This heuristic detection indicates that the program or file contains instructions for harmful actions, or behaves similarly to known harmful programs.
Security programs use heuristic detections to identify programs or files that can perform harmful actions. If you suspect the program or file has been incorrectly identified, go to: Removal: Suspect a file is incorrectly detected (a False Positive)?.
Based on the settings of your F-Secure security product, it will either move the file to the quarantine where it cannot spread or cause harm, or remove it.
A False Positive is when a file is incorrectly detected as harmful, usually because its code or behavior resembles known harmful programs. A False Positive will usually be fixed in a subsequent database update without any action needed on your part. If you wish, you may also:
Check for the latest database updates
First check if your F-Secure security program is using the latest updates, then try scanning the file again.
Submit a sample
After checking, if you still believe the file is incorrectly detected, you can submit a sample of it for re-analysis.
Note: If the file was moved to quarantine, you need to collect the file from quarantine before you can submit it.
Exclude a file from further scanning
If you are certain that the file is safe and want to continue using it, you can exclude it from further scanning by the F-Secure security product.
Note: You need administrative rights to change the settings.
During a scan, the F-Secure security product will examine each file for instructions in its code that are either:
If suspect code is found during the scan, it will trigger a heuristic detection. While there are many heuristic detections to identify a wide range of harmful actions, the following are most commonly reported:
Gen:Heur
The file or program contains instructions for potentially harmful behavior.
Gen:[Trojan].Heur
The file or program contains instructions or performs actions that match those of a known harmful program (for example, a trojan).
Memscan:[variant], Deepscan:generic.malware
When the file or program was examined in a sandbox, it loaded potentially harmful commands in the sandbox's memory.
Once a heuristic detection has been triggered, the security product will either block the file from running, move it to the quarantine where it cannot spread or cause harm, or remove it.