Ab apps infected

discworlder
discworlder Member Posts: 7 New User
in 2015 Archives

Hi, I have been trying to download ab apps to my pc (win 7) and abfile & abdocs are infected by malware. Has anyone else had this problem?

Best Answer

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer
    Answer ✓

    Ok. If you do receive a reply from Webroot, I would be interested to hear what they have to say.

     

     

Answers

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer

    I have just tried all four apps and can find no trace of malware/virus etc.

    They appear clean to me. What exactly are you finding?

     

  • discworlder
    discworlder Member Posts: 7 New User

    Hi,

    Thanks for replying, I have just tried abfiles again with the same result. Details are Pua.Bundleinstaller.gen, flagged up as malware by my Webroot security programme as virus scan failed.

    D

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer

    I can only assume that this is a false positive.

     

    In the good old days, AV programs would flag a program as clear if it didn't match a known virus signature. This invariably meant that computers could become infected until a virus was reported and, some while later, had the signature included in the updated definitions.

     

    These days, the trend is to flag anything and everything that is 'unknown' as a likely risk if it performs typical virus actions. In this case, we are looking at a program that is going to extract information from your computer and forward it out into the cloud. Now, it is not at all unreasonable to be wary of any unknown program that is not already declared 'good' and performs these sorts of actions. Where this is the case, a program will likely be flagged with a generic catch-all virus label. I suspect that is what is happening here. 'Pua.Bundleinstaller.gen' appears to be exactly that. 'PUA' = Potentially Unwanted Application. (But not known to be unwanted.)

     

    Now I can't give an absolute assurance that this is clean but I would be more than amazed if Acer released any software that wasn't checked and double checked.

     

    I would create a check point and then install but the choice is yours.

     

  • discworlder
    discworlder Member Posts: 7 New User

    Thanks Alan,

    I will contact Webroot, if this doesn't help, I will probably not bother with the downloads as I don't do much document work anyway.

    Thanks again

    D

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer
    Answer ✓

    Ok. If you do receive a reply from Webroot, I would be interested to hear what they have to say.

     

     

  • discworlder
    discworlder Member Posts: 7 New User

    Hi Alan,

    I have sent the details of the ab links and am still waiting for a reply. I will contact you if they find a solution.

    Regards,

    D

  • discworlder
    discworlder Member Posts: 7 New User

    Hello Alan,

    I have had a reply from Webroot and after extensive testing they found this:-Win.Adware.Mplug-52, they have told me that they have updated their database so everything should be O.K. now.

    Thanks for your help.

    D

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer

    Thanks for getting back with their findings.

     

    If I read you correctly, 'Pua.Bundleinstaller.gen' was false and they have now corrected it.

    I don't understand why they then reported finding 'Win.Adware.Mplug-52' as it wasn't reported initially. However, from what you have said, I get the impression that this too is considered erroneous by Webroot and has been corrected on their virus signature database.

     

    That being the case, are you happy at this point that Acer ab apps are clean and safe to install?

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