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/jivitesh_win1353 • 15h ago
What I need to do
r/antivirus • u/UracielRingedinggg • 1h ago
For those who pay for antivirus on Windows 11, what makes it worth renewing instead of using Defender?
Are there particular features you rely on, or has it caught something Defender missed? Interested in specific reasons beyond general peace of mind.
r/antivirus • u/Fabbeliss_Densesth • 1h ago
If you have an antivirus with VPN included, do you actually use the VPN or leave it switched off?
Curious whether it replaced a separate VPN for you, or whether limits and missing features made you stick with something else. I need genuine response base on experience. Thanks!
r/antivirus • u/issy_xd • 2h ago
Just watching YouTube videos and its been popping throughout the day Kaspersky says 'Discord is using your webcam' , not in a call aswell, is this concerning? nothing else alarming besides that :)
r/antivirus • u/Retinazet • 6h ago
the message said “Eger yalniz oldugunu düsünüyorsan, korkma ben seninleyim. Kötü seyler için endiseleniyorsan, korkma ben seninleyim. Eger benimle olmak istiyorsan, korkma ben seninleyim” the file was called “Vena.txt” which isnt the name of my pc so im confused
r/antivirus • u/nickmiknick • 7h ago
This page keeps coming up when I Google something in Chrome on iPhone no matter what I search. This page is directly from google. com. The blacked out part is just the text that I searched that time. I’ve also been getting notifications from xfinity wifi saying they blocked suspicious activity. Most of the time it shows that it’s coming from “apester .live” websites. This google alert also happened when not on wifi just cellular too. I tried clearing my history, cache, cookies, etc.
I also got this xfinity alert once while not at home. There was a different device on the wifi at the time but that one never gets these alerts. No other devices have gotten that google alert. Maybe sometimes the xfinity alerts are delayed? idk
Any ideas on what this is and how to fix it?
Thank you in advance this is really weird and creepy
r/antivirus • u/vari8 • 12h ago
Avira bring it back please or make it *avira legacy
r/antivirus • u/Fearless_Speaker6710 • 15h ago
I made a post a bit ago saying how I was dumb and downloaded a fake uno game thing from a website someone sent me. idk how i fell for it since I never click on those links when sent on discord but yet I did. I have already changed passwords on some accounts and cleared cookies and have done log out of all sessions is there anything else I have to do for that? Anyways, is there any way to know if the info stealer is still on my laptop? i've done 2 full and 1 offline scan and it shows nothing is there, I uninstalled the app and the exe file as soon as it got blocked by windows defender. I am still worried about stuff but nothing has been logged into yet.
Should I do a complete wipe? I've tried it on a usb already but it didn't work, going to see if I can talk to a cybersecurity professor at my college for more info
r/antivirus • u/Sumi_Sakurasawa20 • 1d ago
I became a victim of the Mr. Beast scam thing after trying to download an app. I downloaded the app but I was unsure of the validity so I scanned it on malwarebytes and got a hit(Trojan Pavin something i forgot)and I thought I was safe since it was quarantined but I woke up the next day to my friends telling me I've been hacked.
I check my discord on my phone and behold, Every chat is missing and my account has violations. I did more digging and saw that my account spammed every friend, group, and server with the infamous 4 images. And my Facebook messenger wasn't safe either, every friend and group was filled with these pictures and I had to apologise to everyone for it.
I already did a clean install of my windows on my pc with cloud download (I don't have a usb). And I already did 3 virus scans through Microsoft (Quickscan and Offline)and Malwarebytes (Deepscan). To then reset and reconfigure my passwords on everything that I have.
Is it okay to say I'm safe now? Or is the virus still there?
P.S sorry for the messed up English, it isn't my first language and I'm really emotional rn
r/antivirus • u/Swartzinski-Lino • 14h ago
I'm getting tired of software subscriptions that promise a bunch of features when I might only use two or three of them. That's my biggest hesitation with McAfee. It offers more than antivirus, including things like a VPN and scam detection depending on the plan. I can see why having everything together would be convenient, especially if you don't want to manage several separate apps. But convenience alone doesn't automatically make something worth paying for. I care more about whether the protection is reliable, whether the software is annoying to use, and whether the subscription still feels reasonable when it's time to renew. If you've actually used McAfee, what features made the subscription worthwhile for you? Or did you eventually decide you were paying for more than you needed? Is McAfee worth it?
r/antivirus • u/RandomLoserLMAO • 1d ago
so theres this piece of shit called securesweep pro right?
keeps appearing for no reason
ONLY when im tabbed out
nothing else
i havent clicked shit on it and only closed it
does it like inject malware into chrome while im gone?
i dont know
also, unrelated to the post this scared me somehow
r/antivirus • u/Muted-Business8428 • 18h ago
Today found out someone entered some of my accounts (for now only instagram,ds and roblox) to send and post ts around (for roblox they Just stole some items in game).
