MapleSaga has a virus?!

Hello Maplers!

I've written this guide to give a quick history lesson as to why MapleStory private server game files usually trigger anti-viruses, and how to make an exception for MapleSaga in order to get online and start playing with us!


First off, why is MapleSaga being detected as a virus?
Years ago, the game developers for MapleStory chose to protect their game client using an anti-tamper software called Themida. Themida was used for MapleStory to prevent hackers and reverse engineers from creating MapleStory hacks and private servers, but was eventually cracked by a group of experts.

Themida as an anti-tamper software is so good, however, that many viruses are also "packed" with it, so that anti-viruses wouldn't be able to "unpack" the viruses to detect if they were malware or not. Eventually, it was decided by the anti-virus community that files packed with Themida would be automatically assumed as suspicious, due to the amount of Themida-packed viruses roaming about the Internet.

You may ask then, "how did certain legitimate Themida-packed game files, such as the official MapleStory game files, get past anti-viruses?" Nexon was able to get their original MapleStory files past anti-viruses by digitally signing their clients with a trusted authority. Trusted authorities ensure that the file is from a safe source (a game company) and gives anti-virus software companies (Norton Anti-virus, for example) a whitelist of files that their customers (you, for example) can trust, regardless of any suspicious signals. This is why the original MapleStory clients, even though they were Themida-packed, had no issues with anti-viruses.

Unfortunately, since MapleStory private servers have no such trusted authorities to turn to in order to whitelist their game files, there's no real way to prevent anti-viruses from automatically detecting them as malware. So what can you do to prevent your anti-virus from deleting MapleSaga?

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Move over, anti-virus!

The following guide was written on a now defunct v62 private server. Credits to Malaki for writing this.

I often see people asking why the "MapleSaga.exe" file has vanished from their PC and 99% of the time it's their anti-virus software falsely detecting the client as a trojan. This then begs the question, "is the client really a virus?" In short, MapleSaga isn't a virus. As stated above, it is a false positive and this guide will explain how to create exclusions in several anti-virus programs.
Note: Some versions of the anti-viruses may have different menus. I will probably also miss a few, so please feel free to add them in and I will update the post.


Avast

1. Open your Avast application.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Click on the General Tab on the left-hand side.
4. Click on Exclusions.
5. Click on the File Paths tab and click Add.
6. Find your MapleSaga folder and double click on MapleSaga.exe.
7. Click OK and your exclusion should now be saved.
8. If you wish to exclude the entire MapleSaga folder, repeat the steps above but select the folder instead of the .exe file.

AVG

1. Open your AVG application.
2. Go to Options and then click on Advanced Settings.
3. On the left side, click on Exceptions.
4. Then, on the right side, click on Add an Exception.
5. Select the exception type. To exclude the MapleSaga.exe file, select File. To exclude the entire MapleSaga folder, select Folder.
6. Find the MapleSaga.exe file or MapleSaga folder and select it. Then click on OK.
7. Click on OK and OK again. MapleSaga should now be excluded.

Avira

1. Open your Avira application.
2. Locate Extras on the toolbar and click on it, then click Configuration.
3. You may have to enable Expert Mode to make the exception. If you don't, skip straight to step 4.
4. Click on System scanner, then Scan and finally Exception.
5. Add MapleSaga.exe to the exceptions list.
6. Click on Real-Time Protection, then Scan and finally Exception.
7. Do the same as step 5.
8. Avira should now be ignoring the MapleSaga launcher.

Eset

1. Open your Eset application.
2. Hit your F5 key to bring up the Advanced Setup window.
3. Click on Antivirus and Antispyware and then click on Exclusions.
4. Click on Add and navigate to your MapleSaga folder.
5. Select MapleSaga.exe and click on OK to add it as an exclusion.
6. Click on OK again and restart your computer. The MapleSaga launcher should now be ignored.

Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS)
Note: This solution will NOT work on Windows 10 as KIS is very buggy on Windows 10 systems. If you use Windows 10 and KIS, switch to another anti-virus program.

1. Open your KIS application.
2. Click on the Settings Cog button. This is at the bottom left.
3. Click on Protection and then on Application Control.
4. Click on Manage Applications and then wait for everything to load in. This may take a while.
5. Find MapleSaga.exe and right-click it.
6. Go to Restrictions and then click on Trusted.
7. Right-click it again and click on Details and Rules.
8. Click on Rights and then navigate to the Action Column.
9. Click on the button that is displayed as either a Green Check, Yellow Question Mark or Red X.
10. Click on Allow and then click save.
11. Close out the Application Control window and any other KIS windows. Your MapleSaga launcher should now be ignored.

McAfee Internet Security

1. Open your McAfee application.
2. Click on the Navigation tab and then click on Quarantined and Trusted Items.
3. Click on Quarantined Items to see the list of files that McAfee deemed dangerous.
4. Select MapleSaga.exe and click on Restore. The launcher should now be removed from quarantine by McAfee. The program should also create an exception so that the launcher no longer shows up as a threat during scans.

Alternatively, you can exclude the entire MapleSaga folder from being scanned entirely.

1. Open your McAfee application.
2. Click on Virus and Spyware Protection.
3. Click on Scheduled Scans and then on Excluded Files and Folders.
4. Click on Exclude a Folder and then select the MapleSaga Folder.
5. Click Open.
6. The entire MapleSaga folder will now be excluded.

Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows Defender)

1. Click your notifications icon on the task bar and click on All Settings. Or click your Start button and click on Settings.
2. Click on Update & Security.
3. Click on Windows Defender on the left side menu.
4. Scroll down until you see Exclusions and click on Add an Exclusion.
5. Click on Exclude a File and navigate to your MapleSaga folder.
6. Select MapleSaga.exe and click on Exclude this file.
7. Now you need to click on Exclude a Folder and select the MapleSaga folder.
8. Do exactly what you did with the MapleSaga.exe file.
9. Windows defender should now completely ignore the MapleSaga files when it does its system checks.

Norton

1. Open your Norton application.
2. Click on Settings and then click on Firewall.
3. Click on Program Rules.
4. Click on Add and then select MapleSaga.exe.
5. Click on the drop down and click Allow Always.
6. Click on OK. MapleSaga's launcher should now be ignored.