Deviantart, full of viruses?

[Togath]

So I clicked a link to a page there today.. and my anti-virus started blaring.. as far as I can tell i shut down my computer fast enough, but at least as far as I tell tell, i nearly lost a third computer to clicking a link to there..
Is this just something else in my system that the site keeps reviving, or has whatever service it uses for it's ads become full of viruses?

[valadil]

i nearly lost a third computer to clicking a link to there..

?!

How does one lose a computer to a virus? No matter how bad it gets you can always reinstall your operating system.

[Togath]

:smallconfused: but a friend of mine.. well. he said that he tried it.. is there more than on way to re-install an OS?
I suppose I could have be wrong about what happened, but a friend of mine said he re-installed it on both my computers that died, and both still appeared to have viruses afterward
One had trouble turning on, and ran ultra slow once started, while the other can turn on, but also runs very slow, both also spit of messages of "blocked internet access by suspicious program", or something along the lines of that anyway. Both also had the main browser I use[IE7] using the frame of IE7, with the buttons and such of IE6 or IE5

[Douglas]

:smallconfused: but a friend of mine.. well. he said that he tried it.. is there more than on way to re-install an OS?
I suppose I could have be wrong about what happened, but a friend of mine said he re-installed it on both my computers that died, and both still appeared to have viruses afterward
If he still had viruses popping up after doing it, then I'm pretty sure whatever he did was not re-installing the OS. A proper OS re-install is a complete reset to factory settings. Nothing survives it.


One had trouble turning on, and ran ultra slow once started, while the other can turn on, but also runs very slow, both also spit of messages of "blocked internet access by suspicious program", or something along the lines of that anyway. Both also had the main browser I use[IE7] using the frame of IE7, with the buttons and such of IE6 or IE5
Running very slow can be caused by a lot of things and is not usually a sign of a virus. That messages thing, though... What antivirus program is popping up those warnings? If it's a specific one you know you installed, then it should be fine. If not, and particularly if it has "Microsoft" in its name, then that is actually the virus itself, just masquerading as an antivirus. This particular brand of virus is not very difficult to get rid of, provided that you know about it and have a good set of instructions.

[Togath]

The one popping up the warnings was MCafee.. and aye, I'll try getting a full re-set done on them, I once had it done to a computer long(well.. two years ago anyway) ago, and this would explain why it seemed different this time(I think it may have been a communication issue this time around, since I asked if he could save the word documents and pictures, but forgot to mention I meant he could just remove/copy them off of the computer and delete the rest of the things)

[Karoht]

Ewww, McAfee.
Get AVG, it's free.
Avast is highly recommended too. Same with Malware Bytes.

Next time one of your computers 'dies' can I have it? :smallcool:
I'm kidding.

Also, there are those out there who thinks a wipe and reinstall means manually deleting things and reinstalling them. Formatting the drive and then reinstalling is the correct procedure. And formatting the drive can be done through the BiOS settings, which viruses can't do much about, to my knowledge.

[Douglas]

Ok, so it's not a fake. With that said, a complete re-install is usually overkill and an option of last resort when nothing else works. You could be getting false positives, and you might have things that are easily cleaned up by certain other programs. I would try Spybot Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/), Malware Bytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/), and Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.com/), and see if those find anything and if your situation improves after running them. At least one of them has a component that sits around and watches for new infections, and that could slow your computer down, so you might want to uninstall them after running their scans.

If that plus a scan from your current antivirus (McAfee) doesn't fix things, then I would suggest getting a computer expert to check into it in person. That typically costs money unless you have a friend who can do it (and it doesn't sound like the friend you mentioned is an expert to the extent I mean here), though, and an OS re-install is the next fall-back option.

Of course, if there's nothing on those computers you care about, or if what you care about is strictly limited and easily backed up, then skipping straight to OS re-install can potentially save some time. It's just that that's rarely the case with an actively used computer.

[Traab]

Yeah im lucky, ive got a family member that does this kind of thing, so when spybot and the rest fail, instead of trying to hunt down and destroy the virus or whatever manually, I just go wipe and reinstall. I dont keep anything vital on my computer, so there is no worries about backing anything up. Its relatively fast, easy, and straightforward to do.

[Togath]

only vital thing are a small collection of word documents and some family pictures, so probably easily backed up.

[Mando Knight]

Both also had the main browser I use[IE7] using the frame of IE7, with the buttons and such of IE6 or IE5

If you are still using IE 7, you owe it to yourself to get a free upgrade to a better browser, since they'll have more up-to-date security by far. IE 10 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/download-ie) at least, though Chrome (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/) and Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/) are also good, free browsers.

[Togath]

so newer ones have better security?
is there any way to transfer the buttons and button orientation from IE7(things such as the close, minimize, full-screen/windowed toggle, as well as the history and favorites tabs) to something newer?

[Douglas]

For bookmarks and favorites, there's probably a menu option somewhere to export those on the old browser and to import on the new one. Then again, IE7 is old enough it might not have that, I don't know.

For customization of the interface, you'll probably have to redo it all, but I've never felt the need to do any customization beyond changing the show/hide option for a few toolbars.

And yes, improved security is one of the many many features newer browsers have over older ones, and IE7 was obsolete 4 years ago.

[Janus]

only vital thing are a small collection of word documents and some family pictures, so probably easily backed up.

Fair warning, I understand that if you make that backup, the virus may come along with it. You might as well try, but if the problem comes back after you reformat, you're probably going to have to lose those files.

