Addons being flagged as viruses?

mielyn · 04/20/22, 09:21 PM

Is anyone else having this problem? I've tried different browsers, but just tonight, any addon that I download gets flagged by my browser, which says it has a virus.

Is this an issue with my own computer? Or has the site been hacked?

NeuroticPixels · 04/20/22, 10:24 PM

False positive. Everything is fine.

I don't have a source for this, because I don't remember where I read about it. But it happens from time to time, though pretty rare.

**Baertram** · 04/21/22, 01:40 AM

The addons only contain txt files and no executable files. There exist a few which include executables, like TamrielTradeCenter.
All addons zip files get scanned for viruses before they get activated as a possible download.
My antivirus tools do not tell me there are any viruses here, so I bet it's a false positive at your used software.

And maybe it's just the wording but since when is a browser telling you there are viruses? This should be any software installed on your computer which uses a browser plugin then, or a browser enhancement you have installed?

There also exist online virus scanners where you post a file and they let it scan by several antivir tools for you and present the results. You can use this if you do not believe us :-)
Example https://www.virustotal.com

mielyn · 04/21/22, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by Baertram

The addons only contain txt files and no executable files. There exist a few which include executables, like TamrielTradeCenter.
All addons zip files get scanned for viruses before they get activated as a possible download.
My antivirus tools do not tell me there are any viruses here, so I bet it's a false positive at your used software.

And maybe it's just the wording but since when is a browser telling you there are viruses? This should be any software installed on your computer which uses a browser plugin then, or a browser enhancement you have installed?

There also exist online virus scanners where you post a file and they let it scan by several antivir tools for you and present the results. You can use this if you do not believe us :-)
Example https://www.virustotal.com

Thank you for the answer. Yes, I read this earlier, and that has always been my understanding, too. As for my browser flagging it-- no, it was not a wording thing. Both Firefox and Chrome have built-in virus scanning, so far as I can tell. It was not flagged by Windows Defender, since my browsers never actually let the download complete.

Having said that-- I suspect it WAS an issue with the site, because today it is working just fine, and I have not installed any updates on my computer whatsoever.

**Baertram** · 04/21/22, 09:33 AM

Okay, it's the "safe browsing" setting within Chrome then which does that kind of virus scanning of downloads.
Maybe there was an error in that SafeBrowsing data (whereever at google it will post the file to check it for virus), and maybe Firefox relies on the same safe browsing virus scanner

Or it even was esoui providing some info "wrong" but my downloads worked flawlessly.
Could have been so many things actually. If it happens again try to turn of the Safe Browsing setting at the browser settings and test if this fixes it (for that moment, turn it on again afterwards!).