Antivirus Software False Positives

[Brad-LMGSO]

McAfee Livesafe is also removing the files when it does a security scan. I have added the files to the exclusion list and they still were removed during the last scan...

Scott-I feel your pain. I have the same anti-virus software with the same issue you are experiencing. Very annoying. I spoke with a Customer Rep Tech from Horizon Hobby. They informed me that there will be a software update with Realflight 9.5 to fix-but couldn't give a timeframe of when it will come to pass. I hope they get this issue solved soon.

 

[Speedbird93]

Same issue for me too.....McAfee.

 

[SCOTT SALA]

Scott-I feel your pain. I have the same anti-virus software with the same issue you are experiencing. Very annoying. I spoke with a Customer Rep Tech from Horizon Hobby. They informed me that there will be a software update with Realflight 9.5 to fix-but couldn't give a timeframe of when it will come to pass. I hope they get this issue solved soon.

Thanks Brad. Hopefully they can get to this quickly. I am running Real Flight 9.50.024. After McAfee quarantines the files, I am able to go back into McAfee settings and restore the Launcher files. My Real Flight then starts normally. However every time McAfee does another scan they are back in quarantine.....

 

[JBP]

Because of the information they require, it looks like I can't submit to McAfee for review without having experienced the problem myself. But you can! Here is a link with more info.

Thanks, Ryan. I have reported the issue to McAfee on 8 November in accordance with their instructions and I am still awaiting a response. Meanwhile, the launcher and launcher helper are still getting quarantined. In fact, the last time a few days ago, RealFlight.exe was also quarantined. I have decided leave the files quarantined and stop using the simulator until this is resolved.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

Several people have reported problems recovering the Launcher and LauncherHelper from quarantine. Affected users should still try that first, but if it fails, I have made those files available by direct download as a stopgap measure.

See my post for more info.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

What directory is LauncherHelper.exe supposed to be in? I don't see it or Launcher9.exe in my RealFlight9 directory. I just looked at my RF8 to make sure I am looking at it correctly and it has its Launcher8.exe but no LauncherHelper.exe either.

Is LauncherHelper also version specific (i.e. - could I use the one from build 9.50.021)?

Please see the post I just linked to above. It will answer these questions.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

I've seen some questions (might have been spread across a couple different threads) about what the Launcher and LauncherHelper do.

The Launcher runs with regular user (i.e., non-admin) permissions. It lets you:

• see when a newer version is available
• initiate an update (if available)
• start RealFlight
• open the RF manual
• open the Technical Support dialog
• restore defaults
• uninstall RF
• see your serial number
• see your version number
• open RealFlight.com in your browser

There are other ways to do a number of these things, especially now that RealFlight itself contains menu items for the Technical Support dialog and restoring defaults. But you still need the Launcher to perform updates.

The LauncherHelper requires administrator permissions to run. Think of it as the Launcher's other half. Everything that requires admin goes into it. So things like the actual online update process, the technical support dialog itself, product activation, and uninstallation are all handled by the LauncherHelper.

 

[TomSvircev]

Just got RF9.5 and the wireless dongle over the weekend. Same issue. Uninstalled McAffee. Windows Defender still sees the Launcher program as a virus after trying the Allow thing twice. Hope this gets resolved soon.

 

[TomSvircev]

I hate to say this, but next time I opened my Chrome browser after allowing the Launcher program in Windows Defender, my home page looked different and switched to Yahoo as the default browser... Coincidence?

 

[Ryan Douglas]

Just got RF9.5 and the wireless dongle over the weekend. Same issue. Uninstalled McAffee. Windows Defender still sees the Launcher program as a virus after trying the Allow thing twice. Hope this gets resolved soon.

We're definitely working on it! ? It's frustrating to hear that people seem to be having trouble with their antivirus software not listening to them. I believe several other people have reported trouble like that with McAfee.

In the case of Windows Defender, it has always listened to me after the first time. That one is especially confusing because the definitions are all supposed to be updated on their side to trust the current versions of the Launcher and LauncherHelper. Make sure you have the latest definitions.

From Microsoft:

We have removed the detection. Please follow the steps below to clear cached detection and obtain the latest malware definitions.

1. Open command prompt as administrator and change directory to c:\Program Files\Windows Defender
2. Run “MpCmdRun.exe -removedefinitions -dynamicsignatures”
3. Run "MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate"

Alternatively, the latest definition is available for download here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/definitions

I hate to say this, but next time I opened my Chrome browser after allowing the Launcher program in Windows Defender, my home page looked different and switched to Yahoo as the default browser... Coincidence?

100%.

