Trojans

[malkore]

No, not the kind you use with SWMBO...

I got hit hard by two trojans and a virus on my XP machine today.
Came home from work and the ISP (roadrunner) had proxied my internet connection to a page warning me that they'd suspended my activity.

I'm no fool, it was legit. I unplugged both PC's and ran scans...mine's the one that came back all eff'd up. It destroyed my firefox installation, which is where all my bookmarks were kept. I do backup stuff, so I'm only a few months 'lost'.

I gave up on XP and wiped my drive, installed Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate, and I'm currently re-installing a few items before bedtime.

Dinking some hard cider I got at the store, waiting for this damn game to patch so I can crash.

I hate viruses...even with protection they can still be annoying.

 

[ZenBrewer]

*cough* run linux *cough*

Just messing. Viruses suck.

 

[SowegaBrews]

any idea where it came from?

 

[mordantly]

my usage of each type has led to a dislike of them!

a tip: once you get the system setup, make a 1:1 image. makes restores a breeze. i used to spend 6 hours twice a year doing my desktop. now it only takes an hour to restore an 5gb image.

 

[homeslice]

Lay off the porn.

 

[tallybrewer]

*cough* run Mac *cough*

Just messing. Viruses suck.

 

[z987k]

Sorry man, but viruses are always your own fault. Even if not directly.

 

[mattmcl]

Run Firefox with the NoScript add on. I haven't had a virus since doing so. It's a pain at first because you have to give permission to each site to run a script, but after a couple weeks you've permitted all your regular sites, and you don't even notice it. It also blocks almost all ads.

 

[bernerbrau]

Trojan Horses always piggyback on something you think you want to run.

The solution to this is to never run executables, scripts, screen savers etc. unless you absolutely know what it is you're running.

It also turns out Internet Explorer is itself a giant vehicle for trojan horses due to its complete disregard for computer security. Whatever genius at MS thought it would be a great idea to integrate the web browser into the operating system was extremely lacking in foresight.

Run Firefox or run Chrome.

 

[homebrewer_99]

...Whatever genius at MS thought it would be a great idea to integrate the web browser into the operating system was extremely lacking in foresight....

Not if he has stock in Anti-Virus software...

 

[middleofnowhere]

I agree with the Run Linux, or Run MacOS comments....I haven't seen a virus since I started running Ubuntu a few years back.

That being said, Linux isn't for everyone...and for some people Windows is the only option, I feel bad for those people.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I've wanted to give linux a shot but never did.
What are the steps to make sure all my data is transferable after wiping windows and installing Ubuntu?

 

[bernerbrau]

I've wanted to give linux a shot but never did.
What are the steps to make sure all my data is transferable after wiping windows and installing Ubuntu?

1. Defrag your hard drive.
2. Install Ubuntu as a split partition.

You'll have access to all your Windows files from within Ubuntu, and you'll be able to boot into Windows if you need it.

 

[malkore]

Run Firefox with the NoScript add on. I haven't had a virus since doing so. It's a pain at first because you have to give permission to each site to run a script, but after a couple weeks you've permitted all your regular sites, and you don't even notice it. It also blocks almost all ads.

thanks for this tip.

It was very likely from pr0n. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I likes me some bewbies.

the good news is, as expected Win7 runs like a champ on my desktop, probably better than XP even.

 

[Rick91981]

I've wanted to give linux a shot but never did.
What are the steps to make sure all my data is transferable after wiping windows and installing Ubuntu?

I would run Ubuntu as a LiveCD for a while first to get the feel for it to see if you like it. If you think you will like it then partition your drive and install it as a second OS.

 

[Munch671]

I wouldn't say viruses are always the users fault, kind of like being in a car accident, yes you are technically at fault just for being there, however, at my job my reporter keeps track of the sites that cause infections or are the ones containing viruses people try to visit. Turns out for two months straight the biggest offender was our insurance carrier. Their site was injected with a virus and they were unaware of it.
Why?
Why not! This is a site that people will trust no matter what, it's their insurance carrier, so it must be safe. Virus writers have gotten smart and are targeting sites that they know people will trust, that way, when the warning pops up, they assume it is something required or "legit" that they must install.
Since we are a health care provider, I have also seen a very popular H1N1 site get hit. Again, this time of year, very popular site, people will trust it. Thankfully my scanner scans each web page before the user visits it, and then blocks if it see's anything.
Wish someone would make something like that for the average home user.


