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Pyxis

Pyxis

First one at MY house
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I have a friend who calls just about every Saturday to say she was up all night ridding her computer of viruses. Today was no exception. She said there were 400 of them on her laptop. She says she has three antivirus, which sounds absurd to me. I know she frequently goes to a dating site, which I believe is the problem.

Anyone got an idea on this? She gets new modems every six weeks. Swears hackers are attacking her. I don't get it. This shit isn't happening to anyone else that I know. :shrug:
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Pyxis said:
I have a friend who calls just about every Saturday to say she was up all night ridding her computer of viruses. Today was no exception. She said there were 400 of them on her laptop. She says she has three antivirus, which sounds absurd to me. I know she frequently goes to a dating site, which I believe is the problem.

Anyone got an idea on this? She gets new modems every six weeks. Swears hackers are attacking her. I don't get it. This shit isn't happening to anyone else that I know. :shrug:
Posted via Mobile Device
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Just don't open any email she may send you. :coffee:

Sorry, that's all I got.
 
Pyxis said:
I have a friend who calls just about every Saturday to say she was up all night ridding her computer of viruses. Today was no exception. She said there were 400 of them on her laptop. She says she has three antivirus, which sounds absurd to me. I know she frequently goes to a dating site, which I believe is the problem.

Anyone got an idea on this? She gets new modems every six weeks. Swears hackers are attacking her. I don't get it. This shit isn't happening to anyone else that I know. :shrug:
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The question is which anti-virus programs does she have.

Many of the free ones don't offer real time protection (i.e., they run in the background and actively block malware) and only allow you to scan and remove stuff.

Assuming that is the explanation, and she scan's every Friday, then many of the items she found could simply be low lever malware (e.g., tracking cookies).

Bottom Line, she needs to have a real time anti-malware program.

Microsquish has a free one that I've heard favorable reviews about.

Regarding a firewall, Windows has a built in one and most routers/network switches do as well (I assume that's what you mean by a "modem")
 
Pyxis said:
I have a friend who calls just about every Saturday to say she was up all night ridding her computer of viruses. Today was no exception. She said there were 400 of them on her laptop. She says she has three antivirus, which sounds absurd to me. I know she frequently goes to a dating site, which I believe is the problem.

Anyone got an idea on this? She gets new modems every six weeks. Swears hackers are attacking her. I don't get it. This shit isn't happening to anyone else that I know. :shrug:
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Better a virus on her computer than a virus on her...well, you know >)
 
Yes the modem comes from her service provider. She switched to a tethered one rather than a wireless one because she said the Wifi was getting hacked. I just don't see why she would be getting hacked so often. It's not like she's got tons of money or purchases lots of stuff online.

She has purchased Norton's and Kapersky, which I recommended after you talked about it.

She visits Plenty of Fish which is a dating site. I think that's where she's getting this stuff. It can attach to pictures, right?

I've got no issues and do not ever email with her. She lives a couple of blocks away, so we typically babble on the phone. More than one Saturday at the Craft Store has been blown to Hell with her stupid issues. I hoped one of you guys could figure it out. If OPT and Anni can't, no one can. Unless The Clown sees this thread.
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Beaglebay said:
Better a virus on her computer than a virus on her...well, you know >)
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LOL.....exactly.

She's been on that site for about 5 years and has yet to find a decent fish. Methinks she needs to try something else, like bumping into a beautiful brute of a man like mine. Moved in next door to him 6.5 years ago and BAM! She was actually a neighbor when that happened. :D
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Pyxis said:
Yes the modem comes from her service provider. She switched to a tethered one rather than a wireless one because she said the Wifi was getting hacked. I just don't see why she would be getting hacked so often. It's not like she's got tons of money or purchases lots of stuff online.

She has purchased Norton's and Kapersky, which I recommended after you talked about it.

She visits Plenty of Fish which is a dating site. I think that's where she's getting this stuff. It can attach to pictures, right?

I've got no issues and do not ever email with her. She lives a couple of blocks away, so we typically babble on the phone. More than one Saturday at the Craft Store has been blown to Hell with her stupid issues. I hoped one of you guys could figure it out. If OPT and Anni can't, no one can. Unless The Clown sees this thread.
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OK, regarding the wireless modem, did she change the SSID name and password?

The SSID is the name you see when you try and connect the wireless device.

I'm betting she didn't change the default password, which is usually "password".

I would not recommend running two real time anit-virus/ anti-malware programs at the same time. Weird conflicts can occur.

Assuming she bought the full package, and not the free download version, I'd go with the Kapersky over Norton or MacAfee.

I'd describe the difference as being between a good micro brew and natty ice. :coffee:

If she wants to find out if the software is providing real time protection, there is a test file developed just for this very purpose.

Go to this web site and follow the instructions.

If either of the two programs don't respond to the test file, they're not real time.

To test your firewall, go to Gibson Research's Shields UP

Do both the "all service ports" portions and the "instant UPnP Exposure test".

BTW, Gibson's site is worth poking around in, there's a lot of good security stuff there.

Two other things.

Is Window's update set to automatically install critical updates?

Open the "tools" tab in Internet Explorer and choose "Windows Update".

Get any critical patches there.

Get Advanced System Care Free and run it. This will clean up a lot of stuff and improve performance.

It also includes some anti-malware features. This is not a real time program, so It's OK to let it run with the Kapersky.

Don't freak when the malware portion finds stuff, they will mostly be tracking cookies or some other very low danger item.
 
Pyxis said:
LOL.....exactly.

