Problem Is The FTB Launcher safe

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Jikahn

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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It's safe. Get rid of that (if you can o_O) and get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. I still use that because I got a lifetime key for it before it went subscription. Maybe someone else can recommend other good free anti-malware solutions. McAfee is not in that group. Neither is Norton. Even Malwarebytes will become a victim of itself. Either you die an anti-virus or you live long enough to see yourself become the virus.

John McAfee made McAfee anti-virus, but John McAfee has something to say about the current state of the anti-virus. This is really John McAfee. NSFW
 

Jikahn

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
9
0
1
Those are heuristic detections. That means the software is looking for patterns in an attempt to identify viruses that are unknown. This can commonly result in false positives. I've personally scanned that entire directory with MBAM and nothing popped up. Anti Malware software is a useful tool, but it's kind of a false sense of security. Ultimately, the best anti malware is you and using your brain, and asking questions like you did. And if you are still in doubt after this, go to reddit and find a tech support subreddit, ask about FTB there. Maybe someone who is a disinterested party will help you out. Because if you suspect FTB is spreading viruses, you shouldn't be asking on FTB forums, right? They aren't though. FTB has been around a long time and they would have been caught by now.

1. Make sure you are getting the file from directly from FTB and not some other website.

2. VirusTotal.com : This site is scans reasonably sized files with a bunch of antimalware software. Sometimes a few flags will pop up, but if you are getting files from popular and well known source, those are almost always false positives due to heuristics. Heuristic detections have vague names, or even say heuristic in the "name". You can learn to recognize the difference between 100% identifiable viruses and heuristic detections.

This is the result from the 64bit installer:

This is the result from FTBApp.exe:

This is the launcher .jar file:
 

mono832

Active Member
Oct 17, 2019
5
2
29
Those are heuristic detections. That means the software is looking for patterns in an attempt to identify viruses that are unknown. This can commonly result in false positives. I've personally scanned that entire directory with MBAM and nothing popped up. Anti Malware software is a useful tool, but it's kind of a false sense of security. Ultimately, the best anti malware is you and using your brain, and asking questions like you did. And if you are still in doubt after this, go to reddit and find a tech support subreddit, ask about FTB there. Maybe someone who is a disinterested party will help you out. Because if you suspect FTB is spreading viruses, you shouldn't be asking on FTB forums, right? They aren't though. FTB has been around a long time and they would have been caught by now.

1. Make sure you are getting the file from directly from FTB and not some other website.

2. VirusTotal.com : This site is scans reasonably sized files with a bunch of antimalware software. Sometimes a few flags will pop up, but if you are getting files from popular and well known source, those are almost always false positives due to heuristics. Heuristic detections have vague names, or even say heuristic in the "name". You can learn to recognize the difference between 100% identifiable viruses and heuristic detections.

This is the result from the 64bit installer:

This is the result from FTBApp.exe:

This is the launcher .jar file:
Im not saying that the ftb app is a virus, but i am saying it is sometimes possible for websites and software to be hacked, or to download the wrong resources needed
 

Automation

New Member
Jul 11, 2020
13
1
4
I think Ftb checks the software like every week to fix bugs and stuff and they would've sent out a message if they knew someone got into the download file and hacked it
 

Dex Luther

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
294
2
1
I use avast, I scanned it and nothing popped up when I first got it
Definitions change all the time. They have to to keep up with actual dangerous things. Depending on when you got it the definition that flagged FTB as dangerous could have been removed or possibly not added yet. It might have even been removed around the time you got FTB, then added again and maybe even removed again sometime later. Definitions change often when people flag them as false positives. Then something happens to have it added again and removed again when people report false positives again.

If you're careful about what you download and where you go on the internet, anti-viruses are not really needed and often cause more problems than they solve (free ones especially). Kinda like Defrag apps and system "optimizers." They are just a way of extracting money from people that don't know any better.

I have nothing but the default Windows 10 defender. I use a virus scanner every few months just to make sure, and it always comes up clean.
 

ImPissedAsHellFTB

New Member
Jul 21, 2021
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0
2
Okay boys and girls we have a problem. I am very strict about what I download off the internet. Why? Because viruses. That's why. I also do not go to sketchy websites or go anywhere remotely dangerous. This is my work and school computer. I researched FTB because I am learning Java and one suggestion was that I mod Minecraft as a way to gain basic experience. So I researched mods and modpacks and came across SkyFactory 3. Being understandably wary I researched FTB and decided it was most likely safe enough to use. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. I have NEVER had a virus of any sort on it. It has always run amazingly. I have not downloaded a single thing off the internet without carefully vetting it first. I have not downloaded anything since April when I got the Android Studio IDE for a CS class I was taking in college. No issues. None. Fast forward to tonight. I download the FTB application and go through the process of making sure everything is installed correctly. Now all of a sudden my computer is starting to go haywire. Not seriously but enough for me to know there is some sort of malicious software that has made its way onto my computer. Connect the dots. This is the first download I have made since April. Immediately I become aware that there is malware. Where did it come from? There is one and ONLY one way it could have made its way onto my computer. That is FTB. Now fortunately I am capable and skilled enough to be able to rid my computer of these viruses and malware. No harm done. But I am PISSED!!! This is NOT okay. I don't know what or where inside the FTB desktop application has been compromised but something has 100% been compromised. Fix it.
 

