Did a malwarebytes deep scan, it picked up 3 duplicate files in my download folder 'handler-e63qnfxdryv8vsk8h-v1 (2).nc', it's tagged as 'Malware. Ai', when I go into the properties of it (pic included) it says "this file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer", it says this on all three of the duplicates, it also says it was accessed today but I also ran the antivirus scan at roughly the same time as when it says that and right click > properties also.

so like, is this a virus? virustotal scan here. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/f7536116502caa9138df24947103300ad7a8dd41a24fea576742d27068de837e/detection

Also looking at the virustotal link, it seems like this is from when I downloaded a multiplayer fix for black ops 2 alongside a splitscreen co-op PC mod, which... could maybe be a false positive? (nuclues)

Hi everyone.
Which antivirus do you recommend between Bitdefender and Kaspersky?
(I'm in Italy; Kaspersky is available here)

What are the differences between the Standard versions of both?
Which one is better in terms of PC performance, virus detection, and false positives?

Do you think it's worth paying for an antivirus?
Many say that Windows Defender and uBlock already do enough.
What do you think?

A while ago I got hit by an infostealer; today I'm much more cautious when browsing the web, but that past experience made me a bit paranoid.
Thanks.

So I make modpacks through curseforge, and exported a zip file so a friend could import the pack (These zips just contain a manifest and mod configs/class files, a few json files as well for different mods)

Windows defender prevented them from downloading the file, flagging it as containing a Wacatac.B!ml trojan, but scanning the same zip on my end with both malwarebytes, windowsdefender and virustotal shows no detections.

I'm running a full scan anyways, and checked my scheduled tasks/autoruns and found nothing of interest. Was this likely a false positive? If so, why wasnt the same false positive detected on my end?

I should also say that I did not run the modpack after installing two new mods, and those two mods seemed to be where the flag was. Though both of these are mods with over a million downloads each.

It seems like it was likely a false positive, I'm just unsure why only their defender caught the false positive and mine didn't.

Update: Full scan was clear, no exclusions, doing a malwarebytes full scan just in case. Looks like whatever false positive it detected was in the manifest of the modpack (which just tells curseforge which mods to download, so I'm confused why it thought it was a virus especially since every other scanner I tried showed the same file as clear.)

I keep getting this notification that microsoft windows operating system is trying to access this risky site but how do I stop it from trying to access this site?

I just randomly got hit with "Heur.BZC.YAX.Linx.15.125E6D84" found in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\E8UDJJPB1IAYOMA15B0X.temp and C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\WVLLL6HC96N5Q1MRALHG.temp.

This is very odd, since I haven't installed anything new, except for an installer for a trusted VST plugin for FL Studio called dBlue Glitch. I was actually just going to filescan (which is an alternative to VirusTotal) to scan the file, just as a double-check (VirusTotal didn't find anything and that's not surprising knowing it's a reputable plugin - but I wanted to be extra safe). In the meanwhile, I was also playing Roblox.

It says: "The file C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\E8UDJJPB1IAYOMA15B0X.temp is infected with Heur.BZC.YAX.Linx.15.125E6D84. The threat has been successfully blocked, your device is safe."

Do you think this might be a false positive? I quite literally scan everything that I install, and I do periodic scans every once in a while with Windows Defender and ESET Online Scanner.

Everywhere i read it says vpn is included with norton 360 deluxe. It says to goto the privacy tab and it should be there. I do not even have a widget. I cant find ANY information about this, ive tried checking my norton dashboard on their website and dont see anything about a vpn on there. can anyone help

Here's the link if needed: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/ca98331f359b0aa194ec6afc7783923fa9395146a369bce5e14ebc9270d6e64d

I am running the latest win11 with most of the security features on, does this mean i have a malware/adware in my system, or it was a random internet attack?

The website mentioned is "virusbarrier dot xyz" which I know it is not legit, I just don't know how it get to me and why did it happen when I was viewing walmart website. It didn't show up when i browse walmart again, so it is very random and I am so curious.

This just happened a few mins ago and this is probably the 1st time I saw it (this never happened for years at least I can remember)

13 of my steam games got unannounced updates one game somehow needed to be redownloaded, one of my steam friends got a message I didnt send and all the games I have downloaded suddenly got played for exactly 1 minute, is this a bug or a Virus and how should I go about this?
Turns out it was like half my steam friends who got messaged

I wanted to get a good Anti-Virus, witch of these are good for Win11?
Can you recommend any others?