She's been on that site for about 5 years and has yet to find a decent fish. Methinks she needs to try something else, like bumping into a beautiful brute of a man like mine. Moved in next door to him 6.5 years ago and BAM! She was actually a neighbor when that happened. :D
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Plenty of fish is more of a hook up site....she mide as well go to Ashley Madison if shes looking for a piece of ass:D
 
Viruses can't attach to pictures. You can't get them from Facebook emails, etc...

You can't even get them from opening an email that has a virus attached. You have to physically run the attachment and allow it permission to run.

However, once you've allowed certain types of trojans to run, they can install other viruses at will.

Also, there is a new scam of popup ad fake virus scanners, which look like it's scanning your computer, then tells you that you have 400 viruses that Norton and whatever didn't catch, so you have to buy their software to get rid of the viruses.

:rolleyes:

Just tell her to buy a Mac.
 
No shit I told her to buy a fvcking MAC!! :cuss:
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And if she had said no to Trojans, she might not be in this mess. :wink:
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Always enjoyed the idea that Macs can't be hacked or are safe from viruses.

I read an article about 2 years ago that argued against that notion, stating instead that there was just much less targeted at Macs because it wasn't an efficient use of resources. From what I remember, Macs were not significantly more secure, but the vast majority of malicious software is written for PCs. Apparently, the reason for the article was to address a recent outbreak of Mac specific viruses that were causing major problems for affected users. The prediction was that as Mac popularity continues to grow, so too would successful breaches of its security platforms.

I haven't followed much since then because I don't care for Macs, but it was an interesting read.

Brought to you by Paranoid Android, Tapatalk and my HTC One
 
Macs can get viruses, but nobody writes Mac viruses.
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Steve-o said:
Macs can get viruses, but nobody writes Mac viruses.
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From here


Do Macs Get Viruses? Apple Removes Boast That OS X 'Doesn't Get PC Viruses'

The Huffington Post | By Britney Fitzgerald Posted: 06/25/2012 7:09 pm Updated: 06/26/2012 9:25 am

This update arrives several months after nearly 600,000 Macs were infected with a malicious trojan named "Flashback" or "Flashfake." The breach in security was a reality check for many Mac owners who believed their computers to be immune to such attacks.

...

Security company Kaspersky Labs has also warned iPhone users about possible viruses that may spring forth in the next year or so. While Apple has been more successful than Android in keeping malicious software out of its mobile operating system, security firm Kaspersky reports it has seen an increase in malicious threats, and that Apple is not yet as advanced as Microsoft in its security systems.
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Or this web page.

What are you doing to protect your MAC from viruses?

I posed this question to a work associate was setting up her brand new MAC Air laptop that she just purchased. She was all excited, even spending extra for a beautiful turquoise shell cover for it. When I asked her what she was using for her antivirus software. She looked at me, and said with confidence and supreme certainty “Nothing, MACs don’t get viruses.”

Unfortunately, I had to inform her of the unfortunate news that yes, MACs most certainly DO get viruses. I didn’t do this to ruin the excitement for her, I simply wanted her to implement some protective measures for her computer as quickly as possible, however her initial reaction was denial, till I showed her recent posts in TechSpot, the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and many more publications to enforce the warning I was attempting to convey. Needless to say, this seriously burst her bubble, another victim of the myth that MACs are immune to viruses.

...

According to Top Ten Reviews, Apple viruses first appeared back in 1982 by “15-year-old Rich Skrenta creates the first known Macintosh viruses to go wild, Elk Cloner. The boot sector virus spreads itself on Apple II computers via infected floppy disk, and results in a short poem showing up every 50th boot.”

Since then, there have been the INIT-29-B virus, HyperCard HC-9507, Hong Kong virus, OSX/Leap-A, OSX.Macarena, the trojan horse AppleScript.THT, OSX.Lamzev.A and OSX.TrojanKit.Malez trojans, OSX.RSPlug.D trojan, OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B trojans, OSX/HellRTS trojan, let’s not forget FLASHBACK that affected over an estimated 600,000 machines, and most recently, the “Pintsized” trojan., which goes around Gatekeeper allowing attackers potentially unhindered access to infected machines armed with basic, inbound-only firewalls.

The only way to guarantee your computer (PC or MAC) will never get a virus is to never plug it into the internet, and turn it off, other than that, you NEED to get a quality antivirus program installed on your machine, and keep it updated regularly.
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Or this page.


New Mac virus skirts Gatekeeper, initiates creepy reverse-shell connection

By Rick Burgess

On February 19, 2013, 6:30 PM

A new trojan virus is targeting computers running Mac OS X and initiating an encrypted reverse-shell connection, allowing attackers potentially unfettered access to infected machines armed with basic, inbound-only firewalls. Security firm Intego appears to be the first to report on this malware and has named the backdoor virus "Pintsized".
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Is there more malware targeted at Windows OS compared to the various Apple OS's?

Certainly.

But it is foolish to think that there are no threats posed to any Apple product.

Your suggestion that "nobody writes Mac viruses" is IMHO, completely equivalent to the coworker mentioned in one of the links who claimed "MACs don’t get viruses", or Apple's previous claims cited in the Huffington Post article.

The entire basis for the "Safe" attitude towards Apple products is the idea that no one actually would write malware targeted at their OS.

The simple fact of the matter is that such a belief is completely unfounded.

Yes, there are fewer, but the threat does exist.

In fact, if one considers the actual risk the average use faces, it is an interesting calculation.

Yes there are a much larger number of malware threats a Windows user faces, but since most use some sort of malware protection, their risk is mitigated.

Since the common attitude towards an Apple product is that no anti-malware is needed, many users don't use any. So this makes them vulnerable to any malware they encounter.

So when one crunches the numbers does this lack of protection make the "typical" Apple user more or less vulnerable than the average Windows user?

:shrug_n:

It is certainly possible that the Apple user with no protection is actually at more risk.
 
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