grandrolf

Global moderator
Team Member
Global Moderator
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Aug 29, 2014
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sweden
Okay boys and girls we have a problem. I am very strict about what I download off the internet. Why? Because viruses. That's why. I also do not go to sketchy websites or go anywhere remotely dangerous. This is my work and school computer. I researched FTB because I am learning Java and one suggestion was that I mod Minecraft as a way to gain basic experience. So I researched mods and modpacks and came across SkyFactory 3. Being understandably wary I researched FTB and decided it was most likely safe enough to use. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. I have NEVER had a virus of any sort on it. It has always run amazingly. I have not downloaded a single thing off the internet without carefully vetting it first. I have not downloaded anything since April when I got the Android Studio IDE for a CS class I was taking in college. No issues. None. Fast forward to tonight. I download the FTB application and go through the process of making sure everything is installed correctly. Now all of a sudden my computer is starting to go haywire. Not seriously but enough for me to know there is some sort of malicious software that has made its way onto my computer. Connect the dots. This is the first download I have made since April. Immediately I become aware that there is malware. Where did it come from? There is one and ONLY one way it could have made its way onto my computer. That is FTB. Now fortunately I am capable and skilled enough to be able to rid my computer of these viruses and malware. No harm done. But I am PISSED!!! This is NOT okay. I don't know what or where inside the FTB desktop application has been compromised but something has 100% been compromised. Fix it.

There's no virus or malware in the FTB app - if you downloaded it from the official website.

If you think the only way to get malware is through installing apps on your machine, then you're sadly not up to speed.

Immediately I become aware that there is malware.

Can you share information about this malware, logs, filehashes etc, behaviour?
 
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ShneekeyTheLost

Too Much Free Time
Dec 8, 2012
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Lost as always
To clarify, the launcher itself is safe, but there are plenty of very disreputable sites which offer modpack downloads that are very much NOT safe.

To protect yourself, only download the FTB App from this site, or use Curseforge to get packs. Any other source should be considered sketchy and unsafe.
 
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greggdogg

Active Member
Aug 23, 2021
1
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27
Okay boys and girls we have a problem. I am very strict about what I download off the internet. Why? Because viruses. That's why. I also do not go to sketchy websites or go anywhere remotely dangerous. This is my work and school computer. I researched FTB because I am learning Java and one suggestion was that I mod Minecraft as a way to gain basic experience. So I researched mods and modpacks and came across SkyFactory 3. Being understandably wary I researched FTB and decided it was most likely safe enough to use. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. I have NEVER had a virus of any sort on it. It has always run amazingly. I have not downloaded a single thing off the internet without carefully vetting it first. I have not downloaded anything since April when I got the Android Studio IDE for a CS class I was taking in college. No issues. None. Fast forward to tonight. I download the FTB application and go through the process of making sure everything is installed correctly. Now all of a sudden my computer is starting to go haywire. Not seriously but enough for me to know there is some sort of malicious software that has made its way onto my computer. Connect the dots. This is the first download I have made since April. Immediately I become aware that there is malware. Where did it come from? There is one and ONLY one way it could have made its way onto my computer. That is FTB. Now fortunately I am capable and skilled enough to be able to rid my computer of these viruses and malware. No harm done. But I am PISSED!!! This is NOT okay. I don't know what or where inside the FTB desktop application has been compromised but something has 100% been compromised. Fix it.
lmao I really can't tell if you're serious or not. if so, it's strange how out of literally millions of people you're the only one who's had this sort of issue.
 

malicious_bloke

Over-Achiever
Jul 28, 2013
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Heuristic detections can be funny sometimes. I've had my AV kick off at me about Visual Studio project files I've written, despite them being digitally signed and the project files being on the machine where the code signing cert was originally generated. Suddenly the moment I do a pull from Github, it flags the bloody things.

So yeah, I wouldn't put too much faith in heuristic detections. Just make sure you get the launcher from the official site, or use the curseforge launcher. If you avoid dodgy third party sites you'll be fine...I mean everyone else does that and they're fine :)