Getting a Trojan When Downloading Latest Upgrade

jefner · July 1, 2015

I try to download the latest upgrade to Zotero but I am getting a trojan when installing it. Thankfully my Anti-Virus picks up but it won't do anything because the trojan is within the zotero.exe file. Will you please fix this before I start school in August so that I can use this application? I have used it for over a year now and I love it!

dstillman · July 1, 2015

What anti-virus software? This is a false positive and will need to be reported to them.

dstillman · July 1, 2015

And what does it think it found?

jefner · July 1, 2015

I am using Webroot SecureAnywhere. I would need to download it again and try to install it again to get the exact wording of what it says but it does say that they find a Trojan in the file and then it won't let me use it. When I try the icon for it, it says that it is not there.

jefner · July 1, 2015

It says..."Threat Detected W37.Trojan.Gen"...it installs and I want to open it and doesn't open.

Rintze · July 1, 2015

And just to make sure, you're downloading Zotero directly from https://www.zotero.org/download/?

djeroslow · July 2, 2015

I have the same problem with Webroot. I uninstalled and then downloaded the latest. I also added it to my allow list. I can launch it now, but it keeps crashing every 5 minutes. Is there a way to download an older version?

djeroslow · July 3, 2015

Reboot of the computer does nothing. It randomly crashes. The previous version did not.

dstillman · July 3, 2015

Assuming you're downloading Zotero from zotero.org, this is a false positive (and as you can see if you Google that supposed threat, it's just a generic detection based on (in this case erroneous) patterns — not a specific known virus). So until this is reported to Webroot (which you could do) and resolved, you should temporarily disable Webroot and reinstall Zotero. Then see if it's still crashing with Webroot disabled. (If it is, you should start a new thread and be more specific about what you mean by "crash".)

djeroslow · July 3, 2015

Thanks for this suggestion. I have closed Webroot. Uninstalled Zotero. Redownloaded it from zotero.org, installed it, run it, and then re-enabled Webroot. I'll start a new thread if this does not resolve it.

And, yes, I will report this to Webroot. I suspect I will be shipped to the Philippines for the support on this, so no guarantees my feedback will ever get to the developers.