The key word is "most" & I did not say all sites.

An yes I fully agree ; downloading AV products from a torrent is rather redundant .
When I ran into Flash Disinfector ( not from here ) that came up as a trojan , I was only curious to see
if it would come up as a trojan and it did.

However, you would be surprised on how many that do download AV products through
torrents or file sharing sites ( like Rapidshare )and then come crying here that their computer is infected.

Not really. It's not surprising at all, especially since there's a large risk (and sometimes a heavy cost) for downloading pirated/cracked versions of software. Of course, I won't deny the fact that there will be some people that are surprised by that.

This post has been edited by scff249: May 6 2009, 07:10 PM

FlashDisinfector is not malware. It is a specialized tool created by sUBs, a well known security and malware removal expert who is a member of BC's HJT.

However, certain embedded files that are part of legitimate programs or specialized fix tools such as FlashDisinfector may at times be detected by some anti-virus and anti-malware scanners as a "Risk Tool", "Hacking Tool", "Potentially Unwanted Program", or even "Malware" (virus/trojan) when that is not the case. This occurs for a variety of reasons to include the tool's compiler, the files it uses, registry fixes and malware strings it contains.

Such programs have legitimate uses in contexts where a Malware Removal Expert asked you to use the tool or when an authorized user/administrator has knowingly installed it. When flagged by an anti-virus or security scanner, it's because the program includes features, behavior or files that appear suspicious or it can potentially be used for malicious purposes. These detections do not necessarily mean the file is malware or a bad program. It means it has the potential for being misused by others or that it was simply detected as suspicious due to the security program's Heuristic analysis engine which provides the ability to detect possible new variants of malware. Anti-virus scanners cannot distinguish between "good" and "malicious" use of such programs, therefore they may alert you or even automatically remove them. In these cases the detection is a "False Positive".

I never said Flash Disinfector is malware. I said I found a trojan posing as Flash Disinfector and NOT from
here.

This post has been edited by koolkat: May 11 2009, 07:54 PM

quietman7 wasn't accusing you of anything, koolkat.
He was just trying to explain why some specialized fix tools, such as FlashDisinfector, may be detected as malicious by some anti-virus, and anti-malware scanners.

Down loading a AV from a torrent; no thanks I will pass on that idea.