Munch

 

[Skins_Brew]

Man i hate viruses. I just had a bunch of malware on my desktop (probably from the pr0n). I have always heard good things about avast so I got that and ran a boot scan. Sure enough there was like 3 viruses on my system. I swear, I would love to meet someone who writes viruses and just straight punch them in the face. You have to have little to NO LIFE to just sit around in your mom's basement and write programs that are just going to screw people over. Whatever, I wasted an hour and some change of my life cleaning my computer but whoever wrote that virus is probably still a virgin with no prospective poon anywhere in the near future. That makes the score, Me=1, Virus Programmer=-35

 

[bernerbrau]

Man i hate viruses. I just had a bunch of malware on my desktop (probably from the pr0n). I have always heard good things about avast so I got that and ran a boot scan. Sure enough there was like 3 viruses on my system. I swear, I would love to meet someone who writes viruses and just straight punch them in the face. You have to have little to NO LIFE to just sit around in your mom's basement and write programs that are just going to screw people over. Whatever, I wasted an hour and some change of my life cleaning my computer but whoever wrote that virus is probably still a virgin with no prospective poon anywhere in the near future. That makes the score, Me=1, Virus Programmer=-35

Actually, people in foreign countries (where it's not illegal) get paid tons of money to write trojan horses that install ad and monitoring software based on security holes in Windows, IE, and email clients.

Once those holes are discovered, though, script kiddies with a minimum knowledge of Windows programming can pick up on the vulnerabilities and use them to write devastating code.

More sophisticated attacks (like stack smashes and buffer overruns) are usually targeted at companies and servers, because there's the potential for monetary gain or a competitive edge. People who write consumer-end malware are either doing it because an unscrupulous ad business is paying them to, or because they want to feel important.

Seriously though, running Firefox should protect you from 90% of malware out there. Running Linux or Mac OS would get you another 9.9%.

 

[Homercidal]

I got a voicemail at home from my ISP saying I have a virus on my computer. I figured since they took the time to notice AND call me, it must be important. I did quick scans on my computers, and haven't really found anything though. I have not read the email that my ISP sent because I don't know my password and they can't send it to me. I have to reset it on the phone. One of these days I'll take the time to do that. They have not called back in about a week and a half, so I guess it's not a huge problem.

 

[uglygoat]

can i play world of warcraft with linux?

 

[bernerbrau]

can i play world of warcraft with linux?

I believe it will run under WINE (a GNU reimplementation of the Windows API layer), but you need to do some extra steps.

http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warcraft_functionality_on_Wine

 

[tallybrewer]

can i play world of warcraft with linux?

Nope, but it runs great on my 24" iMac...

 

[bernerbrau]

Nope, but it runs great on my 24" iMac...

It's not supported, but you can run it. See above.

 

[z987k]

It's not supported, but you can run it. See above.

That's hilarious. After you posted an affirmative with evidence and a how-to, he says no! lmfao!

 

[Ashz]

Just remember that running any linux distro on a live CD is not going to give you anywhere near the type of performance you will get once installed. There are quite a few distro's that function great off of live CD but these are geared towards people with very good working knowledge of linux/unix. And not really intended for someones first foray into linux.

However live cd's are an excellent way to determine if you can hang in the environment with out making any serious commitment. This is one of the greatest things for the linux community in converting users over. Just don't be scared off if you have some performance issues off the CD.

At the least as an additional level of virus/malware defense you should always have a bootable OS with virus software, there are quite a few out there.

 

[Homercidal]

Just remember that running any linux distro on a live CD is not going to give you anywhere near the type of performance you will get once installed. There are quite a few distro's that function great off of live CD but these are geared towards people with very good working knowledge of linux/unix. And not really intended for someones first foray into linux.

However live cd's are an excellent way to determine if you can hang in the environment with out making any serious commitment. This is one of the greatest things for the linux community in converting users over. Just don't be scared off if you have some performance issues off the CD.

At the least as an additional level of virus/malware defense you should always have a bootable OS with virus software, there are quite a few out there.

This. The Live CD is going to be SLOW, but it will give you an idea of what the interface will look like and you can try stuff. I sometimes use them to delete virus and spyware files from my windows HDD. I also keep a light linux install handy for recording, except it's been a while since I did that.

And WOW will play in Linux as stated above. A friend of mine runs it under Linux. I'm not sure how, but I know he has to run Teamspeak client on separate computer because the sound for TS won't work while he's in Wow...