Hi
This morning I noticed that when I opened up Everquest using my usual WinEQ desktop icon I had an alert from my virus scanner. I'm using AVG free and it identified WinEQ as a virus and asks me to remove it.
I've reinstalled WinEQ and am getting the same error. I'm also getting the same error on my second PC (using the same software).
This is a new problem, I had no problem using WinEQ 16 hours ago.
I'd be grateful for advice.
WinEQ2 giving virus alert
Moderators: Lavish Software Team, Moderators
When you use an anti-virus product it may be important for you to understand the things it's trying to tell you. I can't help you understand what it told you about WinEQ 2 without a screenshot or more information about what threat it said it identified, but here's my best guess.
Some anti-virus programs will flag software as "suspicious" for:
1. Requiring Administrator permissions, and
2. Being "unsigned"
WinEQ 2 is unsigned, which is why when you install it or run it it says "unknown publisher" instead of "Lavish Software" (this is something that developers have to pay a recurring fee to Microsoft to register for). This has never changed, WinEQ 2 has always been unsigned.
This patch to WinEQ 2 included elevating WinEQ 2 to Administrator permissions. This change resolves common problems installing or updating WinEQ 2 since Windows Vista, as WinEQ 2 was designed in the Windows XP days.
Therefore my belief is that AVG is notifying you that a heuristic scan indicated that WinEQ 2 requires Administrator and is unsigned. This is something that AVG should be telling you (probably in confusing technical terms) as it offers to take preventive action.
With a screenshot perhaps I can verify that for you. Otherwise feel free to pass the software through an online scanner like this one: http://virusscan.jotti.org/en -- it's free and scans with 20 well-known scanners, and should help identify false readings. (As I believe this one is)
When you are satisfied that WinEQ 2 doesn't contain a virus you can bypass the behavior by temporarily disabling your virus scanner and go back to playing.
Some anti-virus programs will flag software as "suspicious" for:
1. Requiring Administrator permissions, and
2. Being "unsigned"
WinEQ 2 is unsigned, which is why when you install it or run it it says "unknown publisher" instead of "Lavish Software" (this is something that developers have to pay a recurring fee to Microsoft to register for). This has never changed, WinEQ 2 has always been unsigned.
This patch to WinEQ 2 included elevating WinEQ 2 to Administrator permissions. This change resolves common problems installing or updating WinEQ 2 since Windows Vista, as WinEQ 2 was designed in the Windows XP days.
Therefore my belief is that AVG is notifying you that a heuristic scan indicated that WinEQ 2 requires Administrator and is unsigned. This is something that AVG should be telling you (probably in confusing technical terms) as it offers to take preventive action.
With a screenshot perhaps I can verify that for you. Otherwise feel free to pass the software through an online scanner like this one: http://virusscan.jotti.org/en -- it's free and scans with 20 well-known scanners, and should help identify false readings. (As I believe this one is)
When you are satisfied that WinEQ 2 doesn't contain a virus you can bypass the behavior by temporarily disabling your virus scanner and go back to playing.
Last edited by Lax on Mon Oct 08, 2012 6:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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dronedream
- Non-Subscriber
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 9:13 am
Hi there. Thanks for the very fast reply and the explanation of the issues based on the little information I provided.
I'm using Win7 64bit on both machines. Upon starting WinEQ it patches after which AVG pops a "Threat detected" warning which cites the file name (C:Program Files\WinEQ2\WinEQ2.exe in my case) with the threat name as "unknown" a medium severity level and no description available.
It gives two options - Move to Vault (Recommended) or Allow
It appears that clicking Allow and updating the compatibility for WinEQ2 to run as admin allows me to log in without any difficulty.
Thanks again for the help and hopefully this will help anyone else encountering the same issue.
I'm using Win7 64bit on both machines. Upon starting WinEQ it patches after which AVG pops a "Threat detected" warning which cites the file name (C:Program Files\WinEQ2\WinEQ2.exe in my case) with the threat name as "unknown" a medium severity level and no description available.
It gives two options - Move to Vault (Recommended) or Allow
It appears that clicking Allow and updating the compatibility for WinEQ2 to run as admin allows me to log in without any difficulty.
Thanks again for the help and hopefully this will help anyone else encountering the same issue.