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bertonstott's avatar
bertonstott
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago

I was infected by a Trojan it's synced in Dropbox, too. What should I do?

When I try to open or install DropBox on my Windows laptop, I get an "Infection Blocked" error from Iolo System Mechaninc (My anti-virus program).  The infected object is reported to be C:\PROGRAM ...
Desktop
Setting up the apps
  • Karina's avatar
    Karina
    7 years ago

    Hi again eveyone, and welcome Kaimalino & Sparky15756 - hope y'all are good! 😊
     

    After looking into this a little bit, I’ve found some info that might explain syncing issues and infected files. 
     
    • The Dropbox desktop client uses the ".dropbox.cache" folder as a staging area to download your files in small chunks. Sometimes antivirus programs will pick up these partial files as false positives and continuously quarantine them. 
     
    • The problem is that Dropbox keeps downloading the file in an attempt to sync the file down to your device. So, I’d recommend adding the Dropbox cache folder to an ignore list so that Dropbox can correctly sync that file and/or temporarily disabling your antivirus. 
     
    • Once synced, you should no longer see these warnings or quarantine messages.
     
    Now, for those of you experiencing issues with the install or start up of the application, see if you’re also able to add the cache folder to an ignore list - If you’re still experiencing issues after this, I definitely think it would be best for our specialists to take a closer look, so please log an official request at: www.dropbox.com/support 
     
    From there, feel free to write back with your ticket ID’s and I’ll be happy to search for the cases on our back-end and forward them along. 

    Thanks so much and happy Friday! 
     
    balloon 
User999's avatar
User999
Explorer | Level 3
I got the same infection blocked for that file in the dropbox folder. It occurred after I installed an update to my WD Backup software while trying to resolve an issue that occurs between WD Backup and Dropbox.
Karina's avatar
Karina
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Hey guys User999 bertonstott, thanks so much for sharing this with us and checking in here on the Forum! :smile_cat:
 
Where did you initially install Dropbox from? Was it directly from our link online?
I’d suggest completely removing the software from your hard drive as a first step:
 
(You can uninstall the app by following these instructions: How to uninstall Dropbox)
 
Also, regarding the Error 2 message - Please note that this is a Windows matter related to issues with the PATH environment, or an incomplete file withing the folder path location. 
 
If upon reinstalling the Dropbox app ( download → here ← ) you still come across the error, I’d recommend reading through this Forum thread, where one of my colleagues has included steps on how to resolve this issue: Error 2 - Installation Error
 
Let me know once you've got any updates or have made any progress on getting this issue resolved. I look forward to hearing from you both & hope you have a great rest of your day! 
  • Sparky15756's avatar
    Sparky15756
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    Hey there! I too have the same problem with this trojan and have followed the steps to uninstall/install over the current installation I've got, but both methods have come up with problems:

    -Uninstalling fails with no known reason, probably due to the trojan being stubborn

    -Installing over the current installation had failed with no known cause or error

     

    I've also tried to delete the /Dropbox folder from my hard-drive to no avail, making it nearly impossible to get rid of the problem, even with Malware removers too.

     

    Any help with this would be much appreciated.

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