[Freddy]

Locksuit suggested in a couple of topics that he might have got a virus here. Just to set minds at rest, I have checked the files and ran a virus scan and we are clean.

No one else has reported anything, so it appears he got it somewhere else.

For future reference Locksuit, please post things like this in the Forum Problems section.

[keghn]

 I am guessing and speculating that malware is hacked into video apps. Youtube and Vimeo is the cleanest, in my opinion.
 Also i notice strange behavior when my computer is not used or in idle or doing a slow shutdown. That is the time when
i am not watching my processor activity or internet speed or task manager. My processor are suppose to cool  down
with no activity. bu no they are hotter.
 Must of theses video apps are on news web sites or weather web sites.

[kei10]

Hmm, some people worries about viruses and malwares. Although I don't use anti virus as they slow down my computer to a slug, I haven't got any problems so far for ages -- except two cases of hijacking.

For anyone whom downloads and launches unfamiliar executable, one can use Sandboxie to create a virtual environment to contain it, so it won't mess up your computer in case of virus or attempts to install malicious software.

https://www.sandboxie.com/

[LOCKSUIT]

Hmm, some people worries about viruses and malwares. Although I don't use anti virus as they slow down my computer to a slug, I haven't got any problems so far for ages -- except two cases of hijacking.

Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

Man oh man I have scanned with Malwarebytes, McAfee, Cogeco, SuperAntiSpyware, Hitman Pro, and like nothing was found other than this:
http://advancessss.deviantart.com/art/885858788-648474305?ga_submit_new=10%253A1480409476
And STILL when I open a tab or Google, "Secure Search" white bar scrolls down from the top!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I even went through all of my programs installed.
And STILL when I click certain things like a link to a site's FAQs or Freddy's Profile or PM Freddy a scam pop up appears like with a video of a man or bell problem saying you have virus please call blahblahblah.
Since staying off the site and narrowing down, the link - pop up scams never happened, though I never tried too much, only just a minute ago today it happened once on the same lowlevelformat site when clicking a link of info on the left side see em (after going to our forum, dumb me):
http://www.lowlevelformat.info/
The same pop ups happened when clicking Freddy's name etc on this site.
Sadly, I stayed off this site and narrowed stuffs down and should have tried that lowlevelformat etc site before returning to the forum here and possibly "getting infected again", darn!
I also checked my browser extensions.
Clueless.
But AI is easy.

[Data]

I've seen browser behaviour like this recently on a customers computer.

No viruses were detected or found by antivirus software or by my knowhow.   

Reinstalling the browser didn't fix it.

Even a system restore didn't fix it.

In the end and with the limited time I had with the customer, I had to re-install windows. That fixed it, obviously.

I'm guessing that some system files were somehow changed by something nasty and because the files should be there in the OS they didn't get detected as a threat. 

That shouldn't be possible but it seemed to be the case.

Personally I'm not getting any odd behaviour from this web site and am pretty sure there is no infection here. 

[LOCKSUIT]

Thing is, my laptop has windows 10. Windows 10 updates itself too like a cop. I might try browser re-install.

Well, I guess this thread is dead now...?

Later.

[Art]

The other evening I was working on a program when my computer suddenly shut completely down, without warning!

Interesting. I had my computer check for updates and it found one, so I let it download and install it. How long could it take, right?

Well, over two and a half hours! No kidding...Likely longer since I actually didn't clock the download which took a painfully long time as well.

It performed several starts, shutdowns and restarts (it did warn of that and for the user to be patient). This was some Anniversary Update or similar thing by Windows to correct some issues as usual.

It finally rebooted and my speakers started making hi-pitched screams like one gets with feedback, such as volume set high and microphone too close to speaker sort of situation. I turned down the volume control on my speakers and noticed the Microphone (in-built) had been turned on by Windows.

Later that evening, I downloaded and ran a chatbot program and suddenly Windows shut completely down without warning like before. My Event viewer said the program tried to execute an illegal function call or some such and was shut down. Whether Windows did this or not remains to be seen. The computer world is getting curiouser and curiouser!

