Avast and a blacklisted program I don't know about

[Alsacienne]

I keep getting messages from Avast to say that they have managed to stop a potential virus-carrying link or program ... sunshinegame which has been blacklisted .... and this happens about every few minutes with a noisy bong bong noise, stopping me from working and stopping my computer temporarily until I get rid of this. I have never even looked up the website/programme they refer to. Apparently the solution is to replace their free version by a paid-for programme.

Is this a real threat or is this simply forceful advertising by Avast?

If I disinstall Avast free and then reinstall it will this annoyance go away?

If I should replace Avast free by some other free antivirus program, what can you suggest .... note I don't need to be castigated for my frugality!!! I'm just becoming a more obvious IT dinosaur who needs advise in simple to understand terms! Many thanks in advance.

[Alsacienne]

Finally that bl**dy thing has come up .. and it reads (translated from the French original)

We have cancelled the connection to sunshinethegame.com because this element was infected by URL.Blacklist.

Can anyone decode this for me and advise me what to do about it? Pretty please ..............

[MechEngr]

There doesn't seem to be a legit sunshinethegame.com

Sunshine, the app, appears to be a "self-hosted" game streaming platform, which suggests it is running locally, and is reported to be self-signed which typically gets a warning from worried software. I see no references to sunshinethegame.

Avast remains on the "legit" list though they got into trouble for selling subscriber information or some such. Windows Defender + Malwarebytes seems to be the top rated solution. If you can, shut off Javascript in your browser for as many pages as possible.

[Alsacienne]

Thanks MechEngr ... I am already running Malwarebytes and Windows Defender so will probably just show Avast the door and hope that my antiviral defences will be enough. Do you think that's a good course of action or should I add another antivirust program ... and if so, which?

[ShyTorque]

I use "Superantispyware" which helped me recover from a ransomware attack some years ago. There is a free version but I now purchase the paid for version.

[Abrahn]

I guess that somewhere you've got a webpage running adverts, and that site is attempting to redirect you to something on Avast's backlist. Worse would be if you've already downloaded something locally that's connecting out.

You could try to find out which site is causing problems or block the URL in the browser.
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Whether Windows Defender + Malwarebites would give the same protection depends on what flavour of Malwarebites you're running.

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