Antivirus has blocked playing this game

[Atar Jakob Kashat]

infected with Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe

[Halloween Jack]

Originally posted by Atar Jakob Kashat:

infected with Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe

For issues running the game, please email [e-mail] and include your computer's specs (DxDiag on Windows PC, Hardware/Graphics specs for Mac).

Thank you.

[Austruck]

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

While I do my best to help people who have genuine issues even if they are not nice about it, this is clearly a troll post, and you do not even cite any of the issues you encounter that caused you be dissatisfied with the game. Instead, you pour your energy into coming up with some really cringe snark.

If, before the thread gets locked, you want to talk about any problems you had which may have workarounds, I'm listening.

Hi from someone else! I just reinstalled Riven (a different issue for me--and I was 6+ hours in before my first issue appeared), and the reinstallation itself went well. But when I start the game, my AVG antivirus software blocked the game from starting due to that same file (Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe) supposedly being infected with "IDP.Generic" ... whatever that is.

I can create an exception in AVG to allow the game to run anyway, but I've contacted Cyan about this first, just to be safe.

[Halloween Jack]

Originally posted by Atar Jakob Kashat:

infected with Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe

You have to set your antivirus to recognize the game and its files as safe in order to play.

[Austruck]

UPDATE: Cyan has already answered my question about this file inside the game (they're awesome!), and have declared that our antivirus programs are just being too aggressive. I'll tell AVG to make an exception for this and get back into the game.

[Austruck]

Originally posted by Halloween Jack:

Originally posted by Atar Jakob Kashat:

infected with Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe

You have to set your antivirus to recognize the game and its files as safe in order to play.

This is what I'm doing, but I'll state that I did not have to do this for the first six hours I played Riven. It was only after a reinstall this morning that AVG flagged that file as infected, which is why I questioned it at all.

[Hellish Fiend]

You're saying this is a legitimate issue? That's not even the name of the executable, so it honestly just seemed to me like a really bad joke. Antivirus software is hardly even necessary these days.... I suppose I owe the OP an apology for my initial post, which someone took the liberty of deleting. My bad!

[Austruck]

Exactly right that it's not the name of the game's executable. Which is why I initially wondered if somehow I had downloaded a virus file in there among the real files. Weird. I still don't know what that file is or does. I just know the OP wasn't the only person to have their antivirus software kick up a fuss over it. :)

[huip]

For the good order :

I got the exact same warning ,
you have to execlude this file in AVG otherwise game will not start.

[Austruck]

Originally posted by huip:

For the good order :

I got the exact same warning ,
you have to execlude this file in AVG otherwise game will not start.

I tried about three times to uninstall/reinstall... and in different locations/on different drives. I made sure to add those exceptions into my AVG menu (the exact locations of this file). I continued to get "disk write error" messages and the game would not finish installation.

I then completely uninstalled AVG (!!) and switched to Windows/Microsoft Defender and *immediately* whatever was blocking the installation was gone and the game was again playable.

I've used AVG for more than a decade with no issues, but no more. It's been an annoying week of trying to figure out what was wrong, only to find out AVG thought it knew better than I did.

If someone continues to have issues with AVG blocking gameplay, I suggest uninstalling it and using something else. A friend who is a computer forensics expert said I should just use Defender from now on, so I'm fine with finally giving up AVG.

[Austruck]

Originally posted by Oz Gaming:

AVG is a Virus itself. I would Never install it on my PC

Well, the friend who recommended it many years ago is a computer forensics expert himself (he's testified in many trials and has consulted on various television shows). He used it for many years himself (the paid version), but recently did tell me to just stick with Windows Defender stuff now.

So although I no longer use it, I can't say "I would never." And for many years it served me well.

[Hellish Fiend]

The Windows security landscape is a lot different than it used to be. Gradually, over the last 10-20 years, Windows has become much more capable of safeguarding its own processes, while hackers have simultaneously become less interested in crafting traditional viruses and more keen on hacking into networks. You still have to watch out for the occasional ransomware, of course, but Windows Defender and User Account Control are typically enough to keep most people safe. So, old-style virus scanners have, for the most part, just become burdensome on user's systems and arguably cause more problems than they prevent. That's a big part of the reason why I originally thought this was a troll thread. After all, it's a joke that a legitimate virus scanner would think that a game installed via the Steam launcher is going to virus up your system.

[Austruck]

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

The Windows security landscape is a lot different than it used to be. Gradually, over the last 10-20 years, Windows has become much more capable of safeguarding its own processes, while hackers have simultaneously become less interested in crafting traditional viruses and more keen on hacking into networks. You still have to watch out for the occasional ransomware, of course, but Windows Defender and User Account Control are typically enough to keep most people safe. So, old-style virus scanners have, for the most part, just become burdensome on user's systems and arguably cause more problems than they prevent. That's a big part of the reason why I originally thought this was a troll thread. After all, it's a joke that a legitimate virus scanner would think that a game installed via the Steam launcher is going to virus up your system.

Glad to read this! :) I wouldn't have thought to deal with AVG for this problem, though, since it literally has never given me cause to doubt it. (I also use safe surfing habits in the past 37 years I've been online.) But I'm perfectly happy to do without it too, since it tried to get me to upgrade to the premium/paid version just about every day. :D

[Asiclovek]

Riven is identified by Avast antivirus as suspicious

IDP.Generic in file Riven-Win64-Shipping.exe