14 DAY TRIAL // Reports coming in are pointing to a new issue experienced with the default Windows 10 antivirus, as some users are getting warnings of an existing infection even though Windows Defender claims to have cleaned it.
While at first glance it all seems to be a false positive, there are several complains from users who reveal that Windows Defender keeps warning them of an infection with Exploit:SWF/Meadgive before eventually claiming that it’s been removed. Despite this, the malware warning keeps showing up once again, before Windows Defender claims it deleted it one more time.
Several users have confirmed that their PCs appear to be stuck in this loop, with posts on reddit and Microsoft’s support forums suggesting that there might be an issue with a recent Windows Defender virus definition update.
“Have not had an issue on my Surface Pro 4 but ever since the new update my notification window has been non-stop alerting me of malware being detected and being removed. Exploit:SWF/Meadgive. Is what showing is being quarantined. I remove it but it continually finds its way back,” reddit user JigglyJ3lly explains.
The Malwarebytes workaround
Posts on Microsoft’s Community forums indicate that this was a problem prior to version 1.243.242.0, so a possible workaround would be to update to the latest version of Windows Defender and install all the available virus definitions to stop the warning from showing up again.
On the other hand, there are many users who suggest installing Malwarebytes, an antivirus solution whose trial build can help get rid of the malware and block the Windows Defender warning from showing up once again.
“Windows Defender Antivirus reports exploit:swf/meadgive virus. It reports Threats Found, but Windows Defender Security Center shows Threats Found 0, Files scanned 24411. Only Quick Scan option shows, but when run it just repeats everything and more Threats are found. Also did offline scan, came back up and Threats Found kept coming up and beeping,” one user points out.
At this point, it’s not yet known what exactly the cause of the problem is, but you can also download Malwarebytes and give it a try to see if the malware warnings indeed go away.