If your antivirus software flags Hedy as a threat, blocks the download, or quarantines the app after installation, this guide will help you fix it. Hedy is safe to install — antivirus false positives can occur with newer apps.
Why Does This Happen?
Antivirus software sometimes flags apps it doesn't recognize yet. Because Hedy is a newer application, some antivirus programs may incorrectly identify it as suspicious. This is a false positive — Hedy does not contain any malware or viruses.
McAfee
McAfee may block the Hedy installer during download or quarantine hedy.exe after installation. Here's how to fix it:
Step 1: Restore Hedy from Quarantine
Open McAfee (double-click the McAfee icon in your system tray)
Go to the left menu and select Device
Click Antivirus
Find Quarantined items and look for Hedy
Select Hedy and click Restore
Step 2: Add Hedy as an Exclusion (so McAfee won't block it again)
In McAfee, go to the left menu and select Device
Click Real-time Scanning
Scroll down to Excluded files and click Add file
Browse to where Hedy is installed and select hedy.exe
Restart Hedy
Important: Do not use the Firewall section in McAfee — that controls network connections, not app scanning. You need the Antivirus or Real-time Scanning settings instead.
Other Antivirus Software
If you use a different antivirus program (Norton, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, AVG, Avast, etc.), the general steps are the same:
Open your antivirus program
Check the quarantine or blocked items list and restore Hedy
Add Hedy to the exclusions or allowed apps list so it won't be blocked again
Restart Hedy
Quick Workaround
If you can't find the exclusion settings, you can temporarily disable your antivirus real-time scanning, download and install Hedy, then re-enable your antivirus and add Hedy to the exclusions list. This prevents the antivirus from quarantining Hedy again on the next scan.
After Installation
If Hedy installs successfully but shows a "Storage issue" error on startup, this is a different problem caused by Windows Ransomware Protection blocking file access. See our separate guide: Windows: "Storage issue" Error on Startup.
Still having trouble? Contact us through the chat widget and include the name of your antivirus software and any error messages you see. We're happy to help!