What should I do if I receive an anti-virus or malware warning when trying to run Football Manager?

On rare occasions Football Manager can be incorrectly identified as a threat when being launched. This is what’s commonly known as a false positive.

To avoid this occurring, we would recommend marking the Football Manager.exe as exempt or marking it not as a threat. Details on how to do this depend on the specific version of anti-virus you’re using, so we would recommend using the anti-virus’s website for full instructions.

For Windows Defender which is the default program for Windows 10, the details on how to mark FM as exempt are listed below:

- On your Windows 10/11 device, open the Windows Security app.
- Select Virus & threat protection > Virus & threat protection settings.
- Under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions.
- Select + Add an exclusion, and specify its type (File, Folder, File type, or Process).

On rare occasions Football Manager can be incorrectly identified as a threat when being launched. This is what’s commonly known as a false positive.

You may get a message which states: “fm will damage your computer. You should move it to the bin.” To avoid this occurring, follow the instructions below:

- Right-click on the desktop shortcut to [Football Manager title]
- Select ‘Get Info’
- Tick ‘Override malware protection’
- You should now be able to launch the game without this message appearing

If you don’t have a desktop shortcut, instructions on how to create one can be found via our FAQ for Epic and Steam.

If you find you don't have this option available to you, do as follows:

- In the Finder on your Mac, locate [Football Manager title]. Most apps can be found in the Applications folder.
- Control-click the app icon, then choose Open from the shortcut menu.
- Click Open.

The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it, just as you can any authorised app.