The eight scariest things on the web

[Mobile Tsk]

The scariest part about these things is that you may have them right now on your computer. No, they're not pedophiles, pornography, or pictures of ugly people. They comprise the groups spyware and malware that together can be referred to most accurately as illegitimate software. What's the big deal, you ask? Why do I care if I have spyware? You better do some digging and make sure you don't have any of this.

#8: Semi-transparent software
Okay, so this is the stuff that makes you lose about 2 and a half minutes of sleep each night. Not a big deal. Just your average spyware; it steals your browsing information and reflects it on the ads you see on its affiliated sites. If you browse sites about Oprah, you'll see Oprah ads. You really don't care, do you?

#7: Adverse software
You may have told this software specifically to download. You may not realize that it's illegit. You can remove it at any point. You can tell it what to do and *usually* what not to do. It doesn't send you pop-ups asking you to upgrade. And yet it's still in your personal space, stealing your information, and invading your privacy. Oh, but that doesn't bother you.

#6: Unsolicited software
Hmm... Okay, I've gotten one of those adverse things you were talking about. But I can't remove it! You lied! No, I didn't. This is like semi-transparent adverse software. You'll have a hard time removing it, you may or may not have asked for it, and it doesn't always do what you want it to.

#5: Covert software
Okay, great. You've got a completely transparent piece of trash on your computer. It's not hurting you directly, but it's wasting space. You cannot take it off without specialized software that you probably don't have. You're getting a few pop-ups. A few unsolicited emails. You can tolerate it but you sure are tired of it.

#4: Double Agents
Playtime's over. You just downloaded something that appears very legitimate. No reports from others about infection. You've got something someone else wants. You don't even realize how screwed up this software really is. It's in the control panel. You can remove it with the click of the button. You searched for it and intentionally downloaded without any second thoughts. And yet your hard drive is ready to abort mission. Scared now?

#3: Trojans
Rogue viruses being the most prevalent, this includes MSAntivirus and Conficker. Do you have one of these? Are you really convinced you're not in danger? This software will not be detected by 90%+ of anti-virus software. It's not in your control panel and the only way to get rid of it is to take Hijack This! and fish it out. That's probably the most tolerable negative consequence; whatever you do, don't pay for the full version or you'll really be scared.

#2: Semi-parasites
Are you having trouble sleeping yet? Are you on the edge of your seat? Oh, look, it's a semi-parasite. You didn't ask for it... but how do I remove it? It might be in my control panel, but it doesn't matter. I can't access any of my system controls. Waaah, what happened? Why is my computer screen so dark?

#1: Parasites
These may look like spyware, legit software, anything. Doesn't matter what it looks like, it's game over, Mister Computer.

 

[Legobricks]

What is your point, exactly?

 

[twocows]

This just seems like a passable explanation of malware plus scare tactics without a proposed solution. I'll provide one.

For Windows users, Firefox and ABP will block almost anything the net can throw at you, and if you're using NoScript, you can pretty much just chill (though NoScript is annoying to use). Avast! or Avira will prevent you from being stupid and running viruses manually, and if something gets past these measures, MalwareBytes can yank it off your hard drive.

Other OSes tend to have less problems with malware, but I still recommend being careful on the internet. Social engineering, where a hacker (for lack of a better term) tries to fool you into running something malicious or giving away your information, is OS-independent. Never give credit information away on a site that isn't well-known (and that you didn't type directly into the address bar), try to stay away from sketchy sites.

Regarding email, don't open email attachments from people you don't know, and don't respond to unsolicited emails. If you're unsure the sender is real, and there's a compelling reason to respond if they are (for instance, if they're claiming to be the FBI and require you to respond or go to prison), look them up online and call them (don't use contact information given in the email). The organization should be able to verify if they sent you such an email.

 

[Mobile Tsk]

What is your point, exactly?

I didn't really have one.

This just seems like a passable explanation of malware plus scare tactics without a proposed solution. I'll provide one.

For Windows users, Firefox and ABP will block almost anything the net can throw at you, and if you're using NoScript, you can pretty much just chill (though NoScript is annoying to use). Avast! or Avira will prevent you from being stupid and running viruses manually, and if something gets past these measures, MalwareBytes can yank it off your hard drive.

Other OSes tend to have less problems with malware, but I still recommend being careful on the internet. Social engineering, where a hacker (for lack of a better term) tries to fool you into running something malicious or giving away your information, is OS-independent. Never give credit information away on a site that isn't well-known (and that you didn't type directly into the address bar), try to stay away from sketchy sites.

Regarding email, don't open email attachments from people you don't know, and don't respond to unsolicited emails. If you're unsure the sender is real, and there's a compelling reason to respond if they are (for instance, if they're claiming to be the FBI and require you to respond or go to prison), look them up online and call them (don't use contact information given in the email). The organization should be able to verify if they sent you such an email.

