Avast! blocking FRST download from this website - false positive?

Hello

 

I am trying to download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool from Bleepingcomputer. Avast! Antivirus blocks it, as 'suspicious', and says 'Infection' :  Win:64evo-gen

 

A separate pop-up box says C:Users[file path].exe 'part could not be saved, because the source file coule not be read'.

 

Is this a false positive on Avast! ? and if so how do I work around it?

 

Thank you.

Hi gdnr

This is indeed a false positive from avast!. This vendor has been known to targets many downloads hosted on BleepingComputer as false positives. Every single tools and programs hosted in the Downloads section of BleepingComputer are completely safe to use. The fault here is on the vendor's side, not BleepingComputer. What you can do is temporarily disable avast! to download and execute FRST, then re-enable it once it's done. Or you can disable avast!, download FRST, add it avast! exclusion list and then re-enable it. This should allow you to use it without avast! interfering.

http://www.getavast.net/support/managing-exceptions

False detections by anti-virus programs for specialized fix tools are not uncommon.

Cembedded files that are part of legitimate programs and specialized fix tools (like FRST), may at times be detected by some anti-virus and anti-malware scanners as suspicious, a Risk Tool, Hacking Tool, Potentially Unwanted Program, a possible threat 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, whether files are compressed, packed, or obfuscated to protect code, what behavior (routines, scripts, etc) it performs, any registry strings it may contain and the type of security program engine that was used during the scan. Other legitimate files which may be encrypted or password protected in order to conceal itself so they do not allow access for scanning often trigger alerts by anti-virus/security software as well.
 
When flagged by an anti-virus or security scanner, it's because the program includes features, behavior or files that appear suspicious or which can potentially be used for malicious purposes. Compressed and packed files in particular are often flagged as suspicious by anti-virus/security software because they have difficulty reading what is inside them. These detections do not necessarily mean the file is malicious or a bad program. It means it has the potential for being misused by others or that it was simply detected as suspicious or a threat due to the security program's heuristic analysis engine which provides the ability to detect possible new variants of malware. Heuristics uses non-specific detection methods to find new or unknown malware which allows the anti-virus to detect and stop if before doing any harm to your system. The disadvantage to using heuristics is that it is not as reliable as signature-based detection (blacklisting) and can potentially increase the chances that a non-malicious program is flagged as suspicious or infected. 
 
Anti-virus scanners cannot distinguish between "good" and "malicious" use of such programs, therefore they may incorrectly alert you of malware, block the file's download, automatically remove the file or keep the program from running properly. In these cases the detection of a known legitimate file is a "false positive" and can be ignored.

Most of the well known specialized tools and ransomware decrypters we use against malware are written by Security Experts/Security Colleagues at various reputable security forums like Bleeping Computer, TechSupport, Malwarebytes, GeeksToGo, Emsisoft and other similar sites so they can be trusted. Unfortunately, many of these tools are falsely detected (false positive) by various anti-virus and security programs from time to time for the reasons noted above. 
 
The problem is really with the anti-virus vendors who keep targeting these embedded files and NOT with the tools themselves. We can inform the developers but they have encountered this issue many times before and in most cases there isn't much they can do about it. Once the detection is reported to the anti-virus vendor, they are usually quick to fix it by releasing an updated definition database.  
 
Either have your anti-virus or security program ignore the detection or temporarily disable it until you download and run the tool. Another option is to add the file to the anti-virus/security program's exclusion list.

It also happened to me .. I do not understand how is it possible that a company list some place tha recomends as a threat .. it gives a lot of incertitude to the users.

Thank you Aura and quietman7, and also juan gce.  I will follow your advice in order to download FRST. Thanks also Aura for the link to managing exceptions in Avast!  which will be helpful.

No problem gdnr, you're welcome

You're welcome on behalf of the Bleeping Computer community.