Notepad v8.8.2 32-bit installer: virus or malware detected
-
When downloading the installer for the 32-bit version of Notepad, Firefox popped up a warning that it contains a virus or malware.
I put the installer through Virustotal.com and got 27 detections out of 72 scanners: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/179613870a9ffc646b77918701481c8ffdae1c82e06cbc7ea7d42af3d1c9e5e2
Is this a false positive or is something actually going on?
-
https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/102220
As I said, without the N++ digital signature, stupid AVs go nuts.
The number of false positives from AVs is so high because in the past, many attackers probably have also used the free, open source NSIS for their purposes.
-
P PeterJones forked this topic on
-
-
-
Could you please confirm if this issue is related to the notepad++ hijack news dated 2nd Feb 2026?
-
@Tavi ,
As far as I can tell, they were unrelated. Scanners such as VirusTotal look at the executable itself, and last year were being triggered by the lack of signing and the self-signing of the executable.
please confirm if this issue is related to the notepad++ hijack news dated 2nd Feb 2026?
The issue you are referring to, as linked here and described in detail here specifically said,
the compromise occured at the hosting provider level rather than through vulnerabilities in Notepad++ code itself.
This was a website hack, and VirusTotal and other such AV scans do not detect website hacks, as far as I understand them.
