Virus or Not?

[fatfluffycat]

So, I was looking for mods for Arma 2 on armaholic, (which is the website I always use looking for mods, not some crappy website filled with pop-ups and viruses) and got a message from windows, saying something about "oh noe virus, remove now basically"

The only option was ok, so I hit it.

Now It has a list of 3 viruses in a window, that looks like real virus. So I look, it wants me to download something, which I know is bull*** and I close it.

Should I be worried about it? Or was the download I didn't touch the virus?

[sal_vager]

If you have not scanned your PC in a while it wouldn't hurt to do so now, just in case

[Kryten]

What anti-virus program do you use, if any? Did the initial pop-up actually look like it came from that program?

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

No! What are the viruses names? This is a common scam that causes you to force download a virus.

[fatfluffycat]

No! What are the viruses names? This is a common scam that causes you to force download a virus.

I don't remember, and I knew downloading it would be the real virus.

[Kryten]

In all likelihood, the message itself was fake and you downloaded the virus by clicking 'ok'; it's a very common tactic.

[Tex_NL]

A general rule of thumb: Website pop-ups telling you you've got a virus are FAKE! And even IF the pop-up is legit, by clicking [OK] to download the suggested tool to 'remove' them you're probably doing more harm than good.

If you can't kill the pop-up without clicking [OK] go to task manager and kill you're browser process instead. Then do a complete virus scan with your regular antivirus tool.

[The Destroyer]

Ah... I fell victim to this once. Never again. It looked like windows. But it wasn't. I didn't know much about viruses and PCS back then...

[Shuttle]

Well, I look through Mozilla changelog sometimes when new version of Firefox is released and, according to the changelog, sometimes you don't even have to click anything to get your computer infected - all you have to do is to open a single link.

So, I guess, it is better to scan your computer for viruses but I can't say for sure since I am not a specialist, unfortunately.

[Tex_NL]

...

So, I guess, it is better to scan your computer for viruses but I can't say for sure since I am not a specialist, unfortunately.

Staying 'clean' is actually pretty simple. You only need two or three things:

1: A healthy dose of common sense. If you don't know who send it to you? Don't open it, scan it first!

2: A proper anti virus tool. It doesn't have to cost you and arm and a leg. AVG Free is more than enough for private use if you know what you're doing.

3: Not a real necessity but very useful, an pop-up blocker. ABP (Add Blocker Plus) for Firefox kill nearly all adds and pop-ups before they become active.

Personally I am not overcautious at all. I regularly download torrents, use crack tools and only use the free AVG edition and ABP for Firefox. Two or three times a year I get an alert from AVG it has found/blocked a serious threat. And only once every few years I get an actual infection.

[The Destroyer]

I use my

AKA

[Tex_NL]

I use my

http://rocketdock.com/images/screenshots/Blue-Malwarebytes-shield-1.png

AKA

http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/01/04/Foreman_12897468_5073_mbam1_540x412.png

MBAM, absolutely a good one. I find it a bit less user friendly than AVG but it did help me get rid of a very nasty DNS changer virus once.

All my web traffic was re-routed making it impossible to run virus updates or download specialized tools. All except in safe mode. And AVG was not able to remove it in safe mode. MBAM however does have full functionality in safe mode.

[WhiteWeasel]

Avast antivirus, is probably one of the best free antivirus programs you can get. And oh, I believe ad block prevents those stupid pop ups.

[fatfluffycat]

Aright, which free antivirus is the best, what are the facts?

[The Destroyer]

MBAM, absolutely a good one. I find it a bit less user friendly than AVG but it did help me get rid of a very nasty DNS changer virus once.

All my web traffic was re-routed making it impossible to run virus updates or download specialized tools. All except in safe mode. And AVG was not able to remove it in safe mode. MBAM however does have full functionality in safe mode.

Yes, MBAM running in safe mode is very good.

[7499275]

This is why I have AVG scanning every few days and an ad/popup blocker on FireFox.

[Joshington]

I've gotten something similar (if not the exact same) but I was 99% sure it was jake because it was using the Windows 7 design, even though I have Windows 8. I closed it, restarted my computer and scanned for viruses. It was clean.