My antivirus quarantined one of my games.

[Nightlight]

I've been able to play the game without issue before, but now I'm being told it has a threat in it (the name of which is "IDP.Generic.") Should I be concerned? I've heard of some games triggering false virus detections, so I don't think I've anything to worry about.

Will hitting "Restore" put the file back where it belongs so I can play my game again? It won't run without it.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

You can try validating the game cache files and if your antivirus kicks in again then its from the developer and you should file a complaint.

[Nightlight]

Okay, I restored the file and tried to play the game again, but my antivirus just put it into quarantine again. Maybe I should post the issue on the game's community forum and see if anyone else has had this issue. The problem with that is that the game is a few years old and not a lot of people bought it (the people who did buy it liked it, though,) so I'm doubtful that I'll get any responses.

I do have a "Send for analysis" option, but I'm sure this is just a false positive and all I really need to do is figure out how to get my antivirus to stop thinking it's a threat.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

Do the send for analysis. If its a legit thing then you'll be helping everyone else too.
While this file is in quarantine try the verify cache files. We know the one it quarantined is bad but the new one comes from the dev. If that gets quarrantined too then you can tell them about it as well.

[cinedine]

There should be an option to restore the file from quarantine and put the directory on a blacklist or outright mark it as false positive.
Unless you put stuff downloaded from random websites into your game folders, just add the whole steamapps to the blacklist.
Every file uploaded to Steam is checked for viruses and malicious behaviour, so there is nothing that your AV can find that wouldn't have already been sorted out. If the game is from a reputable studio there is absolutely no concern at all.

The "Generic" part means it was caught by the heuristics for displaying behaviour commonly associated with malware. Which is quite common nowadays, especially from unexperienced studios. It's mostly update routines that are caught, because ... yeah ... it downloads and insstalls stuff from the internet automatically.

[❤ Sly Succubus ❤]

IDP.Generic is a germ given to a file that a machine can't understand if its bad or good, this is extremely common simply on the basis that some games use their own types of files for games so the computer really can't tell if their a threat or not but have to warn you: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/what-is-idp-generic-virus

Avast has apparently been legendarily known to do this for games, Python files and more.
In this case Avast is so known to flag japanese-coded files for RPGmaker games because RPGMaker files are not in the Avast database so when the game states, Avast flags them as a virus as their unknown; had it happen before myself.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

Not knowing the anti-virus or the game makes it complicated to answer but it's probably a false positive. Reporting this to both the AV and game devs with as much detail as possible will help other people from having this issue.

[Nightlight]

I found the option to restore the file and make it an exception. The game is working as it should and I can play it now. Thank you for the help and information, everyone .

[Valkyria]

I've not used Anti-Virus since Windows 7 and I've only recently encountered a virus for the first time in ages because I was tryna get software and picked the wrong website.

Honestly, I'd just use windows defender and malwarebytes for the monthly scan etc. You don't really need it in my opinion.

[Gwyddawg]

my virus protection did the same thing. I went into quarantine and created an exception. Works fine now

[Rosslander]

Originally posted by Nightlight:

I found the option to restore the file and make it an exception. The game is working as it should and I can play it now. Thank you for the help and information, everyone :lunar2019grinningpig:.

How did you restore it? Everywhere I looked said I needed to get an app in order to do this. Can't i just look up where the file was quarantined? I tried but I had no luck.

[crunchyfrog]

I get this quite a bit (but I have hundreds of games installed at any time).

It's quite normal. You can always tell when a game has been quarantined as it either crashes on startup or just goes back to the steam UI. That's normally a telltale sign to go to your antivirus suite :)

So yes, it's a false positive, and it's easy why you assume this - because if it WAS a virus everybody and their dog would be complaining on these forums and it'd be massive news.

So yes, make an exception for it. No worries.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Rosslander:

Originally posted by Nightlight:

I found the option to restore the file and make it an exception. The game is working as it should and I can play it now. Thank you for the help and information, everyone :lunar2019grinningpig:.

How did you restore it? Everywhere I looked said I needed to get an app in order to do this. Can't i just look up where the file was quarantined? I tried but I had no luck.

Dpeends on your antivirus suite. Whatever it is there should be within their menu somewhere a "quarantine" list. Look at that and it'll tell you where the file was located. If it's steam or game-realted, clik on it and make an exception.