Idp.alexa.51 - possibly false positive?

I have the same problem but it "infected" powershell.exe I am using the Free version

Ok I have the same problem.  AVG has falsely IDed several components of my Sage accountancy software.  Ive followed your instructions here, i.e updated to the latest 21/07 update, and Ive tried to restore the quarantined files.  Two restored fine, but two have failed, giving the errors "Removal item in wrong state" and "The object identifier does not represent a valid object".

I can now start Sage but the components that have failed to restore are responsible for serving the data so I cant access our company accounts.  There is a backup but its several days out of date and will mean a LOT of work to make it current.

What do I do?  As you can imagine this is rather mission critical.

Have just bought a cheap digital microscope. Drivers are dated 2004. On install of drivers AVG is showing this threat - it is not clear to me whether this is a valid threat or a false positive on old drivers.

Hello,
I saw this bug was opened on July 2016 
Even after so much of time, I am getting the same issue. And I am 100% sure that its false positive. I am an application developer. I got this warning in an application which is developed by myself only. I am very sure that I have not used anything which will make antivirus think that I am hacking.

There is one more thing, I was not getting this warning earlier and suddenly it started showing the error. I have done nothing much just changed some variables. Which should not trigger this, I am sure.

Can you please justify this random behaviour? Will all my customers, who have AVG antivirus installed, will get this threat? If it is so, It will be a huge problem for me.

Same thing happened for windows 10 Pro 64bit
I was installing Western Digital 'WD Discovery'
got error:
C:\users\brand\AppData\Local\Temp\BD1E.tmp.exe
Threat name : IDP.ALEXA.51

Hi Alan

Your colleague Karthikeyan answered my second question with her comment: “This issue will be resolved automatically in next update.”
 
As for my first question though, I looked at the article you linked Flo to don't think it answers my question (it's to do with, I think, how to submit a programme file to AVG for them to test whether it really is a FALSE positive?)
 
What I was hoping to know was a more general fact:
 
Is it generally possible, or impossible, for an .exe file that has been on a computer for years, and is in use daily, to become compromised by some sort of malicious code that’s been picked up recently – in other words, can a newly introduced virus or malware on occasions somehow RE-WRITE an existing .exe file, to embed something malicious inside it?

Can you help me understand this? Thanks.

Hello Emre,

This looks like a false detection by AVG.
May I know whether you are using the free or paid version of AVG Antivirus?
If it is the paid version, get connected with our technical chat support using this https://support.avg.com/support_tech_chat link to get further assistance.
If it is the free version, please create your own post on this community which will help us to provide further assistance.
Thank you.

Hello,
I registered solely to report, that I have a similair issue.
Starting today, AVG reports noumerous exe files of programms I have on my PC since a long time.
Your reply means that I can rest assured and it's not likely, that I have several infections in exe files of well known programms, such as genuine software by logitech for my mouse etc?
However, I was not able to restore all of the false positives and a mail app, downloaded from the microsoft app store was destroyed by AVG and can not be restored, uninstalled or re-installed by AVG or the store app.
AVG is screwing up my work PC.
Please solve this issue, or I have to leave ship

Anthony, let's have a look into this together. 
Do you have the latest version of AVG AntiVirus Free/AVG Internet Security installed on your device? To find: Open AVG Internet Security > Menu > About.
Keep us updated to proceed further.

AVG claims just now to have detected the idp.alexa.51 virus in a 5-line batch file that I WROTE MYSELF!!! I'm pretty sure I didn't accidentally write a virus. I'm not clever enough.

cmd.exe?
hello,
file seems never changed or modified from the beginning of windows installation. but avg reports idp.alexa.51. uploaded file to false-negative check tool. can you check ist fake or not?
best.
Emre

We're sorry to know that, Anthony. 
This seems to be possibly a false positive. In this regard, we suggest you to submit a false positive request by visiting this link (https://www.avg.com/en-us/false-positive-file-form).
Before proceeding with that, update AVG once & then restart your computer to check if the issue persists. 
To update : Click on refresh icon beside Virus definitions that is available in the homepage of AVG Internet Security.

