How the Apps work…
The WICReset (and iWIC) apps have been designed to read and write data to/from compatible printers firmware/memory. This allows you to diagnose and/or have issues (particularly the waste ink counter) resolved by resetting/rewriting certain values in your printers memory.
Why Security/Anti-virus often warn about the Apps
Unfortunately, similar behaviour/functionality is found in malware where malignant apps will rewrite hardware devices turning them into things like “bot armies“. As a result it’s easy to understand why some security/anti-virus software display an over abundance of caution and warn end-users that the software is potentially malware. You’ll note: “potentially”.
To be absolutely clear, the WICReset and iWIC apps are not malware. Warnings usually include:
- Heuristic detection based on the potential functionality of the app (as discussed above).
- App not digitally signed by the developer
- Low reputation (ie: hasn’t been downloaded by enough end-users)
These reports are often indicated whenever versions of the apps updates have just been released and we have to restart the process of contacting anti-virus vendors to report the errors in their detection settings.
In each case they will eventually scan the WICReset utility in more depth and then update their virus definition detection routines ensuring that the warnings disappear for later downloads/users.
How you can help…
If you get a warning when you attempt to use WICReset, iWIC or similar, please can you contact us with the following information:
- Your operating system & version (eg: Windows 10, MacOS, etc…)
- The web browser you were using to download the app (eg: Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge, etc..)
- The antivirus, malware scanner or similar that is installed on your computer.. and the version (if known).
- The detailed error message you received when trying to download and/or install/run the app’.
- Date, time, etc… when you experienced the error.
From that information we can then complete the necessary report and submit it to the relevant software department to get the false positive resolved. Eventually the WICReset app should be recognised as clean which in turn makes it easier for other users to avoid the inaccurate malware notification when using the software.
Despite all of the above, we fully recognise that this is an issue of trust.
If you have ANY qualms or concerns about whether to trust the application then you are under no obligation to do so. If you have purchased a key for use with the utility, please do not use it and instead request a refund from the relevant outlet you purchased the reset key from.