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bertonstott's avatar
bertonstott
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago
Solved

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
    8 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 
Karina's avatar
Karina
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
8 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 
MikeMoyer's avatar
MikeMoyer
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

How do I add the dropbox cache folder to the ignore list for Windows Defender/Win 10

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 years ago

    That's a question for another forum I guess MikeMoyer but still I'd like to help so please give these steps a try and let me know if they did the trick for you:

    1. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & thread protection.
    2. Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions.
    3. Select Add an exclusion, and then select from files, folders, file types, or process.

    Hope this helps!

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