Virus on PES?!

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 5:26 pm

Ok, yesterday I submitted a mod to PES and suddenly some sort of PDF started running and I was attacked by a pretty nasty virus pretending to be antivirus software. I figured it must have been some other site I visited earlier, since PES seems to be a pretty reliable site.

But just now I was checking the comments of the mod I uploaded and yet again got the PDF thing and another virus (this time, thankfully it was blocked)

Is it just me or what?
User avatar
RAww DInsaww
 
Posts: 3439
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:47 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:39 pm

Never use Internet Explorer to surf the web. For professional reasons, I need it to access Microsoft developer downloads (they decided to make use of ActiveX, so only MSIE will do), so msdn.microsoft.com is my start page on MSIE - and its the only thing I use this browser for.
Never use or install Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer! - for reading and printing PDFs, use Foxit Reader. Once installed, it associates itself with *.PDF files, its quicker and less buggy than Acrobat. Follow these two rules and your common sense - and virii ( :) ) will not be an issue.
User avatar
Markie Mark
 
Posts: 3420
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:24 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:32 pm

Sounds like good advice. I never use IE, but yeah, adobe reader was installed. Ive replaced it with foxit like you suggested.
User avatar
CxvIII
 
Posts: 3329
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:35 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:33 pm

you know, I got the same thing the other day...
and I was just on PES. (firsfox)
And, yea, I have adobe acrobat as well.
User avatar
Darren
 
Posts: 3354
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:33 pm

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 1:23 am

I haven't got it.
Maybe it's because I'm using the NoScript addon for Firefox. :shrug:
User avatar
James Smart
 
Posts: 3362
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:49 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:11 pm

Never use Internet Explorer to surf the web. For professional reasons, I need it to access Microsoft developer downloads (they decided to make use of ActiveX, so only MSIE will do), so msdn.microsoft.com is my start page on MSIE - and its the only thing I use this browser for.
Never use or install Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer! - for reading and printing PDFs, use Foxit Reader. Once installed, it associates itself with *.PDF files, its quicker and less buggy than Acrobat. Follow these two rules and your common sense - and virii ( :) ) will not be an issue.



IE has more security features built in than any of the other mainstream browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, and even Safari, ActiveX is fine to use as long as its done with an exceptions list, basically, only allow MS sites to use it, and block all other sites from using it. There are plenty of good reasons to use other browsers, however, there are no legitimate reasons outside of anti-microsoft campaigning to not use IE(at least IE 8 and later versions).

Don't get me wrong, I actually use Firefox myself, however, its a personal taste decision, not a security issue, what you browse causes the security issues far more than what you browse with.
User avatar
ZANEY82
 
Posts: 3314
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 3:10 am

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 1:18 am

This might be a legitimate issue to raise with the PES moderators/staff.
If it is a PDF issue, I would suggest uninstalling Adobe Acrobat Reader and using a third-party PDF reader (as suggested above). For a number of reasons Firefox is a better browser, but this is not a browser related issue (according to my experience).
User avatar
Harry-James Payne
 
Posts: 3464
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 6:58 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:41 pm

I too use firefox, but never thought to use an alternate to reader. It makes sense! So many viruses would choose to use it, and not know your other PDF reader. Hmm..

Might I inquire as to which file you uploaded that is causing the issues? PES or not, if people are getting hit it's worth getting a warning out.
User avatar
Erin S
 
Posts: 3416
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:06 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:49 pm

Never had that problem. I use Chrome, and the adobe reader.
User avatar
Jerry Cox
 
Posts: 3409
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:21 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 2:02 pm

If you are concerned about security, don't open untrusted files in adobe reader. It is extreamly vunrable to exploits. Use something like Foxit, which is free and lighter (there is no reason why you can't keep adobe reader installed at the same time). If you can't install software for whatever reason at least turn off Javascript within Adobe Reader.
User avatar
Jeremy Kenney
 
Posts: 3293
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:36 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:31 pm

IE has more security features built in than any of the other mainstream browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, and even Safari, ActiveX is fine to use as long as its done with an exceptions list, basically, only allow MS sites to use it, and block all other sites from using it. There are plenty of good reasons to use other browsers, however, there are no legitimate reasons outside of anti-microsoft campaigning to not use IE(at least IE 8 and later versions).


IE has less security than any other browser, including Lynx. It's also slower (the script and rendering engines both are significantly slower) and less stable than others (not even considering the memory leaks it's had for the last 3 or 4 versions, which M$ conveniently ignores).
Last I read, a bunch of decent hackers went to work on the latest versions of the 3 browsers (IE, FF, and Chrome). IE lasted under a second, FF 2 or 3, and Chrome almost 15.
The simple reasoning is IE desperately needs a core rewrite to bring it up to date, it still has remnants of IE 4 and 5 in it. It's lagging behind in features (tabs were added long after everyone else had them) and plugins are only kinda-sorta there ("accelerators", many made by Microsoft and slow and limited). IE's security flaws are it's only claim to fame.
Firefox is not nearly as fast as it used to be, but has full support for plugins (it's main strong point). It's also far more secure than IE, with patches fixing problems far faster (usually within a day, as opposed to be an average of something like 3 days for IE). Also, on Windows, I'm pretty sure FF can run ActiveX (I think it had a plugin for that).
Chrome is the fastest of the 3, but that's because it's also the simplest. It has no plugins or advanced features, and has been reported to have problems with AJAX and other scripting stuffs.

