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  1. Member
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    Hi,

    I am wondering if having an antivirus software makes any sense.
    My point is that right now I have been online pretty much 24/7 since 2001 and I haven't catch anything except for spy cookies.
    As for Trojans I have a pretty good firewall, and this is been taking care of.

    So how do you get viruses on your machines?
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  2. Member
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    Without a firewall or AV software, my Win2000 PC (with SP4) was infected by 6+ virus'/trojans within 1 week!

    It was a PC I'd just setup at work and Symantec AV/Firewall wouldn't install on my base system (IE was still only v5!).
    After installing the OS, I left it on the work network (also connected to the internet).
    Within 1 week my local IT support had taken it off the network because it was "attacking" colleagues in AUSTRALIA.
    The PC had not been used to download anything, it was completely brand new/un-used on the internet - everything (virus/trojan) was forced upon it from outside sources !

    Obviously something (firewall?) is required to stay safe online... even if YOU don't do anything wrong !
    (doesn't Windows firewall only control outgoing connections and not incoming ?)

    I guess unless you are in the habit of downloading dubious software/clicking links in random emails, then getting virus' is not going to be a big issue?
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  3. Member mats.hogberg's Avatar
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    Mostly it's my daughter, who is very indiscriminate when downloading and installing stuff on her computer.

    /Mats
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  4. Member thecoalman's Avatar
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    Guess that's relative to your browsing habits and/or computer habits. No machine is completely secure unless you unplug it from the wall , viruses/malware have even been accidently distributed with legitimate software in the past or if you want to include the Sony debacle on purpose. There's even an exploit in XP prior to SP1? where you only need to be connected to the internet.

    If you keep your windows installation up to date and stay out of the "bad places" you're relatively secure but that's not 100% either because sites get hacked too and as the exploit above I pointed out shows you don't even have to be doing anything. More than once I know links have been posted on this site that went to sites that tried to infect you.

    One posted by Baldrick himself : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic296818.html

    Better to be safe than sorry.
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  5. Member ahhaa's Avatar
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    Most AV software scans both incoming & outgoing email; preventing you from spreading problems to other people's computers.

    Think of it as a condom for your computer...
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  6. Member
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    I remember last time I used Norton antivirus was in 2001 and also that was last time I got few viruses in short period of time. One of them came from a porn side, one from Astalavista (hackers site) and one from a P2P Direct Connect. Since then I am simply staying away from dark allies and I think that pretty much depends on what you browse and download.
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  7. Another way is mistype the url.

    I meant to go to the realtek website to download a driver here at work.

    I typed www realtek com DON'T Go There, the real site is www.realtek.com.tw

    The .com one was trying to install munky as I rcall the message from either Norton or SpySweeper. Many times a mistyped URL will take you to a bogus site or onethat trys to install Malware.

    Or to put it another you need to be careful and doublecheck.
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  8. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I like to wander around the 'dark alleys' of the internet on occasion.

    One of the disadvantages of a high speed connection is how fast you can download malware.

    I run AVG, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster, Stopzilla, Sygate firewall, the Windows firewall, and use a router firewall and have still got hit a few times with malware.

    I went to one site about a year ago and they wanted me to install a download accelerator. I went to click 'No' and I hit 'yes' by accident. I had 17 of the worst trojans, viruses, and spyware in my computer in about a 10th of a second. The screen was covered with porn ads and the computer locked up. I was finally forced to do a OS reinstall to clean it all out.

    Even with all the protection, you still have to be careful where you go and what you do.
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  9. Member ranchhand's Avatar
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    As for Trojans I have a pretty good firewall, and this is been taking care of.
    If your computer starts acting wierd count yourself lucky that you have a clue something is wrong. The most dangerous are the backdoor trojans, and a really good hacker hides himself so that you have no clue he is monitoring your computer. DOS attacks are a result of many, many computer users that have absolutely no idea that their unit has been compromised and is actually a zombie of the hacker that uses it to send pings against a target.
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  10. One thing you can do to roam the dark alleys is create a ultimate boot CD, Disconnect the hard drives, boot off of the CD. Use a flash drive for storage. Malware can't install to a read only CD.

    Darn good way to slow down a fast computer but safest way.

    Some of these sites clicking Yes or No doesn't matter they both mean yes!
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  11. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I use sort of a 'sacrificial' computer to roam around the 'alleys'. It's an old P4 and I have a backup DVD to restore the OS and programs if the worst happens.

    I managed to DL a root kit virus a while back and nothing I had detected it. I knew something was running, but couldn't find it. I ran a root kit finder as a last resort and I seemed to have destroyed it, but it took several tries. Some of the malware out there is very hard to detect. Some of them disable your firewall and anti virus programs, lock your restore out and can be tough to remove.
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  12. Back when I used to use Windows on my main machine (Windows 2000, of course), I went several years connected to broadband and never got a virus. Or, at the very least, if I did get infected, it was minor enough not to cause any problems, so I never knew I had anything...