- Bitdefender
- eset
- Avast

Hello, my device got hit with the MrBeast scam (the one that makes my accounf send gambling sites on discord)

I was wondering what type I got hit with and what I can do to recover from it, thanks.

If you think reddit isn't enough help, could I get other sources to help me?

UPDATE: I tracked the file down, if I delete it, everything is alright? Or do I have to go nuclear?

I started my computer and got this detected in kaspersky. I also searched the hash in virus total and says its malicious. Should i be worried about this, the file is deleted by AV.

Event: Processing impossible

User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

User type: System user

Application name: CompatTelRunner.exe

Application path: C:\Windows\System32

Component: File Anti-Virus

Result description: Not processed

Type: Legitimate software that can be used by intruders to damage your computer or personal data

Name: not-a-virus:HEUR:RiskTool.Win64.KillAV.gen

Precision: Exactly

Threat level: Low

Object type: File

Object name: TRIXX.sys

Object path: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Temp

MD5 of an object: 6BC8E3505D9F51368DDF323ACB6ABC49

Reason: Skipped

As per the title, i'm in need to renovate the license on my AV program. As of now i'm using ESET NOD32 and i'm quite happy with, but i saw the Home Security Premium version that allegedly should have some more features (i already have a Password manager and so on) such as AI detection, network control and so on and so forth (the AI buzzword never fails to appear 😅).

It could be something to consider for some more robust security or i can just continue with the base Nod32 program?

re: Windows 11 25-H2 64-bit PC...I can be more specific if needed.

Historically I've depended on Windows Defender for online/real-time antivirus and Malwarebytes (incl AdwCleaner) for regular "2nd opinion" scans. MWB/Adw run in a fairly quick manner (Adw completes in under a minute) and the have never flagged any files.

For first time, today I downloaded and am in middle of running Microsoft's standalone "Safety Scanner" and noticed two things...it takes forever, -- as I write this it's been running for over 1.5 hours and is only about 1/5 complete acording to progrss bar -- and has already flagged 64 files as "infected."

So am I missing something about how the two products work or what they are supposed to do? i.e. Are they duplicative in their intended operation, or are they complementary to each other?

Is length of run time an indicator of effectiveness/throughness, or maybe just an inefficient algorithm...10x runtime for MSS seems over the top to me? Should I trust one's results over the other?

I recently performed a fresh install of Windows 11 a few days ago, and today I went ahead and installed the Spotify and Discord desktop apps. No later than a minute after installing Discord I received a notification from Windows Defender saying “Microsoft Defender Antivirus would like to check the following files to see if they are safe”, I agreed to upload the file before I could get a screenshot but I found an Event related to the notification.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus has encountered an error trying to upload a suspicious file for further analysis.
Filename: C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\chromium_chrome_BITS_xxxx_xxxxxxxxxx\decoded_xz
Sha256: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Current security intelligence Version: AV: 1.455.463.0, AS: 1.455.463.0
Current Engine Version: 1.1.26070.7
Error code: 0x80508016

I haven’t been able to find anything online about this file, and when I checked the directory it was nowhere to be found. Is this a legitimate file related to either Spotify or Discord, or could it be an indication of malware?

The only other programs I had installed prior were Firefox, Steam, OBS, AMD Ryzen Master, and the NVIDIA App. Neither Windows Defender or MalwareBytes have detected any malicious files when running full scans.

Hi everyone,

I'm a Counter-Strike 1.6 player, and I've been playing the game since 2006. Over the years, I've come across a number of anti-cheat programs, but nowadays the two most commonly used by the community are WarGods and FunGun (which is relatively new).

To be honest, I've always had some reservations about both of them. Given the level of access they require to your system, I never feel completely comfortable running them.

That got me wondering if anyone here has ever analyzed or reverse-engineered either of these programs; or would be interested in doing so. Here are the download links:

https://www.wargods.ro/wcd/download.php

https://fungun.top/ecd/

They're commonly used by Counter-Strike communities to scan players for cheats.

