Most antivirus I tested, even the paid ones, are so annoying with popups and complaining about cracks that I just take the risk and go without em

  • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    Have you considered getting NordVPN? A YouTuber told me it protects against 100% of hackers

    • casmael@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      just like our sponsor - nordvpn™️. I use nordvpn™️ to protect against hackers when using public wifi - and now you can too with the code ‘myballs’ - get 99% off a one year subscription to nordvpn™️ today

    • ssm@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 months ago

      Wow that’s so Narwhal Bacon, I heard about NordVPN while watching my daily Skibidi Raid Shadow Legends content while eating my World of Tanks themed Factor meal with extra soy while trying to ignore my dad beating my mom after his BetterHelp appointment

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    You’re not going to find an AV that doesn’t flag modifications as virus/malware. That’s kind of the definition of malicious behaviour by a program.

    Hell, Windows itself will overwrite changes you make to certain exscutables/dll’s, etc, with its own file protection system.

    Test your cracks in a VM. Then use them as needed, or do the cracking in a VM.

    • vegeta@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      4 months ago

      Windows defender claimed they’re bad because they are cracks, and doesn’t mention any reason it thinks that would be a virus/trojan or something I dont want

      “HackTool:Win32/crack” from games downloaded on fitgirl repacks site (the correct one)

      • elfpie@beehaw.org
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        4 months ago

        Isn’t that a matter of behavior? The crack is doing something expected from a crack and the system warns you because most wouldn’t use it without being aware. If you really trust the file, add it as an exception.

        Or do you want a software that can vet good cracks from bad cracks?

          • 0xtero@beehaw.org
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            4 months ago

            Enterprise antivirus products have had PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) category forever. Seems its categorized as “HackTool” so not malware.

          • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Cracks modify executables…classic malware/virus behaviour. Almost the definition of malware.

            Which is why windows uses a file protection system since at least XP

          • MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Not at all, a crack does something to an executable file that you use. Malware would do the exact same thing.

            • dactylotheca@suppo.fi
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              4 months ago

              But you generally want that crack to do something to an executable. Do antivirus etc. tools just heuristically flag everything that looks like it modifies an executable? Lots of legitimate dev tools do that too, so it seems like it’d give a lot of false positives, but I haven’t used Windows in ages so 🤷

              • MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                Well, how is the system supposed to know that you want the crack to do something to that executable? The anti virus just sees something is happening and flags it. It does not see a difference.

                • dactylotheca@suppo.fi
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                  4 months ago

                  I definitely get what you mean, I just have no idea if antivirus tools flag anything that looks like it modifies executables. My edit to the comment you’re replying to may not have propagated to your instance yet, so here’s what I added:

                  Do antivirus etc. tools just heuristically flag everything that looks like it modifies an executable? Lots of legitimate dev tools do that too, so it seems like it’d give a lot of false positives, but I haven’t used Windows in ages so 🤷

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Windows defender only lets you whitelist by file, folder, or process. You could whitelist a specific folder, but if you want to whitelist by category you’ll have to use a different antivirus product.

  • mr_right@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    i don’t think that’s possible mate for 2 reasons :

    • software companys pay antivirus software makers to flag and remove game cracks
    • cracks use obfuscation and workaround techniques that are similar to whats used in viruses so most flag them as mallisious
  • OfficerBribe@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    So what you are saying you want a shitty AV that would not recognize a potentially malicious executable? Any normal AV should flag crack as a potential threat due to what it does.

    Stick with Defender and whitelist executables you trust. This is computing 101.

  • BlanK0@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    If u are on Linux I recommend using firejail on the executable

  • charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    malwarebytes will flag cracks like all the others but when I used to clean computers for a living, it rarely gave a false positive and found the most bullshit on Windows pcs. This was a few years back so I don’t keep up with how it is these days.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      How do you know you never had malware if you have no means to check for malware? It’s not like it will announce itself.

        • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          I’ve also been online and pirating for 25+ years and your bragging horseshit is hilarious

          Fuck off mate, we’ve all had browser toolbars and had to reinstall windows multiple times in the past. Not so common now but before it was part of the deal

          Don’t be a dick, you’re not impressing anyone

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          There’s a lot of malware that just chills in the background and hides itself well (e.g., auto-shuts down whenever task manager is opened), and does little to impact you aside from using some of your system’s resources.

          Think being part of a botnet used for DDOS attacks, or a cryptominer that runs whenever you aren’t using much of your hardware’s capabilities.

  • ssm@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 months ago

    Use the megathread, it has lists of trusted providers (goat symbol).

    Of course, that’s not good enough, so my “antivirus” is to use an entirely separate device for gaming/piracy and a lower power device for production and work. If my gaming device gets compromised, the attacker will just know how many hours I spend in vampire survivors :)

    • OozingPositron@feddit.cl
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      4 months ago

      the attacker will just know how many hours I spend in vampire survivors :)

      You could prevent this by telling us now.

  • rockhandle@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    You’re not going to find an antivirus that isn’t intrusive because that is their entire duty. However, Kaspersky has a very high malware detection rate compared to other AV solutions

  • Rex GNŪrum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    I haven’t used an Antivirus in years… That’s one advantage of GNU OS’s. I run cracks inside sandboxes which then run Wine and DXVK for compatibility.