    I've never run antivirus, ever. I just don't download from suspicious websites, and I don't open unfamiliar email attachments. And I've never had a problem...

    Adware / Spyware is a little bit harder to avoid, but I've never had any real issue there either. Every few months or so I'd run an Ad-Aware scan, and it would almost never find anything. That's about it.

    Of course if you really want to be protected from virsuses and spyware, just run GNU/Linux...
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  13. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    So how do you get viruses on your machines?
    Moments prior to the virus database update?
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  14. Member
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    Originally Posted by hech54
    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    So how do you get viruses on your machines?
    Moments prior to the virus database update?


    That's what I was thinking about as well. The best way to keep antivirus software business is to have a home made virus
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  15. Member
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    Originally Posted by ranchhand
    As for Trojans I have a pretty good firewall, and this is been taking care of.
    If your computer starts acting wierd count yourself lucky that you have a clue something is wrong. The most dangerous are the backdoor trojans, and a really good hacker hides himself so that you have no clue he is monitoring your computer. DOS attacks are a result of many, many computer users that have absolutely no idea that their unit has been compromised and is actually a zombie of the hacker that uses it to send pings against a target.
    Well, if you have all the ports closed even backdoor Trojans won't do anything, won't they?
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  16. Member
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    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    One thing you can do to roam the dark alleys is create a ultimate boot CD, Disconnect the hard drives, boot off of the CD. Use a flash drive for storage. Malware can't install to a read only CD.

    Darn good way to slow down a fast computer but safest way.

    Some of these sites clicking Yes or No doesn't matter they both mean yes!
    That is kinda intresting How do you create a bootable CD with XP on it?
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  17. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    So how do you get viruses on your machines?
    If by "virus" you refer to anything that is obnoxious, self-installing or self-replicating, then:

    Put a Sony music CD in the computer.
    Install Quicktime.
    Install Realplayer.
    Buy a brand new Dell.
    Allow all ActiveX components to run in a browser.

    :P :P :P 8) :P
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
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  18. Member
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    Ironically I just found a back door trojan on my machine
    I did remove it myself successfully for now, unless it is copying itself under a different names.
    I found it in the following location:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    Software
    Microsoft
    Windows
    CurrentVersion
    Run
    RunServices

    and it was called

    Backdoor.Win32.SdBot.asr
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  19. Member
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    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    obnoxious, self-installing or self-replicating
    Well if we start at point one where all cases of infection normally start from , then , that would be anyone under the age of 18 ... wouldnt it ... lol

    We'll throw in self-starting , cause they dont need a hand either .
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  20. Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Ironically I just found a back door trojan on my machine
    I did remove it myself successfully for now, unless it is copying itself under a different names.Backdoor.Win32.SdBot.asr
    I was thinking as I read down that if you had not run your anti-virus in a year or so it was probably about 50 /50 that you had some kind of Malware on your computer somewhere.
    As stated above, I have found malware in legitimate downloads.
    So it would never hurt to run online or on machine every now and then a scan to see what's there. Most of the time mine is maybe nothing more than harmless malware but I dont want it , even cookies, so I run mine to delete it all.
    Regards,
    NL
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  21. Member
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    Originally Posted by NiteLite
    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Ironically I just found a back door trojan on my machine
    I did remove it myself successfully for now, unless it is copying itself under a different names.Backdoor.Win32.SdBot.asr
    I was thinking as I read down that if you had not run your anti-virus in a year or so it was probably about 50 /50 that you had some kind of Malware on your computer somewhere.
    As stated above, I have found malware in legitimate downloads.
    So it would never hurt to run online or on machine every now and then a scan to see what's there. Most of the time mine is maybe nothing more than harmless malware but I dont want it , even cookies, so I run mine to delete it all.
    Regards,
    NL
    No I haven't been that long online. I regularly reinstall my Windows every 6 months or earlier when I smell something fishy like right now. Even though that I removed a Trojan I'll most likely run HHD wipe out tomorrow and do a fresh XP install. BOOYA HACKERS
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  22. Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    One thing you can do to roam the dark alleys is create a ultimate boot CD, Disconnect the hard drives, boot off of the CD. Use a flash drive for storage. Malware can't install to a read only CD.

    Darn good way to slow down a fast computer but safest way.

