Virus or false alarm?

[Nuclear Muchacho]

Been trying some antivirus software and AVG has detected a Win32/Patch or some such in file PSANHost.exe.

My question is: is this truly a virus or AVG picked up virus signatures in Panda AV (AVG declared that Aion's Xrender.dll is a virus so I've grown to mistrust it)?

[Daddeh]

Hmm.

It's very possible it's a false positive although I'm not too familiar with Panda AV.

I would recommend running it through VirusTotal to get a better estimate.

From my personal opinion and a bit of an educated guess, I think it detected PSANhost.exe as a virus due to conflict between antiviruses.

An anti-virus does in fact behave like a virus. It uses up a lot of CPU, it monitors your system, and it can remove files on it's own will. So it's possible for it to see this program and believe it to be malicious when it really isn't.

BUT

As I stated before, I'm not familiar with Panda AV. I would recommend reading more about it before you take my ideas to heart.

[Nuclear Muchacho]

Yes, well, I've been reading Panda is a very useful av with high detection rates and what not so I thought I'd give it a shot. System has become even more sluggish than before but I blamed me using 2 av's simultanously (though I've turned off AVG's active protection to rescue some performance). I know that's a bad idea but didn't want to send AVG to the bin just yet before I do some testing.

Funny thing is the file is detected as hostile when it's a process, not a file somewhere.

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

If you're running two antivirus programs on your computer, they can conflict with each other, causing false alarms.

[Daddeh]

Nuclear Muchacho

Yes, well, I've been reading Panda is a very useful av with high detection rates and what not so I thought I'd give it a shot. System has become even more sluggish than before but I blamed me using 2 av's simultanously (though I've turned off AVG's active protection to rescue some performance). I know that's a bad idea but didn't want to send AVG to the bin just yet before I do some testing.

Funny thing is the file is detected as hostile when it's a process, not a file somewhere.

Yes, it detects it as hostile when it runs due to it's behavior. It's very virus like but if you have read good reviews of the AV, it may be good to assume it's a false positive.

Run the files through VirusTotal if you truly want to be sure. VirusTotal is a website that runs..42 AVs against a file? I think it was 42 AV but don't quote me on it. razz



As for your sluggish computer, having two antiviruses will indeed cause sluggish. Hell, one one alone can do the job but two can be overkill. There can also be a lot more processes taking up space but the antiviruses are probably the main culprit.

[Nuclear Muchacho]

Daddeh

Nuclear Muchacho

Yes, well, I've been reading Panda is a very useful av with high detection rates and what not so I thought I'd give it a shot. System has become even more sluggish than before but I blamed me using 2 av's simultanously (though I've turned off AVG's active protection to rescue some performance). I know that's a bad idea but didn't want to send AVG to the bin just yet before I do some testing.

Funny thing is the file is detected as hostile when it's a process, not a file somewhere.

Yes, it detects it as hostile when it runs due to it's behavior. It's very virus like but if you have read good reviews of the AV, it may be good to assume it's a false positive.

Run the files through VirusTotal if you truly want to be sure. VirusTotal is a website that runs..42 AVs against a file? I think it was 42 AV but don't quote me on it. razz



As for your sluggish computer, having two antiviruses will indeed cause sluggish. Hell, one one alone can do the job but two can be overkill. There can also be a lot more processes taking up space but the antiviruses are probably the main culprit.

I know what you're saying. I checked VT and it passed (and it scans via 53 scanners or so now). Although 1 of those scanners I never heard of said AdwCleaner is a trojan (and so did Panda for that matter but then it changed it's mind and decided it's safe afterall). But yeah, I think it's safe enough to assume.

Antiviral software overall tends to be somewhat territorial and uncooperating thus I assumed this hit be a case of "whatcha doin' on me turf?", but who can ever be fully sure. And the thing about reviews is that there's never a consensus - test show something's good while people say it isn't or vice versa.

[Villain Vanilla]

I was talking to a rep from HP once and he said the free version of avg can cause problems and that all you really need is Windows Defender.

[Contest and Guild]

Villain Vanilla

I was talking to a rep from HP once and he said the free version of avg can cause problems and that all you really need is Windows Defender.

I need to meet the rep that told you to use windows defender so i can slap him.

if avg does not work for you i have used bit defender before and it is a great program as long as you keep it updated.

[Nuclear Muchacho]

Contest and Guild

Villain Vanilla

I was talking to a rep from HP once and he said the free version of avg can cause problems and that all you really need is Windows Defender.

I need to meet the rep that told you to use windows defender so i can slap him.

if avg does not work for you i have used bit defender before and it is a great program as long as you keep it updated.

Second that. WD doesn't pick up anything. Ever. The guys at Sony Pictures were probably relying on it and the results are all over the news wink .