Windows Defender sniffer hates a file.

Hi!
Most every time I run EQ Windows Defender wants me to submit the file
GameLauncherCefChildProcess.exe (with a " :CRC " after it)
to Microsoft for further study.
What's up with the latest version of that file that's tripping Windows Defender??

-Rat

Mine does it once a day.

Windows Defender can also hurt game performance overall.

Maybe with a "real" game.
But EQ is so old it's resource impact is quite negligable.
-R

I would think this deserves an answer sooner than later.
When your software is tripping "red flags" in people's system protection; I would expect that users have a right to know WTF is going on.
-Rat

Answers from Daybreak?

In the meantime, you could always upload that file to VirusTotal and have it automatically scanned against 56 different antivirus/anti-malware products.
(Choose file to upload, click [Scan It] button, and click [Reanalyse] button) to see results.

I use Windows Defender on my Win10 install and it's never alerted me to problems with any EQ files and a VirusTotal check shows 0/56 detections of anything.

You can add monitoring exceptions for files that would cause performance problems, for example: EQs log folder.

I scan my computer regularly with three different anti-malware programs, and none of them has ever complained about any EQ or DB files.

To me, it sounds like a false positive detection by Microsoft's Windows Defender program. False positives by anti-malware programs aren't all that rare, and it's up to the company making the anti-malware program to correct the problem.

In other words: you should be in the Microsoft forums reporting this issue with their software and asking for explanations and a fix from them.

Complaining to Daybreak and expecting them to explain or solve a problem caused by somebody else's software is pointless.

I figure it's been submitted to Microsoft. It's their problem now.

Some virus alter other program by inserting themselves into them; you might have other infected files trying to spread.

I would have the EQ patcher check all files, in case the copy you have on your local disk is corrupted.

Way too many people are having the same issue (with that one same file) to make this line of thought even remotely viable.
I'm not suggesting it's a "virus". But it doing something "intrusive enough" when it runs to give Windows Defender some pause. Once a day, every day.
It's not too much to ask what changed about this file, and what it's now doing.
-Rat

Not true. Depending on your choice of hardware (etch-a-sketch, potato, or actual PC) scanning software can significantly reduce performance, specifically as it relates to log-file writing. I've seen people with /logint 0 set lag minutes behind during raids because Defender or some other software is checking every new line of spam.... slowly.

Would also disagree with this line of thinking. Just because it's happening to a group of people doesn't mean those people aren't all infected by some sort of malware. The fact is that it's not happening to an even larger portion of the population.

Would highly recommend taking Khat_Nips advice and running your specific file through Virus Total just to be safe.

Also, as a side note, Windows Defender is hilariously bad at actually identifying real threats. It's very likely this is just a false positive and a problem with Microsoft's evaluation of the file, not a malicious change in the file itself. If Virus Total says it's clean, add an exception for EQ to Windows Defender.

Better safe than sorry and all that jazz. GL!

it's changing other executable files; it's an installer, installers are known to trigger AV programs.

just exclude your EQ directory and be done with it.

You trust Microsoft for anything? People can't even download basic Windows Updates properly because of errors.