looking for a secont opinion on computers

[Crispy Dave]

ok here it goes.

So yesterday two girls used my computer alot for various web games. Somewhere along the lines they developed viruses. Including one of those viruses that pretends to be anti virus software(if you have had viruses you know what I mean). In the browsing history there were some very naughty things. My question is could a virus add in browsing history? I have heard yes but want more opinions.

[valadil]

I've never heard of a virus doing that, but it's definitely possible.

What seems more likely than the virus maliciously adding sites to your history is that the virus makes popups to those "very naughty sites" and the girls closed the popups. That would add the site to your history.

[reorith]

crispydave, i find your story very suspicious considering that there are no girls on the internet. i reccomend lavasoft's adaware.

[Crispy Dave]

crispydave, i find your story very suspicious considering that there are no girls on the internet. i reccomend lavasoft's adaware.

these girls were playing webkinz, club penguin and neopets which are located on the dark side of the internet. there's girls there


the computer was just built and there was no anti-virus software installed yet or ad blockers so It could have been that.

we are just gonna do a new windows install on it.

[bluewind95]

Hmm, Neopets is safe.... I don't know about the other games.

Anyways... yeah, I don't think that a virus would really add things to your history... Valadil's theory is the most likely explanation.

I will still recommend HijackThis as a virus-killer. And I hear the new version of Spybot is great too. As for an antivirus... well, I use Avast! but that really is up to you.

[Jack Squat]

Hmm, Neopets is safe.... I don't know about the other games.

Webkinz is safe...being that they're a legitimate business that markets towards kids. Club Penguin is Disney, so I don't imagine there being viruses there either.

Were you there the entire time? Any other sites they could have been on? How well do you know them?

It's more likely you may have picked up a virus or what not then they did. They can take some time to activate. I had a worm -that I think I got though a pop up on one of those lyrics sites or a flash game site- destroy my internet access (first thing it did was set a password on IE's filter and set filtering as high as it could go) and then OS. That was with Norton as my antivirus. I now run AVG Free, and have Chrome, which IIRC doesn't let anything get downloaded to the drive unless it's user initiated.

[Erloas]

It looks like the virus got your spell checker too....

I think the popup explanation for unknown browser history is a fairly likely situation. That is so long as you are reasonable sure those aren't the sort of sights these girls were looking at. Given the nature of the games being played it seems like these were young girls, and you never quite know how curious they can be. (I once caught some girls that were probably 8-10 looking at that sort of magazine in a store, of course when they noticed someone noticed they ran away, they were young enough that I was able to just stick it on a higher self so they couldn't reach it.)
Or potentially may have got fooled by a spoof web site if they searched for the sites. Its not uncommon for malicious sites to spoof legitimate sites to get people to accept their malicious code, clicking yes on to download a script which they thought opened up the flash game they usually play, that sort of thing.
Its not uncommon for those sort of sites to target sites designed for younger people because they are much less likely to catch the differences in a spoof site and are much more willing to click accept for everything.

[Crispy Dave]

note:I am not on the broken computer I have two computers

now that i think about it some of the bad sites were Google searches which worries me alot more.

the girls are 9 and 12 and I don't think they would do any of this on purpose.

and the search wasn't a normal persons porn search either it was

"gay woman sex" and similar searches

[Illiterate Scribe]

Could they have been searching for things that they don't know the meaning of?

Also, to add a devil's advocate to all the people saying you can't add stuff into the history - it's eminently possible to add items into the browsing history in Safari under OS X, having done it myself on occasion. While I wouldn't know about viruses, it could well be possible under Windowsoft XD.

EDIT:Having googled quite a few searches in my time, that would suggest either a bot, or the above supposition. Randomly and ineptly putting together words you sort of know the meaning of but don't quite know could be the answer.

[Flame of Anor]

I would say that a virus adding fake history is kind of unlikely. It could have done something with that effect, such as, as some suggested, opening unwanted windows or faking real sites.

However, I would not rule out the possibility that the girls really were looking for these things, with or without full intent. After all, I once found my nine-year-old girl cousin looking at a video (on YouTube so it probably wouldn't have been as bad as it sounds, but still) entitled "Zac Efron Grabbing His Penis". (Or maybe it was one of the Jonas Brothers. I don't know, as you can bet I made very sure not to watch the video.)

[bluewind95]

Also, to add a devil's advocate to all the people saying you can't add stuff into the history - it's eminently possible to add items into the browsing history in Safari under OS X, having done it myself on occasion. While I wouldn't know about viruses, it could well be possible under Windowsoft XD.
.

Yes, you can... but... I'm not sure why it would be done, especially by a virus. I mean... a virus is there to install things or mess up your files... not to add things you probably will never even see. I haven't heard of a virus that does this, really.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Goblinscomic.com was hacked a couple of weeks ago... I ended up with icons for both a straight and gay BDSM sites on my desktop, a virus pretending it was antivirus, and other issues... Of course, my daughter was also dowloading music, and getting new backgrounds/themes for her MySpace...

So, yes, even legitimate sites like Keenspot can be hacked.

I would say get the antivirus up and running, clean out your system, then do your best to run clean. I recommend Grisoft AVG, Avast!, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware.

THEN if pron and other questionable sites start popping up in the browser history, give the girls a stern talking too... But for now, the benefit of the doubt is probably the better course.

[Jack Squat]

note:I am not on the broken computer I have two computers

now that i think about it some of the bad sites were Google searches which worries me alot more.

the girls are 9 and 12 and I don't think they would do any of this on purpose.

and the search wasn't a normal persons porn search either it was

"gay woman sex" and similar searches

That's not normal? I've fixed enough of my (admittedly guy) friends computers to notice that pops up pretty often. I now no longer go through other people's history to try and find out where they got the virus or whatever from -- I just fix it.

What it probably is is that they're just hitting where puberty starts to take full effect, and they're wanting to find out more about themselves. With their parents probably not letting them in on the full scoop, or them being too embarrassed to ask, they've gone to the internet to find their answers.

[Crispy Dave]

im going to talk to the oldest ones father right now about it.

thanks for the input everyone more input is still appreciated but not needed.

[Jimorian]

One way to accomplish a couple of goals is to explain to them that clicking on banner ads and popups lead to viruses so they'll maybe resist temptation in the future, then to explain that you have the skillz to see everywhere the virus or people go online or search for, and that you had to do it here to track where the virus came from.

Give them a knowing look and time for that knowledge to sink in, then speak of it no more. :smallwink: