# TROJ\_GENERIC.ADV - Is my computer sick or no?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troj_generic-adv-is-my-computer-sick-or-no/398354>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 2, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troj_generic-adv-is-my-computer-sick-or-no/398354 "2007-04-02T00:14:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troj_generic-adv-is-my-computer-sick-or-no/398354/1 "2007-04-02T00:14:37Z")

</div>

I got a warning from PC-cillin that I’ve got a trojan horse called TROJ\_GENERIC.ADV.

From a Google search on the malware, this may be a false positive from running an out-of-date PC-cillin. Checking PC-cillin itself, I got two rather inconsistent pieces of advice:

1. Update PC-cillin. Tried to do that, was told PC-cillin is up to date.
2. Download a fix. I did that as well… when it was extracted and executed, I was told that I needed to download a pattern file. But I wasn’t told where to get this pattern file.

So, neither of these courses of action are helping me eliminate this (alleged?) malware.

Any suggestions?

Also, PC-cillin only tells me that TROJ\_GENERIC.ADV is mostly harmless. Like what HHGTG says about a certain planet, this is not terribly farking informative. Anybody know more about what this thing’s gonna do? If I do indeed have this thing, and if I really can’t get rid of it, I’d at least want to know what it’s doing…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troj_generic-adv-is-my-computer-sick-or-no/398354/2 "2007-04-02T01:35:37Z")

</div>

TROJ\_GENERIC.ADV is a proprietery name given by TrendMicro which nobody else uses, so [beyond what it says on their website](http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_GENERIC.ADV), there is no way to cross reference it to trojans recognized by other scanners.  
[QUOTE=Engywook]  
2. Download a fix. I did that as well… when it was extracted and executed, I was told that I needed to download a pattern file. But I wasn’t told where to get this pattern file.  
[/QUOTE]  
If the tool was TrendMicro’s SysClean.zip, [the pattern file can be found here](http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_GENERIC.ADV). But it is the same pattern file used by PC-cillin, so if that didn’t work, I don’t know if sysclean will do any better.