Minitool Partition Wizard Triggers Defender Virus Alert

eLPuSHeR said:

PUP detection is activated by adding an entry to Windows Registry.

I find it quicker and more simple to manage by powershell:

Get-MpPreference

find PUAprotection… set values with

Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection enabled

Phone Man said:

It is FREE with no expiration and this is how a lot of vendors cover the cost. Others have Trial versions that expire so you can try before you buy.
If you don't like FREE versions they buy it.

Jim

Well,... yup... all good apps should be funded and that, but Avast has poor goodwill, thus the aversion. Interesting that WD PUP'd it though.

The PUP is still in there, as I just confirmed by comparing the update file to version 12 from both a free and a licensed version. Here's what comes back from VirusTotal for each version. I'm going to update my Admin Toolkit article over at Win10.Guru about this, and recommend that people -- as Jimbo says earlier in this thread -- consider buying the commercial version to sidestep the potential bundleware issues.

free version download output from VirusTotal.com


licensed version download output from VirusTotal.com



Obvious difference. MiniTool says it's benign and that users can opt out and avoid any side-effects. You can see their back-n-forth with MalwareBytes here: https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topi...alse-positive/.

We still don't have to like it, and I for one do not.
--Ed--

Portable version flags same PUP in its binaries, as a quick submission to VirusTotal will confirm. It may be portable, but it's still got questionable stuff inside. Thanks for sharing, though.
--Ed--

brummyfan said:

Minitool was a nice program but not anymore, they have removed some useful features in Free version with the new update to version 12, I will have to recommend Macrium for image recovery when installing a new SSD.

Macrium Reflect is better anyway for backup