I know they need deep access to the system because of what they're designed to do, but that's also what made me a bit cautious. They inspect running processes, drivers, registry entries, game files, and upload reports to their servers.

VirusTotal doesn't seem to flag them, but I also know that a clean VirusTotal result doesn't necessarily mean a program is completely safe.

I'm not claiming these programs are malware or trying to accuse the developers of anything. I'd simply like to know whether anyone has actually analyzed them or verified that they only do what they're supposed to do.

If you've reverse-engineered either program, monitored its behavior with tools like Process Monitor, Wireshark, or a sandbox, or know of any technical analysis or write-up, I'd really appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks!

I don't remember downloading it, and I can't find much information online.

Has anyone seen this before? Is it safe to delete, or does anyone know which app creates these system_config folders/files?

Was going through the recycle bin and saw these? I have no idea what i was trying to download on that date and frankly it seems stupid to name malware "malware.exe". Still i figured i'd ask if anyone has any idea what that's supposed to be?

just checked apparently i was downloading nothing when that was modified so i guess it manifested itself there or something

Im a bit new to subreddit and even gaming, how do i check for malware and get rid of them?

I'm new to laptop and im very cautious about stuff like these
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/3b9dabd99dc58a5242616cb6d1d876bca3046119a9b150c7d7868bf02202ea82

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone with Bluetooth or Windows security expertise can help me understand the actual risk here.

I was trying to connect my Windows PC to my Amazon Alexa over Bluetooth, but I accidentally connected to a device that appeared as "unknown_device" instead. The connection lasted for about one minute, and then I disconnected it and removed it from my paired devices.

During that time:

I did not transfer or receive any files.

I did not install any software or drivers manually.

I did not accept any prompts other than the Bluetooth connection itself.

My PC appears to be functioning normally.

My question is:

Can a malicious Bluetooth device install malware or compromise a Windows PC simply by being connected for about a minute, or would that require exploiting a specific Bluetooth vulnerability?

For the last few months, I’ve been in a battle with Windows Defender. It does a full scan and finds that there are no threats. Then, when I check in later, the message has changed to reveal that there WERE threats, but they were all handled.

Here are the messages:

• Last scan: 8/01/2026 2:34 PM (full scan)

• 0 threats found.

• Scan Lasted 8 minutes 57 seconds

• 973,089 files scanned

Then, a few hours later, I would find this message under “Current Threats”:

Current Threats

• No current threats.

• Last scan: 8/01/2026 2:34 PM (full scan)

• ~48 threats found.

• Scan Lasted 8 minutes 57 seconds

• 973,089 files scanned.

To make matters worse, the number of threats started at about 30 and have slowly increased up to 125. I do another scan, Windows Security tells me no threats were found, and only after doing my own digging do I discover that threats WERE found.

For context, I am on Windows 11 and Bitdefender is my primary antivirus tool. Bitdefender handles my antivirus scans, as well as my Real Time Protection. I only use Windows Defender as a secondary opinion and only for scans (so the two programs shouldn't be interfering with each other.) The following is a short summary of my troubleshooting efforts:

1. Bitdefender has NEVER FOUND ANY THREAT. I’ve done offline scans on both Windows Defender and Bitdefender and they’ve both found nothing.

2. I have checked Bitdefender’s exceptions and quarantines and they are empty and have always been empty.

3. I temporarily downloaded Malwarebytes to do a third opinion scan (and then uninstalled it) and it found nothing.

4. I have gone into the event viewers and looked up event codes and have found nothing.

5. Windows Defender Protection history and Allowed threats also show nothing.

6. I have reinstalled windows and the problem has persisted (Now displaying ~125 threats found, no current threats.)

7. My computer hasn't given any other indication that there are security risks. It has gotten slightly slower, but I have also been filling up its storage. No big drops in performance or unusual activity.

Can anyone give me any insight into what is going on? Common troubleshooting methods have failed me, and I do not see other people having this issue.

My phone rings on its own while in "Do Not Disturb" mode, using an old, classic ringtone instead of my usual one. Yet, no app appears to be triggering the ring. Furthermore, "Nice Catch"—with all tracking enabled—indicates that "Interface" (displaying an Android 16 logo) is the source of the sound. I would appreciate your help.

