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Your antivirus flagged the miner. Here's why, and the safe fix.

Antivirus tools flag every crypto miner, often as Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner, because criminals hide the same open-source miners on other people's computers. The fix is to allow one folder, not to turn your antivirus off.

Why it happens

Otium earns with two open-source miners: XMRig for your processor and SRBMiner for your graphics card. It downloads their official releases from GitHub, checks each file against its published SHA-256 fingerprint, keeps them in one folder, and only runs them once you've set Otium up and turned it on.

Antivirus tools can't tell a miner you chose from one hidden by malware, so they flag them all. The warning is about what the program is, not something found inside it.

The one folder to allow

Otium keeps everything it downloads in its engines folder, so that's the only exception you need:

Windows
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Otium\engines
macOS
~/Library/Application Support/Otium/engines
Linux
~/.local/share/Otium/engines

When your antivirus blocks a miner, Otium tells you and shows this folder's full path. On Windows, %LOCALAPPDATA% is C:\Users\you\AppData\Local.

Microsoft Defender (Windows Security)

The quick way: in Otium, press Allow automatically. Windows asks for your permission, then Otium adds its engines folder, and nothing else, as a Defender exclusion and downloads fresh copies of the miners.

By hand:

  1. Open Windows Security and choose Virus & threat protection.
  2. Under Virus & threat protection settings, choose Manage settings.
  3. Under Exclusions, choose Add or remove exclusions, then Add an exclusion and Folder.
  4. Pick Otium's engines folder. Windows asks for administrator permission.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Leave Potentially unwanted app blocking on: the folder exclusion is enough. If Windows Firewall asks about SRBMiner afterwards, choose Cancel: it only needs outgoing connections. Microsoft's own help

Other antivirus

Otium can't change other antivirus products' settings, so add the folder yourself. Each one calls it something different: exceptions, exclusions or an allow list.

Avast
  1. Open Avast and go to ☰ Menu, then Settings.
  2. Choose General, then Exceptions, and press Add exception.
  3. Press Next, then I understand risks.
  4. On the File / Folder tab, pick Otium's engines folder, press OK, then Add.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Avast's own help

AVG
  1. Open AVG and go to ☰ Menu, then Settings.
  2. Choose General, then Exceptions, and press Add exception.
  3. Press Next, then I understand risks.
  4. On the File / Folder tab, pick Otium's engines folder, then press Add.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

AVG's own help

Norton 360
  1. Open Norton 360 and choose Security on the left.
  2. Open the Scans tile, then the Exclusions tab.
  3. Press Add, pick Otium's engines folder, press OK, then Add. This covers Auto-Protect too.
  4. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Norton 360's own help

Bitdefender
  1. Open Bitdefender and choose Protection (under Services in the newest app).
  2. In the Antivirus panel, press Open, then go to the Settings tab.
  3. Press Manage exceptions, then Add an exception, pick Otium's engines folder and save.
  4. If you turned on Bitdefender's Cryptomining Protection, it has its own exceptions list: add the folder there too.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Bitdefender's own help

Kaspersky
  1. Open Kaspersky, press the settings (gear) button and choose Security settings.
  2. Choose Exclusions and actions on object detection, then Manage exclusions, then Add.
  3. Press Browse, pick Otium's engines folder and press Select.
  4. Leave the threat type empty, make sure it's Active, and press Add.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Kaspersky's own help

ESET
  1. Open ESET and press F5 for Advanced setup.
  2. Choose Scan, then Edit next to Performance exclusions.
  3. Press Add, then …, pick Otium's engines folder and press Open.
  4. Press OK until the windows close.
  5. Back in Otium, press Try again.

ESET's own help

Malwarebytes
  1. Open Malwarebytes and choose Detection History.
  2. Open the Allow list tab and press Add.
  3. Choose to allow a folder, pick Otium's engines folder, and confirm. The labels may differ slightly in the newest version.
  4. Back in Otium, press Try again.

Malwarebytes's own help

McAfee
  1. McAfee's help only describes excluding single files from real-time scanning, not a whole folder. Follow McAfee's own help, or ask its support how to allow a folder.
  2. Back in Otium, press Try again.

McAfee's own help

Questions

Is Otium a virus?

No. Otium is open source, and the miners it runs are the official releases of XMRig and SRBMiner, downloaded from their own GitHub pages and checked against a pinned fingerprint before they run. Antivirus tools flag them for what they are, crypto miners, because criminals hide the same miners on other people's computers.

Why does Windows Defender say Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner or PUA:Win32/CoinMiner?

Those are Microsoft Defender's names for crypto mining software. It uses them for every miner, wanted or not, because it can't tell whether you installed it yourself. Allowing Otium's engines folder tells it you did.

Should I turn off my antivirus?

No. Allow only Otium's engines folder and leave everything else on, including Windows' potentially unwanted app blocking.

Is allowing the folder safe?

An exclusion means your antivirus doesn't scan that one folder. That's why Otium keeps only its downloaded miners there and checks each one against its fingerprint when it downloads it. Never allow your whole drive or your Downloads folder.

Do I need to restore the files my antivirus removed?

No. Once the folder is allowed, press Try again in Otium: it downloads fresh copies of the miners and checks them again.