Viruses, Trojans...

[Hiatus]

What are your thoughts on things like malware, viruses, trojans and spyware? Have your computer (or any other device) ever been inflicted by them? If so, have you been able to remove them? How did you do it? Aside from using anti-viruses, what other things do you do to prevent your devices from being contaminated with them?

 

[Danny0317]

I got one called Cryptolocker a few days ago after opening an email... I felt quite stupid because it was .exe but I still clicked it. Anyways I got rid of it by doing a system restore, which I did a few days after I got it so I ended up losing some stuff.

 

[Cordelia]

I've had a few random viruses and malware in the past, but lately I haven't had anything in a long time. I run both Windows Defender and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Pro and it pretty much stops everything. It's pretty easy to NOT get contaminated, especially if you pay attention to what you're doing. I just always pay attention and make sure I'm not going to a phishing site or anything like that. Chrome helps too.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I don't generally venture into sites that commonly harbor such nonsense. When I do though, the torrent sites I visit have comments and ratings enabled, so I only download something with at least 4 to 10 seeders minimum (depending on what it is). As for the other kind of sites, I don't generally go on those say for one site that's actually doubles as a fan community (plus its all images). No viruses for me!


Call me a conspiracist, but I believe that the culprits behind malware are (1) people with a cause, e.g. radical Christians uploading malware to adult websites, and (2) people withouth any cause, e.g. a person who knows way too much of what they're doing and doesn't know how to productively spend their time. That's about it :P

 

[Tsutarja]

I gave this topic the [Discussion] prefix, since it seems keen for one.

I've had malware and viruses in the past, but I can never seem to recall what I've gotten. The last time I got infected by a virus was almost five years ago, but I can't remember how I got infected either. It was back when my parents were installing Norton onto my computer, and before I had an interest in technology. All I can remember doing was just getting the virus and leaving the computer alone. I didn't have any restore CDs, so I had to save up to get Windows XP (which was the OS at the time, and I bought the computer refurbished), and then I just reformated the computer.

 

[Puddle]

I don't have them now, but someone got mad at me for banning them on a forum and somehow ratted my computer and injected thousands of Trojans into it. Let's just say that computer stopped working shortly after.

 

[Golden Warrior]

I've never had a real problem with viruses since I tend to check for them often and make sure I'm well protected by more means that Microsoft Security Essentials. There are a ton of sites that have these things and I usually avoid them, since most are pretty blatant and also e-mails that have downloads. Never download it if I don't know what it is or who it's from.

Although... I did system restore to factory a few days ago to save my computer from what I thought was memory overload... Maybe that was.... Nah.

 

[pokemasta92]

What exactly do people do to get all of these problems? I just visit regular websites, delete junk mail, and only download music from iTunes and games from Steam. I have Microsoft Security Essentials if there's ever an issue.

 

[droomph]

Having a Mac 101

Pros

There are few compatible third-party apps to get malware from.

Cons

There are few compatible third-party apps, period.

How does this affect me?

Rather than worrying about malware in the program that you use, you have to worry about getting a version that you can use.

So yeah that's been my experience with software for the past six years :p

 

[Golden Warrior]

What exactly do people do to get all of these problems? I just visit regular websites, delete junk mail, and only download music from iTunes and games from Steam. I have Microsoft Security Essentials if there's ever an issue.

No clue, I do this too. Er, well, not the iTunes part, I just rip most of my music from CDs I buy or get it from OCRemix, either way, safe.

Pros

There are few compatible third-party apps to get malware from.
Cons

There are few compatible third-party apps, period.

This has been what I've heard for the most part, and likely the reason I don't have a Mac. Ah well.

 

[Sheep]

I've had a lot of run-ins with them on my older Windows laptops. One time it infected my entire browser and told me I had to pay a fine to use it again.. probably the most ridiculous one but it's a pretty well-known issue, I think. Had it happen to my boyfriend's dad too (and he almost paid the $200 or whatever it asks of you).

But now that I'm on OS X I've never had viruses and the like. Makes me happy since I had paranoia in that regard on older computers. @~@

 

[Legendary Silke]

I'm way more concerned about phishing attempts than any actual malware these days. Nobody I know running a modern OS and an up-to-date antimalware solution has had a run in with anything nasty.

The biggest problem these days is between the screen and chair.

 

[donavannj]

I'm way more concerned about phishing attempts than any actual malware these days. Nobody I know running a modern OS and an up-to-date antimalware solution has had a run in with anything nasty.

The biggest problem these days is between the screen and chair.

Ah, PEBKAC. The single biggest source of frustration in IT, yet also the biggest cause of continued employment for IT professionals.

I don't think I've been infected in years, though I've had to clean up a few at work.

 

[Golurks Were Meant to Fly]

I had a run in with a horrible computer virus just the other day actually, because I tried to stream an episode. It was called Windows Safety Master and it acted like it was something from Microsoft warning me about malware. I ignored it the first time but then it popped up again so I clicked it... and it proceeded to not allow me to access literally everything on my computer, saying it "could be corrupted." Not even Task Manager. :'(

I had to go into Windows Safe mode and download this anti malware thing called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and scan an remove it. It ended up being easy to remove but the guide I followed made things confusing and I think slightly outdated so I had to tailor things to what my computer would allow me to do. I think I just have Norton Anti-Virus on my computer right now, and also the new Malware I installed.

 

[Zet]

The last time I had an actual virus was back in the XP days. These days, I only see false positives.
My brother on the other hand gets viruses nearly all the time, and it becomes a hassle to fix his computer.

My current setup is: Bitdefender Internet Security, and Malwarebytes Pro.

 

[Lord Scalgon]

Which reminds me...

Not too long ago, a friend's laptop contracted Sirefef (a Trojan, if you're wondering)...which often originates from keygens/pirated software. While working to rectify this issue, I realized this is very complex...so just a side note - if you run into this, you better have at least a backup state for System Restore...otherwise, assuming you don't have any IT professional to help you resolve this issue, good game.

 

[Raine]

Before, when I used laptops running Windows, I've never had a problem with viruses. My sister and I used Norton I think as our anti-virus software. Either it was effective or we just had luck when it came to downloading stuff XD

 

[Megan]

I never had any viruses on my computers, even in my wild internet past. It's probably because I have so many safety addons used in my browsers. Also I carefully observe installation of software that has it's own wizards, because many of them want to install unwanted and annoying toolbars, some of them being viruses.

I've seen a couple of infected viruses and it made me thinking what people do with their PC. There really should be a method to force people visiting some kind of school lessons before they can get their computers (considering that many people think installing Tuneup Utilities is the way to go; their realization of being wrong comes as soon as they have to pay some IT specialists who solve their problems by simply deinstalling it xD)

 

[pokemasta92]

Something I've always found funny is that some people still believe that Macs are safe from all viruses which couldn't be farther from the truth. It's not that Macs can't get viruses, it's that since statistically the majority of computer users on this planet use computers that are not made my Apple or use their OS, they are not targeted by hackers. No one is going to waste their time trying to get thousands of peoples personal info on Macs when they can get millions on PC's.

 

[PkmnTrainerElio]

I've had viruses and malware before, I did get my first virus last year, I was scanning my computer religiously before the virus and when ever I think I have one I will scan my computer...

I do agree with ®ock§mashGod it could be radical Christians, but, it could just be creeps who want to ruin someone's life.
It could be the same with certain 1D and JB sites, it could be a hater, just trying to ruin a Directioner or Belieber's life, with their creepy little virus.