think too much of it. Today, I found that after opening my browser this morning, I got an email from eBay stating I bought something. Looking at my purchase history, nothing was there...but it was under the Hidden purchases. Somehow the scammer got access to my account, then also went into my email and deleted the emails that eBay sent and deleted those from trash. I was using the computer the whole time and didn't notice anything.
I then cleared the cache/cookies from the browser and signed out of anything I was signed into. But how in the absolute hell did they gain access to my browser, without me even noticing the access?
I ran AV scans, but that came back as clear. Running adwcleaner, it showed a couple items related to the streaming app Sunshine (which I use to stream my desktop to my laptop), but that's highly unlikely that's the case and looks to be a false positive. I ran some investigation and saw that it downloaded a PowerShell script but I'm not well versed in PS, but if someone wants to dissect it, I saved it and uploaded to Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/TRE5XgVm
I just don't understand how it look over my browser without me knowing or even noticing it while using it. I'm hoping clearing the cache/cookies from the browser and even deleting the User Data folder finally fixed this. What are your thoughts?
r/antivirus • u/mimceo • 13h ago
Hey guys I downloaded DevCpp from GitHub from embarcadero, I downloaded portable version and it was in 7zip, to be sure I put it in virus total and webroot wngine said it’s a Trojan, one engine out of 48, I put unpacked folder on virustotal too and it said it’s clear so is this a false alert or I should be concerned, mind u I already started using it, pls help guys
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/71819437625e1aa1d86b642ac5b4591854c199addbb6031a6c9e2476fedc579c
r/antivirus • u/Tiny-Revolution-3932 • 14h ago
Hi like I said I accidentally downloaded the classic session stealer with the MrBeast scam last night. Immediately after I run a Malewarebytes scan which detected and deleted it. About 40 minutes later I got notified that the MrBeast scam got posted on my ig story, I was able to access my account still and changed my passwords as well as cancelling my credit cards.
Was this enough? Or should I do something else?
r/antivirus • u/poseiDon_420 • 17h ago
I also posted this in another subreddit but it got removed because... idk so ill keep it short here
I had a trojan/keylogger infection or god knows what it is/was, it took over my insta and discord and spammed people w a mal link and a fake mrbeast tweet (hmu for case details) but in short i manually tracked the suspicious app, uninstalled it, its installer located in C/Windows/Installer also deleted itself as soon as i uninstalled the app, so far ive tried MS Def's offline and full scans, Malwarebytes full scan, MS Safety scanner before manually uninstalling the app which I'll call "TronQ", and after uninstalling TronQ, Avast's full scan but found little to nothing in all scans, now idk if i still have malware or not but im paranoid and just want to be sure that my pc is clean, i cant afford a clean wipe as theres a lot of work files that havent been backed up so need a good antivrus for assurance
TLDR: need free antivirus for suspected trojan attack on win 10
r/antivirus • u/rdrivasar • 21h ago
I used the Windows scanner but I'm not convinced, I've tried learning how to look for viruses but from what comes up it's better to format it, I want to avoid doing that since like I said I'm not sure if I have a virus or not and I want to learn at least a few things about this topic, whether it's tips on how to avoid installing things with viruses, how to scan my PC, if I want to transfer certain things to a flash drive/hard drive what could be infected and what not and therefore would infect my PC again with the same shit, etc.
r/antivirus • u/acgats • 18h ago
Needless to say, I got hit with a session stealer from a bad download. After unplugging, changing passwords on the phone, and doing a fresh install, I made sure to run MalwareBytes first thing, just in case. Lo and behold, it caught two instances of PavinLoader after a deep scan. Not sure how that happened, or if it was a false alarm - either way, I want to be vigil about this as much as possible, especially if I have to renew all my passwords again (not sure how it works).
What are my next steps? Is my computer clean after the quarantine? I've been wracked with anxiety for the past two days, and I'd really like to get this resolved.
r/antivirus • u/MselaineTienstra • 19h ago
I know most security software runs in the background, but I'm curious how much impact real-time scanning and scheduled scans can have. McAfee is one of the options I'm considering, although I've seen mixed opinions about its resource usage. I'm also wondering whether Windows Defender is sufficient for someone who downloads games, mods, and occasional third-party tools. For those who have tested different antivirus programs, which ones offer a good balance between detection rates and low system impact?
r/antivirus • u/InfiniteBat7746 • 1d ago
I know that this type of malware is super rare but how do people even get this kind of virus? Is it just like any other kind of malware where they download something shady and boom, you have UEFI malware or is there more to it? Is there any way to find out if you have this kind of virus on your system? Can any antivirus detect UEFI malware?
r/antivirus • u/Mysterious_Sugar_994 • 22h ago
I just downloadedd by mistake the ren.py loadder, but as I had an experience with it before I saw it and right Away new that was that virus, I just extracted the winrar where it came but diddn't open it and delete right away both the winrar and the foldder, ddo you think I got infecetdd?
r/antivirus • u/DocumentLess9352 • 1d ago
got hacked and wiped my PC and all that. did a scan with defender, malwarebytes, and bitdefender all said im good. whats the chance that im good? having some bad anxiety about the whole thing. im always so careful online but this past week i guess i slipped up
r/antivirus • u/PleaseAdminsUnbanMe • 1d ago
Months ago i got hit with an unidentified malware i thought was gone, since i had a free afternoon i decided to check if something came back and it did (full details of the old situations here https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1wbnrlx/offline_defender_scan_refusing_to_work_properly/ ).
Malwarebytes and Defender usually don't detect anything, this is the only way i can get anything to show, and this time, despite the 100 infected files, nothing was detected.
No proof of an attack since the first time in May (various passwords leaked, changed everything i could and got back everything important), around August i noticed the strange files i mentioned in the other post and took action.
r/antivirus • u/Strxwbxrry_Shxrtcxkx • 1d ago
10 ish days ago, I first got alerted about a trojan threat "Trojan:Win32/Suweezy". I got a second notification a couple days ago through Windows security. I isolated both and got Windows security to "remove" them from the device. I checked again just now, and noticed these two things in the history section of Windows security. It says it was removed, but the name is different from what I removed.
I honestly don't know very much about viruses or trojans. So I'm wondering if I should be concerned about this, and what I should do to manage it. Any advice is appreciated :)
r/antivirus • u/ch2by • 1d ago
I was redirected to this website through an innocuous Google search.
I didn't click anything and quickly left. It's a phishing site according to Virustotal.
I've scanned my computer (Malwarebytes + Microsoft Defender) and nothing was detected.
Can someone please confirm that there's little to be concerned about given that I didn't click anything? I'm just worried the website might have downloaded something onto my computer.
Thanks in advance!
r/antivirus • u/Grimshah • 1d ago
Hi, I'm looking for some advice on which anti-virus I should get. I've recently become more paranoid about my online security and am overwhelmed by the amount of anti-virus' out there. I have a Lenovo with Windows 11 and I currently just use Microsoft Defender.
Some things I'm considering are Surfshark, TotalAV, and BitDefender
Please let me know if any of these are good or if there's another one
r/antivirus • u/GatoConCalcetines • 1d ago
What was it? What did it do? How did you deal with it?
I know it's such a weird question but I'm an enthusiast and I find it fascinating, I've always have
r/antivirus • u/DifficultyLevel224 • 1d ago
i downloaded a webp file and i opened it but felt suspicious so i deleted it and emptied it from recycle bin, i then checked microsoft defender it said i had a trojan and then said it was quarantined, i did a scan and it said there was no threats but im still paranoid what should i do?
