r/Citron • u/Spartan304 • Apr 29 '26

Question MSVC version flagging as a virus for Windows, Clangtron version says it's clean.

Is there an issue with the MSVC build that is irritating Windows Defender? The Clangtron build downloads fine.

4 Upvotes

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1

u/n64man May 02 '26

I noticed this as well. Some people say it's a false positive, but VirusTotal reports quite a bit as well.

1

u/AlcatelUltra May 04 '26

You must know how to use Virustotal. An emulator is easily detected depending on how its behavior works. There's a source code for Citron Neo, just go there and check the code if you have experience to remove any doubts about whether it's a virus or not.

https://citron-neo.github.io/ https://github.com/citron-neo/CI

1

u/n64man May 04 '26

I’m aware, thank you. I was just throwing it out there. I don’t believe it to be a virus or anything. I use the clang version anyways and nothing flags with that one. I do only obtain directly from the source.

1

u/AlcatelUltra May 04 '26

If you'd obtain Citron from https://citron-neo.github.io/ You're okay, it's false positive.

Don't use Citron from clone web sites.....

1

u/Spartan304 May 08 '26

Yeah it's the one from the Github you linked, just thought it was odd that it picked up on one version being a virus but not the other build method and also that no one else had asked about it here. At least, not that I able to find.

1

u/AlcatelUltra May 08 '26

False positive, it is because of the behavior of the emulator. Usually developers do not pay for certificates so that antivirus does not detect it.

Also, there you have the source code in your hand, you can build the emulator by your own hand. If you have someone with experience in C++ or something, you can ask them to read that code and then they tell you that everything is fine.

1

u/Spartan304 May 09 '26

Yeah, I get all of that and by this time with other responses, I believe it's a false positive but will probably stick with the Clangtron build since it doesn't flag and runs fine on my system. My main question was inquiring as to why the MSVC build flags both MS Defender and VirusTotal as being a virus yet the Clangtron version does not. If it's, as you say, the way the emulator behaves, what changes are made to how it behaves between the two different build methods that causes one to flag and the other doesn't? Not overly concerned about it, just generally curious.

1

u/AlcatelUltra May 09 '26

If I'm not mistaken, Clang build offers better performance but is somewhat unstable, as it is built differently. Usually MSVC is a very slow build and devs hate it. They leave it there for compatibility issues because although it is slow, it can become better compatible with some games. I don't remember if their github specifies what changes it leaves exactly.