Internet Explorer and Opera also screen your downloads in an attempt to reduce malicious downloads. Although I used Avast! quite a while ago and it nearly gave me a heart attack. I just use Malwarebytes or HijackThis. The latter is very dangerous but is also much quicker and gets any user-known malware off of the computer sooner.

 

[AJ™]

I think this thread is very useful for those who hear of "The Conficker Worm" or various other technological hazards on the news or other informative sources. It gives the name and how serious it is, so people know what to look out for.

 

[HoneyBubbles]

Thanks. This was pretty helpfu for someone like me who doesn't know a lot about viruses.

I just use Malwarebytes or HijackThis. The latter is very dangerous but is also much quicker and gets any user-known malware off of the computer sooner.

I also use Malwarebytes. But can you explain how HijackThis is dangerous? It sounds like a nice program.

 

[Mobile Tsk]

Thanks. This was pretty helpfu for someone like me who doesn't know a lot about viruses.

I also use Malwarebytes. But can you explain how HijackThis is dangerous? It sounds like a nice program.

It's dangerous because you have to manually remove the malware yourself. It doesn't distinguish between good and bad and will remove any software you ask it to.

 

[Eureka1]

It's dangerous because you have to manually remove the malware yourself. It doesn't distinguish between good and bad and will remove any software you ask it to.

What?

I haven't run anti virus for near a year now and I haven't had anything go wrong with my PC.

Anyone who gets these things must be trying to get them..

 

[twocows]

Thanks. This was pretty helpfu for someone like me who doesn't know a lot about viruses.

I also use Malwarebytes. But can you explain how HijackThis is dangerous? It sounds like a nice program.

HijackThis scans your computer and shows a bunch of entries that it finds unusual. Usually, most of what it finds is just stuff your manufacturer put on there to assist with specialized hardware your computer has, and deleting these entries could cause some of your hardware to fail (usually nothing too important, though; think webcam or touchpad).

 

[AJ™]

What?

I haven't run anti virus for near a year now and I haven't had anything go wrong with my PC.

Anyone who gets these things must be trying to get them..

You know, just because things don't blatantly pop-up doesn't mean you have nothing wrong with your PC. Malware can hide in secrecy (as Conficker is doing right now) and just spy on you, and you'd never know...

 

[Mobile Tsk]

What?

I haven't run anti virus for near a year now and I haven't had anything go wrong with my PC.

Anyone who gets these things must be trying to get them..

That's really unsafe, and kind of dumb, to be honest. There are plenty of freeware shareware anti-viruses that you can get without paying anything. You should at least have one of those and scan it once a week or more.

 

[HoneyBubbles]

HijackThis scans your computer and shows a bunch of entries that it finds unusual. Usually, most of what it finds is just stuff your manufacturer put on there to assist with specialized hardware your computer has, and deleting these entries could cause some of your hardware to fail (usually nothing too important, though; think webcam or touchpad).

It's dangerous because you have to manually remove the malware yourself. It doesn't distinguish between good and bad and will remove any software you ask it to.

Thanks for the explanation. This could be very problematic for me, because I don't know a lot about my computer's programs.

 

[Eureka1]

That's really unsafe, and kind of dumb, to be honest. There are plenty of freeware shareware anti-viruses that you can get without paying anything. You should at least have one of those and scan it once a week or more.

Do you have any examples as to what could happen? I don't mind if someone spies of me.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Do you have any examples as to what could happen? I don't mind if someone spies of me.

Do you ever do anything money related on your computer? Access your bank account, paypal, pay with a credit card, or anything of the sort? That's the first thing that many of these hidden pieces of sofware will send to their creator. You see, they have these fancy things called keyloggers that can be used to record every keystroke you make, and to send anything that looks valuable, like account names, numbers, and passwords, as well as credit card numbers etc. to wherever they want to send them. Other things that happen include your computer being added as a botnet slave, which slows down everything you do because you aren't the only person using it.

 

[twocows]

Do you have any examples as to what could happen? I don't mind if someone spies of me.

I'll put this in RPG terms; maybe it'll be easier to understand.
Attack: malicious software
Effects: records everything you do on your computer, including anything you type
Items lost: passwords, bandwidth, identity, money

 

[extramaster]

For me trojans and adwares are scary in fact anything that can affect my computer is scary even tracking cookies are scary and this is not a joke, that's why I have heaps of program that rename, remove, delete, quantine, block, move to vault (?), immune and so on, on my computer.

 

[zerwey]

I haven't run anti virus for near a year now and I haven't had anything go wrong with my PC.

You really need to get one. AVG Free is the best free antivirus program, https://www.avg.com

Thanks for the thread. It was pretty informative, and No.2 (Semi-Parasites) was a bit funny too [Waah! Why is my screen dark?] xD

 

[Alexithymia~]

I have AVG.
It's really good. I haven't had any problems.
Btw, that tracking keystroke thing sounds really scary.

 

[matt561]

AVG is allright I guess but when I brought my new computer I brought norton just to be on the safe side

I guess im just lucky i've never had any virus thingy's

 

[Virtual Chatot]

Where's Serebiiforums on that list?