 

[TomSvircev]

Well, I'm done. I appreciate your efforts, but I tried the command prompt things and actually got it to fully install. Then when started, it flagged the launcher as a virus. I tried to do an "Allow" to it, but the program disappeared. OK, uninstall and try re-installing. After about 10 minutes installing, get another virus flag. And the solution is to allow the viruses? I'm done. I won't return this as I bought it at a local hobby shop (The last real one left in San Diego) I try to support during these tough times, but I'm not going to waste any more time fighting it. I'll check back in here once in a while to see if it gets resolved.

In regards to my default search engine getting changed in Chrome, while I don't directly blame the RealFlight program for doing it, it must have happened indirectly with all the hoops I had jump through to try to get it to run. This has NEVER happened to me before with Chrome.

And I'm not someone here to just try to sow bad feelings towards RealFlight. I've been a long-time user of RealFlight, still using v6.5 but thought I would upgrade finally, and just want this to work. Just very frustrating. Why would so many people have this problem and it doesn't show up for the developers? Didn't they have beta testers? Or did corporate know about it and just push the product out anyway?

 

[ptarp]

Just FYI, I just bought RF 9.5 on Steam yesterday, and was having the issues mentioned here, and was unable to run, even after allowing all the instances of blockage in the history in Windows Defender. Today, I clicked "Check for updates" under "Virus & threat protection updates" and after it updated, everything worked. The definitions were updated yesterday as well, so I'm assuming Microsoft Just updated it's virus definitions w/a fix for this.

 

[TomSvircev]

Thanks for the notice, ptarp. I did the update, then RF9.5 installed and ran without a hitch! The Spektrum USB dongle works great, too. Just setting up my tx now so all the switches are where I like. Glad it didn't take long to resolve.

 

[tharbin]

Ryan,

Thank you for this. I now have RF9.5 back on my desktop. It was a little inconvenient to launch directly (I never bothered to make a desktop shortcut for RealFlight.exe). The only real issues for me were that I couldn't perform updates if they came out and that I couldn't do a clean uninstall. The additional information you have provided here on file locations and what each program is designed to do will also make it easier for us to self-help.

Thanks again.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

Hello everyone, important update here!

We've just released a new public beta where all the executables are digitally signed with a certificate that should at least reduce and hopefully completely prevent these kinds of false positives in the future.

Please go read the announcement and download the update. We need as many people as possible to test this to get a better sense of how well it is working. So far it has been 100% successful in controlled environments internally where we were able to prove both Windows Defender and McAfee complained about previous versions but not the new ones. But that is still a very limited test.

If you can't update because some of your vital files were quarantined, go here first. I've also modified that post and added a friendlier installer.

Even if RealFlight is running for you safely now, it is worth updating to get signed versions of the applications to keep it that way. We've all seen how it can be fine one day and not the next even though RealFlight hasn't changed.

Please report your results! We plan for this version or one like it to go out as a full public update early next week.

 

[tharbin]

Ryan,

Thanks, I've installed the beta. Just a suggestion: since you are adding a few updates to the new release, how about adding the new DXs and DXe controller profiles from the Trainer Edition? I copied the data from the DXs info from the Trainer Edition and added it as a custom controller to RF9.5 and it works great; much better than if I had tried to figure out the mapping myself. Since both the DXs and DXe are pretty common controllers with beginners, it should make it easier for a newbie to get going with the full edition.

Just a thought. Thanks again,
Tom

 

[JBP]

Thanks. I have installed the update.

 

[Brad-LMGSO]

Ryan-- I have Realflight 9.5 & McAfee LifeSafe AV.... Downloaded the update. Everything works now.... No more quarantined files. Thank you sir! Well done!!

 

[coastrnut]

Ryan -- Thank you for providing the updated version instructions above to work with McAfee. I was having issues tonight installing 9.5, and couldn't get it to work, since McAfee would always think it was a virus.
Stumbled on your post above. After turning off McAfee temporarily, I re-installed 9.5, then updated to the 9.50.028 per the instructions in your post above, turned McAfee back on, and it now works! McAfee no longer thinks it's a virus! Thanks again!

 

[whizkidtn]

Ryan,

Thanks, I've installed the beta. Just a suggestion: since you are adding a few updates to the new release, how about adding the new DXs and DXe controller profiles from the Trainer Edition? I copied the data from the DXs info from the Trainer Edition and added it as a custom controller to RF9.5 and it works great; much better than if I had tried to figure out the mapping myself. Since both the DXs and DXe are pretty common controllers with beginners, it should make it easier for a newbie to get going with the full edition.

Just a thought. Thanks again,
Tom

Can you give some details on how you did this, getting the DXS controller from the updated (1.00.023) Trainer Edition to the RF 9.5 full version?