Weekend Open Forum: Have you been infected by malware recently?

Leeky

Posts: 3,357   +116

Whether on our own computers or those of our friends and family, we've all witnessed the damaging effects of malware. While variants such as the Stuxnet worm and its recent spinoff Gauss have helped propel media coverage of malware to new heights, such specialized attacks pose little risk to the average computer user.

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However, there are many real world threats, as demonstrated by the continual influx of threads seeking assistance from our in-house malware experts. This week, we want to know if you've suffered at the hands of malware in the past year. If so, how did you resolve it? If not, what do you use to keep your system safe?

Malware image from Shutterstock

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I fix PCs every week for friends, family, neighbors, etc.
My favorite tools are : TDSSKiller, CCleaner, MalwareBytes, and SuperAntiSpyware.
 
Ignorant? Maybe.

It seems to me they are simply answering the question.

To add to the discussion, I haven't either.
 
Ever since switching to malwarebytes PRO 4 years ago, never been infected since (blocked yes, but not infected)...
 
Since I got malware pro and microsoft security essentails I have never had a problem since and I dl/stream all kinds of stuff.
 
As long as you keep within the boundaries of known sites and software, I'd say it's hard to catch malware that easily these days. Built-in Windows protection has got considerably better in the past few years (from zero to something, admittedly) and free programs like Malwarebytes Antimalware and Spybot are quite popular and good.

But then again, also in the past few years I've had to clean install a number of family machines after getting infected somehow (still a mystery to me: screensavers, toolbars, you name it?). There's also a huge amount of malware help requests in the TS forum, so evidently we are not there yet and there's still a lot of vulnerable users.
 
Would I be ignorant if I were to say that the two posters before me are ignorant?
It's not ignorant to answer the question and yes it is possible to have had no malware on your system. I haven't had malware on my system in years, ever since I started reading and noticing the signs of what a bad site is like. Now if I have to fix my system it is usually cause I am playing around and broke stuff myself and not cause of viruses or malware :p
 
Nope, but I did have my Origin account hacked a few weeks back (by some Russian dude). Now I've decided to finally start using a password manager and randomized passwords. Unfortunately it seems that my Origin account is still able to be logged on by the hacker (hasn't happened in a while though) and after talking to a couple of the EA live chat people it seems there is nothing I can do about it (which is pretty rubbish). Short story shorter, use random passwords and a password manager.
 
I haven't recently. I use Avast antivirus on my system. However, from working on friends and family's computer I've come to believe that the most effective way to prevent malware is to just learn how to spot fishy search results, links, emails, attachments, etc.
 
Not in about 5 years, even I'm developing a personal use tool to help me clean and repair USB memories quicker than AVs, but it's still on BETA :p I can only improve it when others borrow me their memories.So far it deals with the "system hidden folders", popular viruses in USBs, autorun-based malware, and the .lnk/.exe "folders" with the same names of the legit "system hidden folders". It started like a little project this summer for when you just want to open/print a single file from a borrowed memory and the AV may take up to 10 minutes analyzing it; cleaning manually to do it quickly becomes tiring, so I programmed my routines and heuristic criteria.
 
The article says "we've all experienced..." but I'm happy to say I have only ever got a virus on a usb thumb drive that made it unrecognisable, but it was child's play to workaround and then remove.

I wonder how much of the "problem" is really about scare tactics by software co, and people who use their machines for illegal activities.
 
With all the new anti-malware choices out there, there is really no reason to get caught with you pants down. If you want to stay malware and virus clean, then you have to put at least some effort into staying that way. Stay up to date and know your system and watch for system changes. Catch crap before it does get in and if you do get something, do your homework on how to get rid of it or fix the issue. I really haven't had any serious issues in 5 years. Good luck, we all need it with what is creeping around out there.
 
Would I be ignorant if I were to say that the two posters before me are ignorant?

I don't know if you would be ignorant or not. Troll maybe. Trying to start drama..definitely. A question was asked and answered, simple as that. The question was "Have you been infected by malware recently?" and I answered "Nope. Next question" If you had wanted me to elaborate on that answer, I would have been more than happy to oblige by asking me to do so in a respectable manner. You could have even not said anything and just answered the question yourself. As I write this, I see you did not answer the question yourself which if my previous post added nothing to the discussion, yours added even less.
 
"As long as you keep within the boundaries of known sites and software, I'd say it's hard to catch malware that easily these days."

That is the key Julio. Being mindful of what you are downloading (software, web pages, etc.) makes a big difference. It also helps now that browsers are more advanced and catching stuff before you get the chance to download something nasty.
 
Not recently but was infected a few years ago had to format the PC and do a clean install.Since then not a single virus/malware infection atleast not that I know of.
 
I haven't experienced an infection since I owned my first PC (2006). I run Avast AV & Windows Defender for realtime protection and I have Spybot scheduled to run once every week on early Saturday Mornings. That's all I pretty much need. I don't even use third party firewalls. I just use the one built into Windows 7.
 
I don't recall ever having a malware issue personally, I've cleaned lots of PCs for other people (part of my job!), in recent times mainly either "SecurityTools" type scamware, trojans from kids sites (smiley rubbish etc.), or sirefef variants.
 
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