Program is classified as a virus by Windows Defender on Windows 11.

[shoul]

I have used the program for a few days without any problems. Without any changes to the program or system, "tacspeak.exe" was then classified as a virus, moved to quarantine and deleted. A re-installation is not possible because it leads to the same result.

The following link leads to a request and a solution from a developer with similar problems: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/my-software-is-wrongly-beeing-flagged-as-virus/124f6a62-6f88-4235-9f80-975c01a16198

[jwebmeister]

Is it just the .exe being quarantined?

[adenlim]

currently windows defender believe that the .exe file contains Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.B!ml

[jwebmeister]

For now, I suggest adding <specific directory>/tacspeak.exe as an exclusion to Windows Defender, and make sure you're downloading tacspeak from a trusted source (this repo or the nexusmods mod page).
Concerned users can review and build from source themselves, and/or check the VirusTotal report here

[jwebmeister]

I should've said this earlier, but thank you for raising it as an issue, and for providing a helpful link.

I can confirm I can reproduce the issue with Microsoft Defender, but only on Windows 11, not 10 (for now).

I've put in a submission to Microsoft to review "tacspeak.exe", so hopefully Defender will stop flagging it as a trojan "soon".

Otherwise, for now, I suggest adding "tacspeak.exe" as an exclusion in Defender, and make sure you only download Tacspeak from this repo or nexusmods mod page.

[jwebmeister]

Also, anyone can download the source code and build the Tacspeak application themselves. Or, run it from Python. All the instructions are in the readme.

[jwebmeister]

Update - Wow! Microsoft moved fast!

At this time, the submitted files do not meet our criteria for malware or potentially unwanted applications. The detection has been removed. Please follow the steps below to clear cached detections and obtain the latest malware definitions.

1. Open command prompt as administrator and change directory to c:\Program Files\Windows Defender
2. Run “MpCmdRun.exe -removedefinitions -dynamicsignatures”
3. Run "MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate"

Alternatively, the latest definition is available for download here: https://docs.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/security/defender-endpoint/manage-updates-baselines-microsoft-defender-antivirus

[jwebmeister]

After updating the definitions + running the commands quoted above, I get no threats detected from Windows Defender when running a scan on the Tacspeak folder (including tacspeak.exe).

Can someone else please confirm they receive no more flags from Defender on their system (after definition updates and/or commands run), that the issue's resolved and can be closed? @shoul @adenlim

[jwebmeister]

Commenter on YouTube stated it was no longer flagging after updating definitions and redownloading Tacspeak. Closing issue.