trojan horses whilst browsing internet??

[maggot]

hi my dad and brother just got new pcs,i set them up , they are using internet explorer7.0 xp sp2,and mcafee security suite 2006 (with a year of updates to still run)
although they have all the same internet settings etc as myself they keep getting trojan horses when browsing normal internet sites which should be trusted,they are not downloading anything just browsing when mcafee finds a trojan horse,these have all been in temporary internet files and mcafee has deleted them,i also advised them to do a disc cleanup to remove these temp files,
why is this happening? can i stop this happening? please help

[Krispy Kritter]

They could be false positives. It could also just be the type of sites they are visiting. Many sites use various ways of keeping track of their visitors. Without seeing the actual alert message and/or files, it is hard to give you a good answer.

[MJA]

people here are not a big fan of mcafee so the 1st thing they will tell you is to remove it and install another AV.scan their PC on line http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner . also ask then to install Firefox .

[jman98]

Installing Firefox and using it instead of IE is always a good idea. Try scanning with something like SpyBot or AVG's new malware remover (http://www.grisoft.com). Both are free. They should give you an idea if the trojans are false positives or not. If not, tell them to stop using IE. Just because Microsoft says it's secure that doesn't mean it is.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I'd say it has a lot to do with their surfing habits.

All browsers have vulnerabilities - Firefox is no exception (i.e., don't assume all problems will go away if you switch from IE).

Next time a trojan is identified, ask for the URL of the offending site.

[LOWTECH]

I also reside in the UK and use free AVG anti virus No trojan horse received over 3 years....

[Scorpion King]

Tell them to stop clicking on all those popups....

[oldandinthe way]

It depends heavily on their ISP and its subcontractors.

Level3 has heavy activity with worms originating in their dialup ports in one city and targetting their dialup ports in another.

They do not appear to police this activity because they subcontract these ports to a variety of other ISPs such as earthlink.

Check the logs and McAfee to see where these trojans originate from and consider reporting them. If McAfee has provision for blocking IPs which are the source of trojans - enable it.

It may have nothing to do with surfing habits, the site you visit or anything under the control of the computer user.

Changing browsers will not help if the worms are aimed at ports other than 80.

[thecoalman]

although they have all the same internet settings etc as myself they keep getting trojan horses when browsing normal internet sites which should be trusted,

Legitimate sites aren't going to have such nonsense, a site like this for example would quickly become ghost town. The exception to this would be if the site itself was compromised but in that case the site owner is usually aware of it immediately. As suggested above it's either a false positive or it's something else.

[MOVIEGEEK]

My guess it's a false positive,use an online scanner to verify.
Also go to Internet Options and select "Empty Temporary Internet Files..."

[Xylob the Destroyer]

...they keep getting trojan horses when browsing normal internet sites...

uh-huh. I'm always totally straight forward with everybody about the porno sites I like to visit
perhaps they are being less than complete when they list the sites they use?

[Scorpion King]

Surfing the web minding your own business when you click on a popup and windup at a porn site where you catch something . Thats life I guess....

"Were you looking at porn?"..... "Uh.. who, me?"

[Capmaster]

Porn sites and crackz sites are loaded with trojans and viruses.

Or so I've been told

[kush]

All browsers may have vulnerabilites, but for me ditching IE for FF has reduced all kinds of issues for me.

No IE+use FF+(AdBlock Plus+AdBlock Filterset.G extensions)+general smart browsing habits = little -> no issues for me for 2+ years (iirc) since I started using Mozilla (& now FF).

The majority of problems could be eliminated from simply not clicking on obviously BAD links, surfing bad/suspect sites, using a (decent) popup blocker, not opening/clicking links (or opening attachments in spam/crap email). Also, googling for a 'custom' HOSTS file can stop people from navigating to the majority of these bad sites in the first place regardless of browser used (by redirecting to an internal LAN address usually 127.0.0.1).

[Krispy Kritter]

All browsers may have vulnerabilites, but for me ditching IE for FF has reduced all kinds of issues for me.

No IE+use FF+(AdBlock Plus+AdBlock Filterset.G extensions)+general smart browsing habits = little -> no issues for me for 2+ years (iirc) since I started using Mozilla (& now FF).

The majority of problems could be eliminated from simply not clicking on obviously BAD links, surfing bad/suspect sites, using a (decent) popup blocker, not opening/clicking links (or opening attachments in spam/crap email). Also, googling for a 'custom' HOSTS file can stop people from navigating to the majority of these bad sites in the first place regardless of browser used (by redirecting to an internal LAN address usually 127.0.0.1).

No offense, but out of everything you said, the only thing that really matters is "general smart browsing habits".

The fact that you have now gained enough experience to install and use everything else you listed is mostly irrelevant because you have also learned what not to do while surfing.

I mostly use IE, and of all the years I have been surfing, I have only had one bad virus/trojan, and that occurred when I wasn't using my "smart browsing habits".

Live and learn.

[jman98]

Firefox, Opera and Safari don't support ActiveX, which is nice way that Microsoft opens a potential security hole on your Windows PC. IE does support ActiveX.

Browsing habits are important, but I work in IT for a living and I can tell you that by not using IE, I have less chance of having something unintended happen to me while visiting websites. Pro-Microsoft guys will always argue the point and I don't intend to get into an endless debate. Anyone can do a web search and see what security experts think of ActiveX.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I'm not pro-Microsoft but, frankly, that's crap.

I've always used IE (except for a brief test of Firefox - which I promptly removed) and have yet to have a single security breach. How? With the right third-party tools (just like for Firefox) and by not automatically allowing ActiveX controls to run.

Firefox is vulnerable. Anyone who claims that using Firefox will keep you safe is deluded. If you don't believe me, look at Mozilla's own list of vulnerabilities.

[Scorpion King]

The majority of problems could be eliminated from simply not clicking on obviously BAD links, surfing bad/suspect sites, using a (decent) popup blocker, not opening/clicking links (or opening attachments in spam/crap email).

That would take all the fun out of it...

Just kidding. You're right. lol

[Capmaster]

Good browsing habits are important, but it also helps when your browser doesn't open your PC to all sorts of malicious crap, like IE does

I haven't had a single virus/trojan issue since switching to FF about a year ago 8)

[MJA]

maggot posted once and never looked back at his thread .lol

[Krispy Kritter]

and look at the can of worms he opened.

[Capmaster]

maggot posted once and never looked back at his thread .lol

I hate it when that happens :P

He probably grew to being an adult fly by now.

[Sam Ontario]

maggot posted once and never looked back at his thread .lol

People treating her as he, that scared her off!

[Scorpion King]

maggot's IE probably got hijacked by that trojan.

Just fooling around - surfing the web - clicking on pop-ups.

[maggot]

Hi i am back just been away for a week, thank you for your answers they have not received any more trojans in a week ,i am just waiting for the next one and i will get the url of the site they were on cheers