Virus Checker False Positives

First, a Friendly Note

Hey there! If you’ve landed on this page, chances are your antivirus software has flagged Universal Announcer as suspicious. Take a breath—you’re not alone, and there’s a good explanation for what’s happening.

Why Does This Happen?

Modern antivirus software increasingly relies on machine learning and heuristic analysis to detect threats. While this is generally a good thing for security, it can lead to false positives—legitimate software being incorrectly flagged as malicious.

Universal Announcer gets flagged occasionally because:

It’s not widely distributed – Antivirus ML models favour popular software. Niche applications like flight sim utilities don’t have millions of users, so they look “unusual” to these systems.
It interacts with other processes – The app uses SimConnect to communicate with Microsoft Flight Simulator, which some heuristics find suspicious.
It’s unsigned – More on this below.

Why Don’t I Just Sign the Application?

Great question! Code signing certificates exist precisely to help with this issue. However:

They’re expensive – A legitimate Extended Validation (EV) certificate costs several hundred dollars per year.
All it does is pay the signing company – The certificate doesn’t make the code any safer; it just tells Windows “someone paid money to vouch for this.”
This is a hobby project – Universal Announcer is free software that I develop in my spare time for the flight sim community. Spending hundreds of dollars annually on a certificate doesn’t make sense for something I give away for free.

I’d rather spend that money on coffee ☕ and keep improving the app for everyone.

My Track Record

Here’s the thing: I’ve made over 60 releases of Universal Announcer, and every single virus detection has been a false positive. Not one. Every time someone has reported a detection, it’s turned out to be a scanner getting it wrong.

That’s not a guarantee of anything—you shouldn’t blindly trust software just because someone on the internet says it’s fine. But it is context worth considering.

What Can You Do?

Ultimately, the decision is yours. Here are your options:

Option 1: Verify with Multiple Scanners

Upload the release to VirusTotal.com and see what 70+ different antivirus engines think. You’ll typically see that the vast majority give it a clean bill of health, with perhaps one or two flagging it (usually the more aggressive ML-based ones).

Option 2: Add an Exception

If you’re comfortable proceeding, you can add Universal Announcer to your antivirus software’s exception/allowlist. The exact steps vary by product, but generally:

Open your antivirus settings
Find “Exceptions,” “Exclusions,” or “Allowlist”
Add the Universal Announcer folder or executable

Option 3: Report the False Positive

This actually helps everyone! Most antivirus vendors have a way to report false positives:

Windows Defender: Submit a file for analysis
Avast/AVG: False positive report form
Kaspersky: Report a false positive
Norton: Submit a file
Bitdefender: Report false positive

When enough users report a false positive, the vendor updates their detection rules and the problem goes away for everyone.

Option 4: Don’t Use It

And that’s completely fine too. I understand that security is personal, and if you’re not comfortable, you shouldn’t feel pressured. There are no hard feelings here.

A Note on Trust

I get it—trusting software from the internet requires a leap of faith. Here’s what I can offer:

The app is discussed openly in flight sim communities and Discord servers
Updates are frequent and transparent – you can see the release history on GitHub
There is some history - the app has been around for a while and has over 30,000 downloads.

But again, do your own due diligence. Check VirusTotal, read the community discussions, and make the choice that feels right for you.

Questions?

If you have concerns or questions, feel free to reach out through the GitHub issues page. I’m happy to discuss any specific detection or concern you might have.

Happy flying! ✈️