Question for computer, web experts

[snowman]

Late yesterday afternoon I began to receive a barrage of pop-up messages from my Avast program telling me that malicious URLs were being blocked. It was one right after another most of the evening. Today it has slowed some. Apparently Avast has caught them all, but I'm wondering what is happening and what, if anything, I can do about the situation.

Thank you, friends.
Andy

 

[M&P Freak]

Have you done full system scan in Avast? How about a boot-time scan?

I'm no expert, but that's where I would start.

 

[LVSteve]

You havn't been visiting the pretty ladies online lately, have you?

 

[iouri]

Looks like you have a virus and it tries to communicate - call home or w/e

 

[J Rich]

Let Avast do it's thing. If Avast tells you to update or download new software do it. I've been using Avast for years A friend of mine that I worked with at Google turned me on to Avast. I have had no issues with them.

On another note. What browser are you using? Internet Explorer is the worst for getting a Virus, Mrs. J Rich use firefox and has more problems than I do, and I use Chrome With little to no issues. Another thing is Social Media like Facebook has lots of hackers and viruses.

Hope this helps.

 

[snowman]

Let Avast do it's thing. If Avast tells you to update or download new software do it. I've been using Avast for years A friend of mine that I worked with at Google turned me on to Avast. I have had no issues with them.

On another note. What browser are you using? Internet Explorer is the worst for getting a Virus, Mrs. J Rich use firefox and has more problems than I do, and I use Chrome With little to no issues. Another thing is Social Media like Facebook has lots of hackers and viruses.

Hope this helps.

I use Explorer -about time for a change, I think. I don't use Facebook -have never registered with them. Thank you for your help.

Andy

 

[snowman]

Have you done full system scan in Avast? How about a boot-time scan?

I'm no expert, but that's where I would start.

Haven't done a manual scan in awhile -I'll try that. Thanks.

Andy

 

[rwsmith]

Just think.....

Just think what would be happening if you WEREN'T using a good malware software!!!!!

 

[iouri]

Just think what would be happening if you WEREN'T using a good malware software!!!!!

Nothing ? Haven't used ANY malware/virus protection in last 3 years (switched to Mac )

 

[Aticus]

Nothing ? Haven't used ANY malware/virus protection in last 3 years (switched to Mac )

Might I suggest that you look into anti-virus and malware apps for your Mac. I have reports from CNET that Macs are getting hit more than in the past. The stuffs not expensive and good peace of mind. It's on my iMac. Be careful.

 

[J Rich]

I use Explorer -about time for a change, I think. I don't use Facebook -have never registered with them. Thank you for your help.

Andy

I have noticed a dramatic decrease of Virus and Malware notifications since switching to Chrome. I am saying Chrome is the best out there, but like I said my Wife has problems with Firefox that I don't experience. I have not used any other browsers so them are the only ones I can speak of.

I also have taken away all the shortcuts for Explorer so no one can find it and use it as a browser, and made it so nothing comes up with Explorer as a default browser.

 

[HELLSING]

First, switch to Google Chrome.... through multiple bar tests it IS the fastest and safest browser in 2013. Also, I suggest using AVG 2013... it syncs. up and pairs with Chrome very well and makes even safer browsing.

You get 30 full FREE days of AVG then it goes to free which is just as good.

And switch off of Explorer A.S.A.P.... it is the worst browser to mankind... so many loopholes to hack into it's unreal.

But, I really believe AVG will remove whatever viruses you have.

 

[Lost Lake]

Nothing ? Haven't used ANY malware/virus protection in last 3 years (switched to Mac )

I haven't used anti-virus for at least 6 years and all the computers here are on Facebook all the time. And every now and again I may stumble across a pretty lady site just to keep up with what everyone else is looking at.

Macs are where it's at.

 

[iouri]

Might I suggest that you look into anti-virus and malware apps for your Mac. I have reports from CNET that Macs are getting hit more than in the past. The stuffs not expensive and good peace of mind. It's on my iMac. Be careful.

I know there were few vulnerabilities for Mac (and there will be in the future) but the OS architecture is much more secure. In most of the cases user will be prompted for administrator password to get infected In my view antivirus programs may give you false sense of security and antivirus software recognizes only KNOWN threats. If it's a so called 0-day exploit chances are that your antivirus software won't detect but you still be under impression that you are "protected". I am not trying to start a campaign against antivirus software, just saying that I don't believe that I'll be more secure using it.

 

[J Rich]

OS is great although OS operates only on a Solid State Hard Drive or SSD. Unless they have changed it recently and I haven't heard. That's what makes OS so incredibly fast.

All n all one has to ask themselves am I a $500 computer guy or a $1500 computer guy? I personally am a $500 guy due to the life expectancy of the computer, technology growing, and I don't make a living from a computer. No offence to those that do, or just want a $1500 computer.

 

[rwsmith]

Protecting against...

) In my view antivirus programs may give you false sense of security and antivirus software recognizes only KNOWN threats. If it's a so called 0-day exploit chances are that your antivirus software won't detect but you still be under impression that you are "protected". I am not trying to start a campaign against antivirus software, just saying that I don't believe that I'll be more secure using it.

If I didn't have antivirus, the 99% of viruses/malware that ARE known would be on my computer. AVG has stopped them several times. How does NOT having AV software protect you from UNknown threats anyway???

 

[snowman]

You get 30 full FREE days of AVG then it goes to free which is just as good.

I'm sorry, sir; could you clarify this statement?


I did what one of the posters said and ran Avast's full scan, which exposed all the infected files. I then did as my guru friend advised and moved them to the "chest"(an Avast term), then ran a boot scan, which the program advised. Everything seems to be OK now, the computer was instantly much faster, and no more "Threat detected" pop-ups.

Now, can someone tell me if my favorites can be transferred to a different browser?

Thanks again, friends.
Andy

 

[LVSteve]

Most browsers have a mechanism for transferring favourites. You might have to do a little research to find out how your chosen new browser wants to do it.

 

[Sprefix]

Sounds like you need a Mac attack............mine just keeps on cruising................

 

[Mcwsky09]

Generally speaking you do not want more than one antivirus software package running full time as that can cause conflicts and hog system resources. There are a number of tools out there which are free if run in the manual mode versus real time. In some cases you need to dig for the free version and also pay attention during install to avoid toolbars and other junk that gets installed at the same time.

Products I use on windows machines include Microsoft Security Essentials (which will want you to remove others and run all the time but could be used once and then removed)

Malewarebytes.org often finds stuff that others miss including stuff that is just privacy risk rather than true virus.

I used to use AVG but had issues with resource use and missing threats.

IObit.com has a comprehensive scanning to that does lots of stuff and under settings you can turn off the options to start at boot and performance monitor. The disk defrag and disk scan options take a long one so I generally use other tools for those functions.

Filehippo.com update checker is good for identifying outdated software

Secunia.com has a software inspector that can not only identify updated but also install them automatically.

At home I have numerous Mac systems and though I have run a couple virus scanners over the years the last virus I personally saw on a Mac was cDev about 20 years ago which only copies itself once to each mounted volume and caused no damage.

On the Mac all the threats I have read about recently require user interaction in order to infect the system often asking for a password or were never observed in the wild or are windows threats which can pass from a Mac to windows in a file (such as Word macros). The latest version of Mac OS X makes it even harder to install software that is unsafe but not impossible and Apple has been takin steps to block secuity holes.

I have spent many hundreds of hours cleaning windows machines of all sorts of issues.