FileFront Forums - Avast update responsible for loads of false positives.

I had just installed the DiRT 2 PC Demo and had a problem with it CtDT after switching the audio from Rapture to software. Shortly after I got a weird problem where my startup programs would hang and nothing would respond to mouse clicks. Hovering the cursor over the taskbar would result in the hourglass.

I finally got into the desktop with functionality via shutting down startup progs and non system services via the msconfig utility in safe mode. This was followed by Avast going off upon scanning certain startps and via a Documents and Settings scan. I wound up with over 50 items moved to the virus chest.

I then went a Googlin' and found many others on the DSL Reports forum having the same problem with Avast's 12/02 update. Then to make matters worse, the items in the chest would not restore, or so I thought. Turns out (via more Googling), items in the chest do not actually simultaneously restore and remove from the chest like the help file says. They stay in the chest after restoration and have to be deleted.

So I got away with only 3 small apps needing reinstalling. They were the first of those which had files Avast flagged as viruses and I deleted them. Since then it appears Avast has made another update later today (12/02) and things seem to be in order now. For a while there it was frantic. I could not even get on their forum, no doubt due to loads of people having the same problem.

BTW, the most common FP found was named "Win32: Delf-MZG". If you've made some moves to the virus chest recently that you think may be false positives, which can be checked for by turning off all Avast processes and services then running a competing AV's online scanner, don't forget the files restore even though they still show in the chest.