http://notifier.avira.com

Avira notifier is back! (Solved)

Sometime after my first boot of the day today I got an IE6SP2 web page pop up for http://notifier.avira.com. I use Antivir Personal. It seemed to be an ad for Avira pay antivirus but I closed the window before getting a screenshot. I use XPSP2 Pro and have long disabled avnotify.exe using Group Policy, so I was surprised to see this happen for the first time ever. Recently I did a program update (not just defs) for Antivir Personal so I wonder if something in the update has changed the notifier? Anyone else who has this avnotify.exe disabled using Group Policy had this popup recently or did I just have a glitch? Also, what events cause avnotify.exe to normally appear. I haven't seen a software restriction policy warning in XPs event viewer for a day or so like I used to frequently.

 

Avira notifier is back! (Solved)

I guess the avnotify.exe file hash has recently changed. Therefore since my group policy rule to disallow avnotify.exe was a hash rule, I had to delete the old rule and create a new one by browsing to the new file. Now it works as it should and the warnings in the event viewer for software restriction policy are back.

 

FYI, you're better off using a path rule rather than a hash rule.... a path rule will never fail, regardless of what they do to the file. I have used it with success in the past.

 

Ok, I'll change that. Good idea.