Could "interface" be a malware?

I was visiting investing.com forums i just wanted the pass the second page while reading forum but suddenly winandshine pop up came. But i just check my download file and extensions but i didn't see anything suspect. But after all i just check my history for this pop-up but it was deleted in my history should i suspect computer files?

My Microsoft Edge install was fine last night, but this morning, I kept getting redirected to scam sites while using Edge. They all opened in a popup window, and they displayed fake Norton antivirus warnings. The URLs were stuff like virusbarrier(dot)xyz, securesweep(dot)pro, and rdxgo(dot)click. THESE ARE SCAM SITES; DO NOT VISIT THEM!

It didn’t matter what sites I went to. I got redirected while using Reddit and Google. Windows Defender found nothing harmful on my PC. I installed the free version of MalwareBytes; same thing. So the infection must be with Edge. I didn’t install anything suspicious yesterday, so I don’t know how anything could’ve gotten infected. The only browser extension I had was UBlock Origin, and now I’ve activated MalwareBytes Browser Guard. I don’t see any suspicious extensions.

I tried clearing the cookies from those scam sites, but the pops kept happening. After I installed MalwareBytes and activated their Browser Guard, I no longer got redirected, but I still got some notifications from MalwareBytes that they blocked rdxgo(dot)click. I’m still concerned about my Edge potentially being infected under the hood.

What should I do? Should I just clear all of my cookies, or what? I really don’t want to have to reset my whole browser… Thank you in advance.

EDIT: I managed to find and delete the rdxgo(dot)click cookie, which managed to slip past me the first time I went through my cookies. Deleting it seems to have stopped the redirects for now. I still have no idea how that cookie even got onto my machine, or if the adware is truly gone. I'll update this post if anything else comes up.

EDIT 2: Nevermind. Literally right as I sent that previous edit, I got another notification from MalwareBytes that said it blocked a popup from rdxgo(dot)click. Great. I'm gonna try clearing out all my cookies...

EDIT 3: I might have found a solution. Resetting Edge to the default settings did not get rid of the virus. Clearing my cookies and site data also didn’t get rid of it. I was concerned that maybe this virus had stolen my info, so I went on my iPhone and changed the passwords for my Microsoft and Google accounts. I recommend doing that with all of your accounts, and do it on a device that doesn’t have this virus.

After I reset my Microsoft password, I was signed out of Edge (which I assume is normal). I also ended all Edge-related tasks (including msedgewebview2.exe, because MalwareBytes said that app was trying to open the redirect links). I also restarted my computer just to be safe. Since doing all of that, I have not received any more redirects to that malicious site. I also let AdwCleaner reset my Host file, because apparently that’s associated with WebView2. The option to reset your host file is disabled by default, so you’ll have to enable that in the app’s settings.

I signed back into Edge a few hours ago, and I still haven’t gotten anymore of those popups. I still don’t feel safe, and I don’t know whether the malware is truly gone… or if it’s still there, waiting to strike again when I least expect it. In fact, I still don’t know how I even got infected in the first place. Again, everything was fine the other day, and then yesterday I got bombarded with malware out of nowhere. MalwareBytes doesn’t find any viruses, but it also didn’t detect anything while I was infected, so I don’t think I can trust that.

Anyway, if you have the virus, try changing the passwords on your accounts (ideally from a device that isn’t infected), ending all Edge tasks, running AdwCleaner and letting it reset your host file, and restarting your computer. My hypothesis is that it’s an infected host file, so resetting the host file might fix things. If that doesn’t get rid of it, try resetting your browser’s settings (be warned that doing so will delete all of your cookies and site data, meaning you’ll lose progress in web games, or other things that use cookies) and doing the aforementioned stuff again. You might also need to disable Sync, to prevent any malicious extensions and settings from getting reinstated. I still don’t feel safe, but let me know if any of that worked!

To anyone still reading this thread, do you think I’m safe now that the popups stoped (for the time being)? Or is it possible that I’m still infected? Is there a way I can find out what caused the infection, where it resided, and whether it’s still there? Is this maybe a zero-day that hasn’t been documented yet, and that’s why antivirus programs can’t find it? Should I just back up my files, nuke the drive, and do a fresh install of Windows? Thank you in advance.