Heuristic viruses found in safe mode

[JavaTheHutt]

I ran a full system scan in safe mode (with norton internet security) and it found 9 heuristic viruses. However upon examination of the summary, two of the "viruses" were files from Toshiba themselves that came preloaded on my laptop and the other ones were from well-known services such as skype and tor. Most of the files were either .exe or .msi. Now I think that these are false positivies because my laptop is only about a month old and those companies are world-renown. However is there any reason I shouldn't disregard this? I followed norton's advice and deleted the files, but if I see this in the future, I wonder if i should be alarmed.

 

[seekermeister]

I would Google each of them individually before deleting them. However, if deleting them didn't cause any problems, then that would be the quickest solution.

 

[TheReaper]

I would Google each of them individually before deleting them. However, if deleting them didn't cause any problems, then that would be the quickest solution.

+1

You shouldn't rely on a single line of defense against malware, I'd recommend installing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free & SuperAntiSpyware Free as on demand scanners for detecting nasties which Norton might not pick up.

 

[DBone]

It is always better to quarantine rather then delete. That way you can always restore the file if it's a FP. I have never used Norton, but I'm sure there is a quarantine option.

 

[JavaTheHutt]

Deleting them didn't cause any problems (yet), but quarantining the files first before deletion sounds like a more elegant solution.

You shouldn't rely on a single line of defense against malware, I'd recommend installing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free & SuperAntiSpyware Free as on demand scanners for detecting nasties which Norton might not pick up.

I've always read that more than one anti-virus software causes problems - the scanners interfere with each other. What's to stop this from happening in this instance?

 

[A Guy]

I'd note the location, then choose to do nothing. Navigate to each file and upload to Virus Total. If the files come back clean, just ignore, or add to whitelist. If you get many hits, then rescan and quarantine them. A Guy

 

[TheReaper]

I've always read that more than one anti-virus software causes problems - the scanners interfere with each other. What's to stop this from happening in this instance?

AV software mostly interferes with each other when running 2 or more at once, but in the case of previously mentioned on-demand scanners, they wouldn't interfere with your AV. In addition to that, you can make an exception for the on-demand scanners' .exes or exclude the entire folders from your resident AV scans.
I've had no problems with having Malwarebytes & SuperAntiSpyware installed and running in addition to my resident antivirus. But it can be a (rare) case of some AV/AM software playing nice with each other, while others aren't compatible at all. With that said, Malwarebytes & SuperAntiSpyware are proven to not interfere with most AV & security suites out there, including Norton.