AVG False Positive Breaks iTunes
Over the weekend, the development team behind AVG Anti-Virus has pushed a virus signature update to users running the security solution, and while keeping your software up-to-date is commendable from a security point of view, this time you are better off not updating. The problem is that the virus signature update breaks iTunes – and the way it does this is by flagging two core files as being infected. Please note that this problem affects Window users only.
The files in question are iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll. AVG Anti-Virus identifies both files as being infected with Small.BOG. This is what’s called in the security world as a false positive: the security software identifies a file as being infected or as posing a threat to the security of your system, even though there is nothing wrong with that file. In actual fact, it is a means of putting a positive spin on something that went very wrong (the pun was intentional). To my mind, it is just a means of saying “whoops, we messed up that one.”
Getting back to the AVG false positive, there is one other interesting thing that caught everyone’s attention: iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll are flagged as being infected with Small.BOG, but this name does not appear in the databases of any major antivirus provider. It does not even appear in AVG’s virus encyclopedia either.
It may be that the privately held Czech company that specializes in providing security software solutions has identified this new malware ahead of the competition and has yet to update its virus encyclopedia; or it may be that they screwed up.
For the time being there are two workarounds that you can make use of:
- If AVG flags iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll as being infected, do not quarantine the files.
- Instruct AVG to not scan the iTunes directory.
Tags: AVG, Antivirus, iTunes, False positive, Malware
The files in question are iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll. AVG Anti-Virus identifies both files as being infected with Small.BOG. This is what’s called in the security world as a false positive: the security software identifies a file as being infected or as posing a threat to the security of your system, even though there is nothing wrong with that file. In actual fact, it is a means of putting a positive spin on something that went very wrong (the pun was intentional). To my mind, it is just a means of saying “whoops, we messed up that one.”
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Getting back to the AVG false positive, there is one other interesting thing that caught everyone’s attention: iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll are flagged as being infected with Small.BOG, but this name does not appear in the databases of any major antivirus provider. It does not even appear in AVG’s virus encyclopedia either.
It may be that the privately held Czech company that specializes in providing security software solutions has identified this new malware ahead of the competition and has yet to update its virus encyclopedia; or it may be that they screwed up.
For the time being there are two workarounds that you can make use of:
- If AVG flags iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll as being infected, do not quarantine the files.
- Instruct AVG to not scan the iTunes directory.
Tags: AVG, Antivirus, iTunes, False positive, Malware
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