    Some of these sites clicking Yes or No doesn't matter they both mean yes!
    That is kinda intresting How do you create a bootable CD with XP on it?
    This is the one I tested was from here http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm I liked the look of it as it comes with a whole bunch of usefull tools including AV and Antispyware with updateing instructions Reg fixes and cd burning and so on, List here http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

    Good Luck
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  23. Originally Posted by Bjs
    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    obnoxious, self-installing or self-replicating
    Well if we start at point one where all cases of infection normally start from , then , that would be anyone under the age of 18 ... wouldnt it ... lol

    We'll throw in self-starting , cause they dont need a hand either .
    I'll go along with that. Most spyware/virus infected computers I see have Teenage users. And of course P2P.
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  24. But who says that link you gave is a) the real url b) a legitimate link?
    Trust no-one suspect everyone !
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  25. Member
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    To my knowledge I've never had anything other than spyware. Besides antivirus, firewalls, spybot etc, another program is a one that stops the installation of anything and stops any changes in the registry. The program that I use is Prevex.
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  26. Even legitimate websites can be infected with trojans/virus. So you are taking a big chance not having an anti-virus. I went to a major universities website one day, and the main page was infected!

    There are also those people who think that Macs are safe and don't need firewalls and Anti-virus software. They keep saying that there are hardly any virus out there for the Mac, and that all authors write for PC and Windows. That may be true, but one day someone could unleash a major virus for Mac. Anti-virus software is a necessity whether mac or pc.
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  27. Member
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    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    One thing you can do to roam the dark alleys is create a ultimate boot CD, Disconnect the hard drives, boot off of the CD. Use a flash drive for storage. Malware can't install to a read only CD.

    Darn good way to slow down a fast computer but safest way.

    Some of these sites clicking Yes or No doesn't matter they both mean yes!
    That is kinda intresting How do you create a bootable CD with XP on it?
    This is the one I tested was from here http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm I liked the look of it as it comes with a whole bunch of usefull tools including AV and Antispyware with updateing instructions Reg fixes and cd burning and so on, List here http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

    Good Luck
    That's looks very interesting, but I am a cheap person and I only use whats available for free
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  28. Member
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    Originally Posted by Taterbug
    To my knowledge I've never had anything other than spyware. Besides antivirus, firewalls, spybot etc, another program is a one that stops the installation of anything and stops any changes in the registry. The program that I use is Prevex.
    I think I'll try that Prevex. Can you use it for free and manually remove found files? Does it show files names so you can search for them in the registry?
    moved to another forum, nobody likes me here...
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  29. Far too goddamn old now EddyH's Avatar
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    just being careless (and/or not caring), i think. or ignorant - which is an ugly sounding and abused word for simply not knowing what you're doing.
    or just plain stupid in some cases.

    an old pc of ours, long since dead (leaky capacitors on mobo) used heavily for p2p etc, no attempt at firewalling or decent anti-spyware / antivirus programs on it (indeed, getting a firewall router kind of ended that life for me as it stopped my main p2p program working)........... didn't really suffer too much performance slowdown or any data damage / phishing (we didn't keep sensitive data on it - still, if we'd ever got a keylogger it could have been fatal), but the amount of stuff revealed on installing AVG and Spybot was phenomenal.

    These days? The last time I had anything like a virus was Avast freaking out over some old screensaver on an ancient pirate CDR i rediscovered from my school days, that contained a "virus" which turned out to be a "practical joke or hoax" in the extended description. Put it down to a few main things; firewalling router, half decent free utilities (Avast, Spybot, etc) for both their prophylactic and curative sides, and being careful - mainly using a web based email account so attachments can't automatically open ActiveX controls etc. I don't put anything down to the operating system as even Vista (let alone XP) is just as open and vulnerable, if not more so, than Me, 9x, 3.1...

    Oh yeah, and not installing all kinds of flashy free crap that's offered through popups and banners, like my cousin does on my uncle's PC and her own (nearly-new but already badly raddled) laptop. Resource hogging and malware a-go-go!
    -= She sez there's ants in the carpet, dirty little monsters! =-
    Back after a long time away, mainly because I now need to start making up vidcapped DVDRs for work and I haven't a clue where to start any more!
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  30. Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    Originally Posted by fLYtRap
    Originally Posted by TBoneit
    One thing you can do to roam the dark alleys is create a ultimate boot CD, Disconnect the hard drives, boot off of the CD. Use a flash drive for storage. Malware can't install to a read only CD.

    Darn good way to slow down a fast computer but safest way.

    Some of these sites clicking Yes or No doesn't matter they both mean yes!
    That is kinda intresting How do you create a bootable CD with XP on it?
    This is the one I tested was from here http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm I liked the look of it as it comes with a whole bunch of usefull tools including AV and Antispyware with updateing instructions Reg fixes and cd burning and so on, List here http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

    Good Luck
    That's looks very interesting, but I am a cheap person and I only use whats available for free
    Well it did cost me the cost of a blank Cd. How much closer to free do you want?
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