In general, Firefox is best if you use the web heavily. It has a number of security addons (and isn't bad off, security-wise, to begin with) and is the only full-featured browser.
If you just need to look something up, Chrome is definitely fastest.

Internet Explorer is good for.... Um, well... Actually, I'm not sure yet. Maybe someone will eventually find something it's useful for. Just let me (or my great-great-grandchildren) know if you do.
User avatar
sarah
 
Posts: 3430
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:53 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 2:10 pm

*snip*

Internet Explorer is good for.... Um, well... Actually, I'm not sure yet. Maybe someone will eventually find something it's useful for. Just let me (or my great-great-grandchildren) know if you do.


Um... I can't get Firefox to upload files to MediaFire and have to use IE for that - everything else I use FF for

As for PES, I uploaded a mod yesterday to PES and had no problems - nothing unusual happened
User avatar
Niisha
 
Posts: 3393
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:54 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:33 pm

Um... I can't get Firefox to upload files to MediaFire and have to use IE for that - everything else I use FF for

I've always used FF with MediaFire, never had any issues there. :shrugs:
User avatar
Kelly Osbourne Kelly
 
Posts: 3426
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 6:56 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:30 pm

Now while I dont particularly care what people use to browse the net, saying that you should never use IE is just plain wrong.

I use IE all the time and in fact its about all I use to surf the web, do I get any viruses, no I dont. But I use other security software besides that built into IE. McAfee, Zone Alarm Pro, Malwarebytes, and Prevx CSI I have to protect me and I have no idea when the last time I had a virus was or any malicious program. The few times something has appared(possibly an average of no more then 1 per month) have all been successfully blocked. Hmm upon thinking about it, I also used a toolbar that would tell me if somewhere was safe or not but stopped using because it was a little over zealous. McAfee for viruses, Zone Alarm for firewall, Malwarebytes for malware, and Prevx for rootkits etc. A combo of these helps block spyware etc, although I forget which does the work specifically(I think mabe zone alarm). I did get a nasty rootkit once, thats when I got prevx, took care of it, havent had one since.

The only unfortunate side effect is that it takes longer to start my computer and McAfee uses some resources(not much). Used to start in 30 seconds flat, now takes about 1.5-2 minutes.
User avatar
Colton Idonthavealastna
 
Posts: 3337
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:13 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:30 am

I've always used FF with MediaFire, never had any issues there. :shrugs:

Same here. :shrug:

Sumatra is another free, extremely light-weight pdf viewer. I'm trying to decide if I should use Foxit or Sumatra.
User avatar
Lexy Corpsey
 
Posts: 3448
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:39 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:46 pm

So has anyone reported this to APY yet?
User avatar
Andrea P
 
Posts: 3400
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:45 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:08 pm

"snip"


You may want to http://webtoolsandtips.com/pc-security/safe-internet-browser-which-is-the-safest-web-browser/. Like I said, I use firefox, but IE does indeed provide better security, spreading false info based purely on the consensus of your standard google user instead of on research is misleading. I'll keep using firefox because I like the browser's layout better, but IE, for now, has offers higher security.

To clarify, higher security may not mean safer, IE may be targeted more often by attacks than the other browsers, and therefore appear to have lower security, but appearances are decieving, IE does indeed block a higher % of attacks against it than any other browser and therefore has the BEST security though it may only be out of necessity.
User avatar
Veronica Flores
 
Posts: 3308
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:26 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:10 pm

So has anyone reported this to APY yet?


I havent. Im nervous about visiting the site again. I had some trouble getting rid of that virus and dont want a repeat performance.
User avatar
Damian Parsons
 
Posts: 3375
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:48 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:18 pm

I've been going to PES all day, and nothing like you described has happened to me. I'm running Firefox 3.5.7, with AdBlock Plus and NoScript.
User avatar
OnlyDumazzapplyhere
 
Posts: 3445
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:43 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:54 pm

I've been going to PES all day, and nothing like you described has happened to me. I'm running Firefox 3.5.7, with AdBlock Plus and NoScript.



Ive got all that except for noscript.
User avatar
Kelvin
 
Posts: 3405
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:22 am

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 1:24 am

Ive got all that except for noscript.

NoScript can sometimes be difficult to use on pages that have loads of scripts, some of which may be necessary for images (that you want) to show; you have to go through the list of scripts and decide which to allow, which can feel like a guessing game, though you can just click "temporarily allow all." But, I feel safer with than without it. I think it prevents against clickjacking and hijacking types of things? I'm not 100% sure on the specifics.
User avatar
N Only WhiTe girl
 
Posts: 3353
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:30 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:19 am

So would "clickjacking" make a evil PDF start runnin then? I really am not as tech savvy as I should be.
User avatar
Chris Duncan
 
Posts: 3471
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:31 am

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 1:15 am

So would "clickjacking" make a evil PDF start runnin then? I really am not as tech savvy as I should be.

Wikipedia can probably explain it better than I: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickjacking. NoScript would prevent scripts from running until you give specify what scripts you want to give permission to run.

NoScript has an extensive "Options" page, so you can really fine-tune and tweak how you want it to run, and what you want it to block. All the terms are a bit too complicated for me to understand without some research. :embarrass:
User avatar
Wayne Cole
 
Posts: 3369
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 5:22 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:42 pm

I spent about 10 minutes just now messing about on PES. No more warnings this time. :shrug:
User avatar
carley moss
 
Posts: 3331
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:05 pm

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 12:13 am

Im not gonna get it ever because nothing getting into my computer ever again.
User avatar
James Potter
 
Posts: 3418
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:40 am

Next

Return to III - Morrowind