[Togath]

would emailing the word documents to myself work?

[Forrestfire]

If the virus is attached to that file, then it would be emailed along with it.

[Tanuki Tales]

I've found that the trend seems to be attaching spyware and viruses to the ads that get run by sites like Deviantart. If you have a good ad-blocker, that should already increase the safety of your computer before factoring in programs like AVG and Malware-Bytes.

I used to get the odd trojan and spyware load from sites like Solomid.net, Deviantart, some wikis, etc. back before I got Ad-Blocker, but I have got nary a thing since I installed it.

[Traab]

If the virus is attached to that file, then it would be emailed along with it.

You see, its unknowns like this that convinces me its better to just go with the full wipe instead of risking things. It can take hours to track down a virus or whatever that isnt caught by your protections and to get rid of it, even for experts, and then you have to worry about damage done in the process. Its the easiest answer, wipe and reinstall. Nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Tanuki Tales
I've found that the trend seems to be attaching spyware and viruses to the ads that get run by sites like Deviantart.

Very much so. :smallfrown:



I had a similar experience when I first discovered DeviantArt, and ran into a whole series of virus issues which took me days to resolve.

The only thing that finally worked, as Karoht and Traab have pointed out, is the good ol' nuke-and-pave approach. Nuking from orbit really is the only way to be sure.

--And, as it happens, this was on a computer that was running free AVG. Whatever it was got right past AVG and worked its evil ways unhindered. Needless to say, my opinion of AVG was not improved.

That said, it could've happened with any of the software packages. Trust no one, and keep your nuker handy.

[Mando Knight]

This is one way ad blockers and no-script add-ons help a lot. Yeah, they hinder ad revenues for the people you like to support. However, you can usually disable them for sites you trust completely, and I would rather choose protecting your own computer over giving websites your ad revenue.

[Erloas]

I'm just going to address the part about the files you want to save.
Most picture formats are difficult, if not impossible to get a virus into. While I think it might be theoretically possible for someone to encode a virus into a picture and send it to you, I don't think it is possible for a virus to attach itself to a picture.

For your word documents. I think all word document viruses use macros so if you set your word processor to notify you of macros then that will tell you. (most legitimate word documents will not have macros, some "calculating" types will and they are a lot more common in something like a spreadsheet).
Simple text type files can't contain a virus (or at least in a way that would run, if you opened a text file with a virus it would look like a garbled mess).
Just to be safe you could simply copy/paste all of your word documents into text files and back those up.

As an aside, I believe most "cloud" services have virus checking, as much to protect their own systems as to slow down the spread of viruses to clients. You can check to make sure, but if they do they should be very robust and you can use that to check your files on an compromised system.

[Togath]

All of my documents are pure text, so copying them to a different format is actually viable.
And all of the pictures I'd want to save are in standard png format..
so it sounds like i will be able to save those ones then, and clean the computer with a full reset

[KillianHawkeye]

So when you encounter a virus alert, your first response is to shut down your computer as fast as possible? Overkill much? :smallconfused:



Personally, I've never had any trouble with deviantart. Are you sure it isn't your web browser which is infected?

[turbo164]

I got infected by a DeviantArt ad about 3 years ago, as well as an Imageshack ad about a year later. It happens :/

[Don Julio Anejo]

I'm just going to address the part about the files you want to save.
Most picture formats are difficult, if not impossible to get a virus into. While I think it might be theoretically possible for someone to encode a virus into a picture and send it to you, I don't think it is possible for a virus to attach itself to a picture.

For your word documents. I think all word document viruses use macros so if you set your word processor to notify you of macros then that will tell you. (most legitimate word documents will not have macros, some "calculating" types will and they are a lot more common in something like a spreadsheet).
Simple text type files can't contain a virus (or at least in a way that would run, if you opened a text file with a virus it would look like a garbled mess).
Just to be safe you could simply copy/paste all of your word documents into text files and back those up.

As an aside, I believe most "cloud" services have virus checking, as much to protect their own systems as to slow down the spread of viruses to clients. You can check to make sure, but if they do they should be very robust and you can use that to check your files on an compromised system.
Came here to basically say this, but was beaten to it.

Jpegs are 98.5% safe (it's usually apparent when they're not - the file doesn't open as a picture). .Docs actually can be infected, but it's a pain in the ass and is rare; macro viruses are more common simply because they literally execute code through word. But most newer versions of Word usually come with macros disabled and a prompt asking if you want to execute them yourself.

If you want to be 99.5% safe, copy and paste everything from inside the file to a different file. I.e. .doc --> .txt and .jpeg --> .jpeg. But before you waste lots of time doing that, just put all the files you want to keep in a zipped folder, put them on a flash drive and scan it on a different computer with an antivirus (I highly recommend Avast!; AVG got a lot worse over the last few years and is now a major resource hog along the lines of Norton).

That said, it's pretty difficult for websites to infect your computer with a higher end virus (like the one that has root access); ActiveX controls used in browsers simply don't have that capability. Most likely it's just a worm that fudges around with a few files and redirects you to ad websites. I'd be more worried about stolen passwords than any damage to OS/your computer.

[Weezer]

I got infected by a DeviantArt ad about 3 years ago, as well as an Imageshack ad about a year later. It happens :/

This is why adblock is your friend. Run it, and be sure to whitelist sites you trust not to run virus ads and want to support.