I've run MalwareBytes which is a great program and other than a few cookies, nothing of issue. I also run BitDefender A/V software and have for over a decade. It has caught and killed several virus attempts during those years and not one has gotten through! I also run through an external firewall. Hey I was once bitten and lost everything so no chances here!

If anyone does not use an Anti-Virus program or other form of protection while surfing, it is only a matter of time, I can assure you! I do hope you have a backup.

[LOCKSUIT]

Lol yeah I use anti-virus software and backup real good, in fact my text notes on my desktop are going to soon have a folder called copies where I will make changes to both, and compare them in a program within the folder, if they are different then the CPU/HDD/etc screwed up and I will revert to last backup pair on google and make sure to save any info. Also because I have thousands of images and movies, the only way to know they are the same data and not gotten bad sectors ruined on the disk platter may be by a software to check only the folder items for if the disk platter can read from the bits.

LOL Art are you using windows 10? Me too on laptop, but windows 7 on my pc I just built! Previously XP. I want control over what OS I will have! Less programs installed etc! 10 uses lots of resources and updates automatically unless you change the "care times" thing it recently added!

[kei10]

Windows 10 updates can be disabled to manual using registry or disabling the "Windows Update" service.

As a side note, one can use browser addon "Web of trust" to ensure that one is surfing safe websites.

https://www.mywot.com/

[infurl]

Web of Trust is officially corrupt and broken and is no longer to be trusted.

Google news for "web of trust" and you'll see all the reports from a few weeks ago.

[kei10]

Hm, you're right. Now you mention it, web of trust addon vanished from firefox addons website. I guess I will be looking for something else...

Thank you for the heads up, infurl.

[Art]

Understand but Updates are still an important facet of ownership and staying up-to-date with regard to operations, maintenance and security, so even though some are a major P.I.T.A., I still get them and jump through a few hoops if need be.

After a completed run of MalwareBytes, it found two occurrences of an Adware.track type of malware. It was apparently "watching" every place I visited and was obviously reporting this info to some place or some "cloud" server somewhere.

Once both were removed, I rebooted and now the system's fan no longer runs in a higher more for longer than normal periods of time and the overall throughput / response time, has greatly improved. No more lagging!!

So weekly scanning with MalwareBytes and with the AV. Best time is at night when one is sleeping!

Oh yes, it mentioned that the majority of these "trackers" are often bundled together with other software, sometimes Free or Shareware. A lot of people get in a hurry for the installation and tell it yes, go ahead and install whatever you need to install! WRONG! Take time to see what is being installed before you click the OK button!  I think maybe Adobe or one of those try to install McAfee's AV software at the same time as their install. Be sure to uncheck that box before clicking OK. It's your computer. Take a moment to protect it!

Set a Restore Point in case something bad happens. Takes a couple minutes. Luck!

[Korrelan]

All excellent advice.

No one seems to have mentioned ghosting/ imaging their drives.

Once a week I create a complete image of my main servers boot drive. I use Macrioum; it makes a complete copy of your drive, operating system, everything… and provides a boot disk to reset/ reload everything back to its original state.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

I keep all my files on a separate drive from my boot partition so the disk image remains small… ish.  I tend to save the last three images and delete older ones.

So once a week… I scan everything for virus and malware.

Copy all my recent files to an external drive, so I have two copies… and then TURN OFF the external drive. This stops malware affecting this backup.

Ghost/ Image the whole boot partition and save to the external drive.

You have to consider hijack malware, they will encrypt your boot drive and all attached storage (turned on) and demand bitcoin etc.. or drive failure.

Always keep at least two copies of all your backups/ data/ drive images... on physically separate drives.

Macrium as saved my a** on a few occasions lol.

 

[Art]

I take it similar to Norton Ghost, without all the bloat...or something like that.

More good advice as well!

[kei10]

I usually back up just my project and important files to an external drive. Personally I think it might be a bit too much to back up entire drive?

Nevertheless, good advises!

Thank you.