[GNC] Possible malware in GnuCash 3.14 for Windows

[Robert Heller]

At Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:21:20 -0500 stepbystepfarm at comcast.net wrote:

> 
> On 1/17/2026 7:41 PM, Deb Boyce wrote:
> > Thanks for confirming that. I'll get the update tomorrow.  Meanwhile i'm seriously looking at replacing my antivirus next renewal cycle.
> >
> No matter what antivirus you choose to use it will sometimes give false 
> positives (OR sometimes fail to identify a virus). It is IMPOSSIBLE to 
> have an antivirus program that ALWAYS gave the correct answer.
> 
> << just substitute "acts like a virus" for "fails to halt" in Turing's 
> proof of "The Fundamental Theorem of Computation" >>
> 
> Since a false positive is far less serious than failing to identify a 
> real virus, all practical antivirus programs will be designed to err on 
> that side. You can always temporarily turn off or "whitelist" (if that 
> option is provided). Ability to "whitelist" is a feature you should want 
> in choosing antivirus software.

I don't (and never have) used MS-Windows, but videos I've seen on YouTube 
suggest that most add-on antivirus software for *recent* versions of 
MS-Windows are a waste of money.  "Windows Defender" (which is build in to 
revent versions of MS-Windows) does everything any MS-Windows user needs.  
Almost all malware these days are phishing E-Mail and depend on esentially 
socially engineering to get the user to visit some website to trick the user 
into revealing login credintials.  Malware writers generally don't bother much 
with the clasic forms of malware these days.  And yes, Windows Defender will 
probably flag legit versions of GnuCash, since GnuCash is not "signed" by a 
Microsoft supplied certificate.  You will have to "whitelist" (whatever that 
entails) GnuCash.

> 
> Michael D Novack
> 
> 
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