Have you ever gotten malware?

Speaking of malware, I never "got" the marketing model of that "oldschool", insistent desktop hijacking, random ads/porn popup-opening crapware. Did any of them actually succeed in bringing any traffic/business to the their "advertees"? Because I can't imagine anyone wanting to actually click/visit any of those sites, let alone pay, when your computer was obviously fux0r3d by them, and getting rid of them usually became your #1 priority (also because they weren't really desirable, discreet, subtrle or side-effect-free).

To the best of my understanding, such software survived/generated revenue through a complex meta model, where the real profits were made from selling said software to people actually using it to generate those generic trojans/hijackers for "promoting" their own business...and getting other people onboard to cut their losses.  I can see the marketing right there: "Get your foot in every (cyber)door, with our ad popup generator! Hook yourself like a leech (or a tick....) to prospecive customer's PCs! Next-century foot-in-the-door selling tactics for every Joe Sixpack out there! Stick it to the Man!".

Kinda like a twisted "run your own business from home" MLM. Something similar applies to people registering on forums just to post random and obvious ads etc.

It was the case. When I installed the program from  without thinking it over.

Not since the late 90s, early 00s, AFAIK at least..

I once got some malware on my previous laptop after downloading a copy of Strife. This was before Nightdive had the rights, and the only way I could play it was by illegally downloading it or finding a rare physical copy.

Anyways, I visited some websites that I instantly regretted clicking on. Shortly afterwards all the advertisements in my browser became excessively sexual in nature. "It's like having a pussy magnet on your cock!" (complete with a questionable cartoon depiction). No popups, just the ads you'd see on the sides of webpages. I downloaded an adblocker and the issue disappeared entirely. The laptop fried for unrelated reasons afterwards and I got a different one.

^ That sounds more like bad cookies/tracking, than malware. And those ads were pretty much everywhere at the time you are probably referring to (early 2000s), so there's that. A time where "context-sensitive advertising" pretty much meant that if you typed "rotten cholera-infected corpses" in a search engine you would get a bunch of "Click HERE for the BEST PRICES on rotten cholera-infected corpses!" ads for months afterwards, even if you visited happy rainbow unicorn pages (and worse, if you clicked the link they didn't actually have any rotten cholera-infected corpses for sale :-( )

Ahh, that "golden era" between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0....

AFAIK I've only gotten some rogues when I was still inexperienced with the internet and technology.

Since then, I now use a lot more common sense and security measures (specifically NoScript in Firefox. That thing is a godsend). If I've ever gotten another virus despite that then I never noticed.

Never really had any major malware on any machine I've used besides this one attack around 2010 or so with a hijacker that would open up several tabs nonstop...Pretty sure I got that from downloading stuff I shouldn't have.

The most memorable one however besides that was also the most disturbing.  Sometime around 2006-2007 I was trying to find some information on Doom for the GBA on google images.  Clicked on some link and was immediately spammed with images of literal dead babies, popups asking yes or no with some question, and my AVG saying I was infected with some trojan.  Luckily I got by with using Task Manager to end all of the mentioned and got rid of the trojan with AVG.

This was when AVG was actually a pretty decent anti-virus.

On 6/3/2019 at 10:55 AM, Maes said:

^ That sounds more like bad cookies/tracking, than malware. And those ads were pretty much everywhere at the time you are probably referring to (early 2000s), so there's that. A time where "context-sensitive advertising" pretty much meant that if you typed "rotten cholera-infected corpses" in a search engine you would get a bunch of "Click HERE for the BEST PRICES on rotten cholera-infected corpses!" ads for months afterwards, even if you visited happy rainbow unicorn pages (and worse, if you clicked the link they didn't actually have any rotten cholera-infected corpses for sale :-( )

 

Ahh, that "golden era" between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0....

Naw, this wasn't early 2000s, more like mid 2010s. If this was the early 2000s I'd have been between the ages of 2-7 years old.

I still remember the days when my dad used Netscape as a web browser, but I was too young to be allowed on the internet at the time...

On 6/7/2019 at 7:07 PM, STILES said:

Never really had any major malware on any machine I've used besides this one attack around 2010 or so with a hijacker that would open up several tabs nonstop...Pretty sure I got that from downloading stuff I shouldn't have.

 

The most memorable one however besides that was also the most disturbing.  Sometime around 2006-2007 I was trying to find some information on Doom for the GBA on google images.  Clicked on some link and was immediately spammed with images of literal dead babies, popups asking yes or no with some question, and my AVG saying I was infected with some trojan.  Luckily I got by with using Task Manager to end all of the mentioned and got rid of the trojan with AVG.

