More than one week later and the issue is still not resolve, despite the following answer from the AVG Customer Care team I received 5 days ago:
Hello Geert,
I'm sorry for the trouble and delay. The problem was on our side, but AVG ThreatLab team confirmed that they already fixed the false-positive permanently. Now it should be fine.
If you have any further questions or need help with any of our products, I remain at your disposal.
Just checked it this morning and still, the file is not whitelisted yet although there is no virus whatsoever!
I already answered to the Customer Care team (customer care???? really????) to express my frustration about this issue.
I've had it with you guys, really... I'm pissed off with such a service.
Hello Geert.
Thank you for contacting AVG Community Support.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
We request you submit the false-positive request using the below link.
AVG False-positive site (https://www.avg.com/en-ww/false-positive-file-form)
Once you submit a false-positive form, our AVG Threat detection team will analyze it and get back to you via email. If it is confirmed as safe, it will be whitelisted and the virus definitions database will be released through an update.
If you believe/confirm the threat pop-up has been falsely detected by AVG, then you may exclude the site from scanning in AVG AntiVirus.
To exclude the file/website, please refer to this article (https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlname=AVG-Antivirus-scan-exclusions).
Thanks for your understanding.
Yesterday, I downloaded the OpenPLC Editor for Windows executable from this website: https://openplcproject.com/download-windows/
Almost immediately, AVG gave me the message it was infected with Win32:Malware-gen.
I sent the file to AVG for inspection with the message I needed ASAP feedback because I need that application urgently. I did this by means of the send option I had in the window I saw in the AVG application when the infection was detected.
But I didn't get any feedback yet. A pity for someone who pays for AVG! I thought there was some kind of "premium response" for paying customers? Apparently not.
Anyway, I uploaded the file to the VirusTotal website since I wanted to know what other virusscanners thought about the so-called infected file.
Surprisingly, well... actually not really, only Avast and AVG (twin brothers, right?) saw an infection. All other scanners, even the renowned ones like BitDefender, ESET-NOD32 and Microsoft to name a few, didn't see any problem with that file.
My question: is this now really a "false positive" detection from AVG or what? And can you pls. check the file I uploaded through my AVG application ASAP? I really need this installation package TODAY! I can add the exe to the list of exceptions but I want a confirmation first.
Geert
Thank you for writing us back, Geert.
We sincerely apologize for all the trouble caused. This isn't the experience we want our customers to have.
We are sorry to know that you are still facing this issue. We are uncertain what went wrong exactly. This situation is being handled by our senior team which is in high priority. They'll soon check and get back to you via email at the earliest.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
On Thursday, I received an e-mail from AVG support regarding the above issue. They told me they investigated the website and file. This is (part of) the answer I received:
Along with AVG virus specialists, we've checked the reported URL. Based on the findings, the detection was removed. The website is now marked as clean in the AVG virus database. This change may take up to 24 hours to take full effect.
This morning, more than 24 hours later, I tried again to download the file after I updated whatever I could update in AVG (check for updated virus DB, updated exe version,...).
Guess what? NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!! Website is still blocked when I try to download the file, so not a damned thing changed.
In the mean time I contacted the author of the application (what else can I do? If AVG doesn't do anything, then I'll take the necessary steps!) and asked him to send me the SHA-256 hash to check for file integrity.
He did almost instantaneously (that's that I call service!) and I verifed the number with the hash calculated from the executable. Guess what? There's nothing wrong with the executable. Was in fact also almost 100% proven by VirusTotal, since only AVG and Avast (what a coincidence) tagged it as being infected.
In a couple of months, it's time to renew my subscription but I'm afraid AVG will lose yet another customer. That's not helping customers, that's not giving service to customers, that's just... s**t!
Then I prefer to switch to another antivirus program, despite the 15+ years I'm a paying customer of AVG. But apparently they don't care, seen the level of service I've received.
Very, very, very disappointed!
First off, you could have downloaded the file yourself since I gave you all the coordinates in my original e-mail.
Second: it takes ages before the server responds to me to tell me this:
Internal Server Error - Write
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Reference #4.3ed9dd58.1672221456.5c9deeff
What the heck?
So, I currently can't upload the file myself. Tried with Chrome as well as with Egde.
Pls. take appropriate actions to solve the issue or to get the exe yourself and ask for analysis.
Hello Geert.
Thank you for contacting AVG Community Support.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
We request you submit the false-positive request using the below link.
AVG False-positive site (https://www.avg.com/en-ww/false-positive-file-form)
Once you submit a false-positive form, our AVG Threat detection team will analyze it and get back to you via email. If it is confirmed as safe, it will be whitelisted and the virus definitions database will be released through an update.
If you believe/confirm the threat pop-up has been falsely detected by AVG, then you may exclude the site from scanning in AVG AntiVirus.
To exclude the file/website, please refer to this article (https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlname=AVG-Antivirus-scan-exclusions).
Thanks for your understanding.
Thank you for writing us back, Geert.
We understand your concern and frustration. We are trying to help you.
Please try send us the screenshot by expanidng the "See details" of the threat secured pop up you got, using the below article.
https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?urlname=avg-create-screenshot
You can post the screenshot here in your topic. Click on Answer & then click on the Image [mountain symbol] & follow the instructions.
So that we can create a ticket on your behalf and forward it to our Threat reports to get a permanent solution.
Thank you and keep us updated.
Thank you for your efforts. We appreciate it, Geert.
Please make sure your AVG is up to date using the below steps:
> Open the AVG user interface and click the Refresh icon next to Virus definition in the bottom-right corner of the main application screen.
> Wait while AVG checks for virus definition updates.
> When the update is complete, you see the message Virus definitions are up to date.
> You may need to restart your PC to complete the update. If prompted, click Restart Now to immediately reboot.
Also kindly check whether your AVG program is updated using the below step,
> Open AVG > Menu > About > Check for 22.12 version
May I confirm whether you can able to access the site after adding it to exceptions list?
Awaiting your response.
First off, it's Geert, not Greet…
I want to come back on "whitelisting the website". If you just access the website, there's no problem. It's only when you want to download the Windows executable from their website that AVG kicks in. Again my question: pls. check if the file is truly infected or not.
It can't be that difficult, right? Simply go here: Download – windows – Autonomy and select "Just download". Then you have all the information you need to check if the executable is indeed infected with a virus or not.,
See image below.
More than one week later and the issue is still not resolve, despite the following answer from the AVG Customer Care team I received 5 days ago:
Hello Geert,
I'm sorry for the trouble and delay. The problem was on our side, but AVG ThreatLab team confirmed that they already fixed the false-positive permanently. Now it should be fine.
If you have any further questions or need help with any of our products, I remain at your disposal.
Just checked it this morning and still, the file is not whitelisted yet although there is no virus whatsoever!
I already answered to the Customer Care team (customer care???? really????) to express my frustration about this issue.
I've had it with you guys, really... I'm pissed off with such a service.