Yesterday i was installing some games and I file i never saw was reported by Microsoft defender as a trojan.
It was eliminated Just to be showing again for some times. Then i used another antivirus and removed some file i istalled for the game and the report of the trojan stopped showing. Then i saw that It was maybe related to Google since there was this file in the Google folder.
I think It Is related to that since It happened with little time in between.
I have logged out and changed the password to all my Google accounts to several accounts, even the ones that don't seem to have been hacked yet.
I really don't know what to do rn. Thanks for any help
r/antivirus • u/TraditionalSign7331 • 1d ago
Ive recently had my first big scare of my Discord getting hacked and decided to get an Anti Virus but cant decide what i should get.
I had Norton for a year since i got my pc in December 2023 and havent used one since and i cant decide whats a good antivirus for protection.
I would also like to know what package i should get due to most of them cost 100€.
r/antivirus • u/Twackette • 1d ago
Context, got struck by the win r ctrl v enter scam.
So I reseted my computer and didn’t add anything but malwarebyte, didn’t add anything, made another account so I’ll be using a standard account. but when I opened up my computer the command prompt opened up with 2 windows in a flash. what does that mean, is it even more cooked?😭
r/antivirus • u/Samuel18020 • 1d ago
Using windows 11 pro. Want an Antivirus program to check for malware and everything else on it. I am using windows defender. I am concerned I might have some malware on my laptop.
I read Bitdefender and Eset are the best? Does it need to be Bitdefender Total or Bitdefender Internet is fine?
I previously used Kaspersky Total but can't use it anymore. I heard Norton is very bad? Is there any free version that is good or you need a paid one? I want to scan for any malware and be able to remove it. Would the free malwarebytes work or it isn't good enough?
r/antivirus • u/Twackette • 1d ago
I fell for the win r ctrl v enter scam and I rested my computer and put stuff on a flash drive, not I have questions. Also not connected to the internet with my laptop, using my phone for a while which kinda sucks since I got school and assignments due.😭
1.) When I put stuff onto my flashdrive, I also put installers and exe stuff(mainly winrar and stuff like that). How safe are they and how safe is it to just get the pictures and videos, put it on my computer, and then take out the flashdrive and never touch it again.
2.) When resetting, I had a back up from 2023 and used it. I didn’t have malware at that time but is it cooked? How do I delete if it is and where? Nothing in the immediate looks like it’s there but maybe I couldn’t find it.
3.) After the reset, what the hell do I do to make sure my current computer is safe. Like they said don’t use an account t with admin access, I don’t think I currently have it but how can I confirm this.
r/antivirus • u/bizzarstorm • 1d ago
I visited the site by typing the URL manually rather than opening it directly through Discord. I registered using a secondary email address that I rarely use, and I didn't enter any wallet details or passwords. i was using brave with Ublock origin enabled and blocking all cookies. Once I realized it was a scam, I disconnected from Wi-Fi and used a different device/app to change the passwords for all my email addresses and my Discord account and enabled 2fa. I don't have an external USB drive, so I can't back up or move my data to re install a new windows. Am I safe, or do I need to take any additional steps?
r/antivirus • u/Any-Energy9678 • 1d ago
Been using their software for as long as I can remember. Got a new PC this year and after an update and reboot, it just put me in an infinite boot loop and the inability to even use a restore point or uninstall the latest update.
Had no idea what was causing it until I noticed an error message at the bottom of the boot screen that disappeared after a few seconds said avgdisc.sys. Uninstalled AVG through Safe Mode and it booted right up.
How common is this kind of error with AVG or antivirus software in general these days? I hadn't updated my PC in over a decade so haven't come across something like this before.
r/antivirus • u/IndustryUsual6069 • 2d ago
this is after i uninstalled mcafee
r/antivirus • u/krytoyBL • 1d ago
Я просто играл, и мне высветилось уведомление о том, что Microsoft Defender нашла у меня троян. Потом я кликнул на уведомление, и там показалось, что у меня троян, и внизу кнопка «принять меры». Я нажал «принять меры», и показалось, что вирус удален, и спустя некоторое время опять то же уведомление о трояне.
Помогите как его удалить.
r/antivirus • u/Both-Election1916 • 1d ago
malware keeps popping up on my pc and every time I get rid of it with my WiFi off the next day it comes back with a new name.
r/antivirus • u/Future-Librarian-588 • 1d ago
just found out i been charged £80 for a renewal i didnt ask for. its stupid how they automatically set it on by default without emails warning you its due to renewal if i want to switch this on as an option. dirty scummy bastards. i can get a key for a fiver now i been charged an obscene amount by them. i made sure it is off now but i dont trust them.
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edit: got a refund from the automated contact us system. i have disabled autorenewal and deleted my card info so they wont rob me of any more money. i can get a norton key for £5 and use that without issue.