 

This was when AVG was actually a pretty decent anti-virus.

I Wonder what that Anti-Baby One was Called, and who Made it?

so what actually is good anti-malware or anti-virus software in 2019? avg is just a nag program which runs a pointless scan and then tells you to buy the full version

i remember malwarebytes and spybot being meaningfully useful, is that still the case?

4 hours ago, yakfak said:

so what actually is good anti-malware or anti-virus software in 2019? avg is just a nag program which runs a pointless scan and then tells you to buy the full version

i remember malwarebytes and spybot being meaningfully useful, is that still the case?

Malwarebytes is still worth it for sure as far as I'm concerned.

I put MEMEZ and bonzi on my Potato PC

45 minutes ago, Boomslang said:

I put MEMEZ and bonzi on my Potato PC

I should've put "Serious Replies Only" on the title. I'll remember to do that next time I make a similar thread.

Just now, crazyflyingdonut said:

I should've put "Serious Replies Only" on the title. I'll remember to do that next time I make a similar thread.

i did intentionaly put it on my PC to kill it.

10 minutes ago, Boomslang said:

i did intentionaly put it on my PC to kill it.

12 minutes ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

I should've put "Serious Replies Only" on the title. I'll remember to do that next time I make a similar thread.

22 minutes ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

 

 

But i was being serious!

23 minutes ago, Boomslang said:

But i was being serious!

No you were not. You installed it deliberately, so I don't think it counts.

Just now, crazyflyingdonut said:

No you were not. You installed it deliberately, so I don't think it counts.

well "Have you ever gotten malware" is a question that can be answered different ways!

Technically not malware, but I have gotten adware before on my old phone. I was trying to download an APK of ECWolf on a website that wasn't Beloko Games or Blzut3's Weblog. It failed to install the app, but that didn't stop it from having "spin the wheel" scam ads pop up every single time I turned on my phone (Unless, y'know, I was in an area that didn't have WiFi/unlimited data or I was in airplane mode).

this brings back memories, as a 12 year old kid I used to "hack"(torrent) all sort of games and movies which my parents didn't allow me to play, some guy in school introduced me to it and completely messed up that laptop, it kept getting slower and laggier with ads all over the place but I didn't never even heard of a viruses and malwares so I kept using it as if it all was just normal untill one day the laptop just ceased to turn on.

if i have rather unhealthy browsing habits like going to illegal streaming sites and downloading random torrents how can i know if i have gotten infected?

You get  letter from you're ISP and you're PC starts to run really slow. 

1 minute ago, vanilla_d00m said:

You get  letter from you're ISP and you're PC starts to run really slow. 

Your ISP does not know if your computer has malware. They don't and cannot know anything about your computer. Your PC running slow is also not a symptom unique or even intrinsic to malware.

it does run slowly often

the ISP contacting you is for when they catch you pirating no?

Multiple times ive gotten those shitty bloatware viruses that claim to be a full game to something when in reality it only installs a txt with a survey link to the “full game” plus it installs over 30 or more garbage apps

But the worst virus I got, i dont know how in the motherest of fucks i got it but I once got a RAT (remote access trojan) in early 2017, which twitched my mouse for 10 minutes before a chat box appeared saying he was from the Microsoft tech support team. I unplugged my pc out of fear, and realized like the numbnut I was, that I forgot to enable my Avast. No files were deleted or anything, but it was scary enough that I didn't used my computer for over a week.

Thank god I didn't get those BitCoin encrypted file virus bullcrap like WannaCrypt and Petya.

2 hours ago, lymewire said:

Multiple times ive gotten those shitty bloatware viruses that claim to be a full game to something when in reality it only installs a txt with a survey link to the “full game” plus it installs over 30 or more garbage apps

 

But the worst virus I got, i dont know how in the motherest of fucks i got it but I once got a RAT (remote access trojan) in early 2017, which twitched my mouse for 10 minutes before a chat box appeared saying he was from the Microsoft tech support team. I unplugged my pc out of fear, and realized like the numbnut I was, that I forgot to enable my Avast. No files were deleted or anything, but it was scary enough that I didn't used my computer for over a week.

 

Thank god I didn't get those BitCoin encrypted file virus bullcrap like WannaCrypt and Petya.

Hmmmmmm

I wonder if your username is related to the RAT 

On 8/17/2019 at 9:18 AM, STILES said:

Hmmmmmm

 

I wonder if your username is related to the RAT 

[redacted]