Virus Detected on Download

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1

Need a hand from the Brave community.

When I try to download a file from any site I get a Virus detected message and the Resume Button is disabled. I can’t override the warning. I also cannot install extensions; I guess the download is blocked. This problem started a few months ago.

I get the virus warning even if I do this:

Lower shields on Brave (Lion Icon)
Change from Standard Protection to No Protection (not recommended)

I’m running BitDefender Anti-Virus in Background. About 2 weeks ago I uninstalled BitDefender and enabled MS Defender as my only virus protection but downloads were still blocked.

Why does Brave think the downloaded file is infected with a virus? Browser has internal virus checking or relies on BitDefender or MS Defender? Or ???

Thanks, Stanley.

OS: Windows 11
Brave Version: 1.75.181, Fresh install

2

@Ymir,
If you try to use another browser to download files are you able to do so as intended?

3

I can download using Mozilla Firefox but cannot download using Brave or MS Edge. Latter also detects virus. Stanley.

4

@Ymir if it’s effecting Edge too then it must have something to do with either the way your AV is setup on your system or something Chromium related. Let me ask a couple colleagues about what else might cause this.

To confirm, you don’t see any warnings or error messages in Defender appear after trying to download something?

5

MS Defender is disabled by Bit Defender, but uninstalling Bit Defender didn’t solve my issue.

Bit Defender logs not useful.

If any Brave expert knew what sub-system was called to detect viruses I could start looking in that direction.

Thanks for your time, low priority item of course, but maybe someone has an insight.

Stanley.

6

Can you share a screenshot of a blocked download and the disabled button?

7

When the message is raised the Resume button is disabled. Does Resume means override this warning and continue with download?

VirusOne
VirusOne428×214 8.71 KB

VirusTwo
VirusTwo378×236 13.7 KB

Some might say 7Z is the culprit but the download of other file types are affected.

This virus detected message is also raised on functions like right-click on image and selecting Save Image As.

Thanks, Stanley.

8

Thanks. What if you click on “More information”, can you send a screenshot for that?

9

Also, if you try to download Brave from https://brave.com/download/, does that get flagged with “Virus detected” too?

10

Brave support, thanks alot. This is obviously not 100% Brave issue but something a little deeper. I was just hoping someone recognized it.

Since it happens whether I’m using Bit Defender or MS Defender makes me thing there is something in Windows 11 they both use that is blocking this. BUT Firefox does work…

VirsuDetected
VirsuDetected767×377 13.4 KB

Image is typical download history. Download from Google Drive fails and download of Brave Browser fails and Save Image as fails.

I’m going to uninstall Bit Defender again and see if the MS Defender logs have any info.

‘More Information’ takes me to the Brave support page “How do I fix file download errors?”

Thanks, Stanley.

11

Hm, yes, that does look like a problem with Bit Defender.

My guess as to why it’s working in Firefox but not Chrome, Brave or Edge is that Bit Defender integrates with Chromium-based browsers (so Chrome, Brave and Edge) but not with Firefox.