PDF-XChange Viewer and McAfee

[Devic]

Hi, hoping someone can help me with this as it's the first time it has happened.

I have several systems running Windows 7 and commercial security suites and run PDF-XChange Viewer on all of them and they all download with no problem at all and run the program perfectly and have done ever since I have been using it which is some time as I prefer it to the Adobe bloatware.

The problem I have which only started tonight is with my Netbook that runs Windows XP.

As with my other systems I have always used PDF-XChange Viewer as I feel it is an excellent product and never had a problem downloading or installing it until tonight although despite the warnings on screen I went ahead and installed it.

I have found problems using the update function in the past where is doesn't update so I always come to the official Tracker Software page and download the latest version if when I check it says there is a new release, I go to the download page "https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product ... nge-viewer"and download the program from there using the "EXE installer (32/64 bit) | 19 MB" as my selection.

As I tend to use the main systems more I don't update the Netbook as often, in fact the last time was November 2012 but I have always run the same security suite on it and used McAfee Site Advisor as it came free with my internet package and like I said I have never once had a problem with either downloading PDF-XChange Viewer or McAfee Site Advisor until tonight.

When I was on the download page McAfee Site Advisor was displayed as green and safe, I clicked on the "EXE installer (32/64 bit) | 19 MB" which took me to the downloading page but as the download started McAfee Site Advisor changed from green to red and advised me that the download url was a threat and risks had been detected in the referring url but I continued to download.

Once the file had downloaded another red window popped up from McAfee, this time from the security suite informing me that "PDFXVwer.exe" was a virus but I still saved it as I had downloaded it directly from you site which I regard as official and trustworthy.

I was wondering if you could shed any light on this as the Netbook is completely up to date as of tonight and PDF-XChange Viewer was the last thing I updated and this is the first time it has ever been flagged by both McAfee Site Advisor and McAfee security suite.

Interestingly when downloading it using IE9 there is no problem and McAfee does not report any problems. The problem only seems to occur in Firefox, I just retried it and it is the latest version 18.1 and as soon as it started to download it went to red so this time I clicked on the McAfee Site Advisor and despite in Firefox it being reported as unsafe to download the McAfee page is all green but still reports it as a virus once saved to the system.

I just wanted to make sure what was going on as the program was downloaded directly from your site so I consider it trust worthy but if this is happening to other people it may put them off using the product so as well as informing you it is also giving me peace of mind that someone hasn't accessed your systems and infected the file, despite running scans on my other systems and they all come back as fine so think it is more of a McAfee problem.

So the problem only seems to occur on my Windows XP Netbook when using Firefox (18.1) and McAfee Site Advisor and McAfee Security Suite. Be grateful for any feedback

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Devic,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post!

This actually something that I have personally experienced on my personal computer, though not with any of our software. I'll have a look into this, and will talk to the Dev. Team, get their thoughts on it, but I suspect that this is just an issue with McAfee being overprotective.

As I said, I'll look into this and myself or a colleague will get back to you!

Cheers.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Devic,

I was actually able to get an answer quicker than I thought
As I suspected, the Dev. Team said that it's an issue with McAfee, so for the future, if there's ever a concern that a download may have a virus, then you can use the following link, which uses 46 different security applications to check a download URL:

https://www.virustotal.com/file/8d1bc0f ... 358551518/

Hope that helps!

[Devic]

Hi and thanks for the welcome and such a speedy response not to mention the Url for the checking download links.

I did suspect McAfee as it has shown false results before which is why I don't normally use it, just came free as part of the broadband package but thinking of using the one my bank offers for free on the Netbook now and sticking to my normal security suite on the other 3 systems in the house as they all installed PDF-XChange without any drama.

As I mentioned in the post I trust Tracker products and always download directly off your official homepage not through other sites which is why despite McAfee turning into a conspiracy theorist I still downloaded and installed it, funny thing was after it was installed I scanned all the files McAfee said they were fine so can't seem to make it's mind up.

Decided it was better to post though in case any one else had the same problem as it might make people think twice about downloading if they thought it might have been hi-jacked and the downloaded was being redirected somewhere dodgy.

Thanks again for the quick reply and the excellent products you offer

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Devic,

well that's great to hear. Do let us know if there is anything more we can do for you.

regards