I just tried to download and run Amazon LumberYard. AVG stuck the file in the virus chest and said it was infected with idp.alexa.51 - definately a false positive.
Did someone 'unfix' this

Hello Alex,
We regret for the inconvenience caused. We are sorry for the delay in responding. What exact type of files you are unable to restore? Based on type of AVG's detection, only executable files should be removed and no data is removed. We also suggest contacting 'Sage' support to get assistance to backup/restore the data. Thank you.

Hi Alan

Your colleague Karthikeyan answered my second question with her comment: “This issue will be resolved automatically in next update.”
 
As for my first question though, I looked at the article you linked Flo to don't think it answers my question (it's to do with, I think, how to submit a programme file to AVG for them to test whether it really is a FALSE positive?)
 
What I was hoping to know was a more general fact:
 
Is it generally possible, or impossible, for an .exe file that has been on a computer for years, and is in use daily, to become compromised by some sort of malicious code that’s been picked up recently – in other words, can a newly introduced virus or malware on occasions somehow RE-WRITE an existing .exe file, to embed something malicious inside it?

Can you help me understand this? Thanks.

Hello,
I registered solely to report, that I have a similair issue.
Starting today, AVG reports noumerous exe files of programms I have on my PC since a long time.
Your reply means that I can rest assured and it's not likely, that I have several infections in exe files of well known programms, such as genuine software by logitech for my mouse etc?
However, I was not able to restore all of the false positives and a mail app, downloaded from the microsoft app store was destroyed by AVG and can not be restored, uninstalled or re-installed by AVG or the store app.
AVG is screwing up my work PC.
Please solve this issue, or I have to leave ship

Hello Karthikeyan

Thank you so much for such a very quick response.

I'm glad it's 'just' a problem with AVG and not a real problem with my computer!

Thank you for your help regarding how to avoid further trouble.

Regards Jonathan

I have also had this problem.  Currently attending school for Info Sec and have downloaded several tools which aren't dangerous and come from a valid source, primarily Wireshark and ProcessExplorer.

Hi there.

In common with other people, it seems (having done a couple of searches online) I've very recently (over the past 2-3 days) had a spate of 'Threat Removed' notifications from AVG, ALL supposedly having found IDP.ALEXA.51 in programs I have had installed on my computer for many months - actually, probably YEARS - and which use almost daily.

AVG has also supposedly found IDP.ALEXA.51 in a few exe files which are not so easy for me to identify - they're not applications I consciously use; more likely pre-installed background things (eg c:\windows\swUSB.exe or c:.…Samsung… EasySpeedUpManager2.exe).

None of these apparently infected programmes is, as far as I can tell, a program I've only just downloaded and installed. Though, I suppose in some cases they may be automatically updated 'latest versions'.

But in all the cases I recognise, they're programs I've used for a long time and have no cause to doubt the security of, UNLESS…

… unless it's possible for a virus to infect a genuine .exe file of a genuine 'valid' software program I've had installed on my machine for ages.

*** Can anyone tell me if this scenario is possible?

If it's not, then I'll feel fairly confident in 'restoring' anything I need to use on a daily basis, and will trust that these are 'false positive' matches and that whatever has caused AVG to suddenly start finding this supposed problem in lots of files will soon be fixed by AVG.

*** Can anyone from AVG tell me. Is this the sort of thing that happens occasionally. That AVG need might become a bit 'overzealous' and find apparent danger where it doesn't exist?

Because I've seen AVG respond to similar postings with requests about which version of AVG and what threat removal messages, etc… I'll see if I can upload some screen shots of that sort of thing.

But my questions are more generic in nature. 

To reiterate/rephrase them:

a) could this be a valid danger: a virus that has somehow 'got into' .exe files that have been on my computer for years?

b) might the problems I'm facing be a temporary issue with the 'sensitivity' of AVG, that might soon be fixed by an update or patch?

Many thanks.

Jonathan

Hello Anthony, 
We have to check if  IDP.ALEXA.51 is a real threat or false positive. 
We recommend you to reach us via your own post: https://support.avg.com/support_authorization_required?startUrl=/support_ask to locate the account and to assist you further.