49 replies to this topic

[DirtyLarry]

Okay, I ask this as I truly do not know. For starters, I have always done all of my devious internet excursions using a Macintosh. But not kidding, that is the truth.

So a friend of mine who shall remain nameless, was having all sorts of issues with his fairly new install of Windows 8 this past weekend.
After running a Virus Scan, which he has a full working copy of ESET Nod32, turns out 3 things were detected, they were eventually removed, and for now, all seems normal. I was unable to see what was detected and removed, he told me about this all after the fact. So not even sure what was found. But he was having some weird issues for sure.

So what can he do to prevent anything like this happening in the future? Can one even really get viruses from visiting adult related sites? Or is that a myth within itself? I am pretty sure it is not, but I honestly do not know, so trying to help my friend avoid any such issues in the future.

So are there any specific apps he can use? Any specific settings to enable in Firefox (that is his browser of choice).

Any help is truly appreciated.

[+Brando212]

for firefox the two biggies would be Adblock Plus and NoScript

[Glassed Silver]

Use a condom?

Glassed Silver:mac

[+warwagon]

Uninstall Java (or don't install it if you don't already have it
Make sure (if you have them) you have the latest versions of Adobe Reader, Flash, Java (if you have it install). I would grab patchmypc and run it on that machine and see what out of date 3rd party software it finds. it updates all of them with 1 click.
Make sure you have all your windows updates
Run Firefox with adblock, flashblock. You can use noscript but it's sorta a pain in the ass.
I also recommend running standboxie. It won't prevent you from getting "infected" but if you do it should just infect the samebox. So to remove the virus infection, you just terminate all sandboxed processes and clear the sandbox.

Moral of the story, make sure you don't have java and keep your system up to date.

[HoochieMamma]

for firefox the two biggies would be Adblock Plus and NoScript

^This

Also....Friend....sure...

[Tom]

I read somewhere once that there are 2x more viruses on Religious websites than porn sites. I found it a highly amusing fact.

[+exotoxic]

It is an easy way to deliver viruses to lots of people but i wouldn't call them porn sites, that's just a front.

[LUTZIFER]

Getting viruses from porn sites is a myth. If anything, it'd be a virus site disguised as one, but very unlikely.
I've been going to porn sites non stop for close to 20 years now and I've never gotten a virus from one.
Out of all the years running computers, I've gotten 2 viruses which I've had no problem manually removing them myself in no time at all.

[D!ABOL!C]

I use the browser plugin Web of Trust on all my browsers and recommend it for others. It functions similar to the one McAfee as well as Symantec I believe. They are good at notifying you if a page you visit is malicious or potentially malicious.

[+Lingwo]

It is probably some harmless Javascript or a dodgy ad (which can happen on any site) of some sort that the scanners thinks is a virus but really all it probably does is redirect or try and do something with your browser. It is kind of difficult to get a virus from a website, unless you use an outdated browser or allow it to download some file to your computer and run it.

Next time have a look at where the "virus" was. It will probably be in his internet cache folder.

To stop these kind of errors. With firefox use Adblock and noscript. If your friend doesn't use Firefox, get the equivalent for whichever browser they use.

[Glassed Silver]

I use the browser plugin Web of Trust on all my browsers and recommend it for others. It functions similar to the one McAfee as well as Symantec I believe. They are good at notifying you if a page you visit is malicious or potentially malicious.

WoT is way overrated.
It's got a ton of false alarms and porn sites are often market as malicious or potentially malicious.

You'll end up training yourself to not listen to it too much and only apply your own common sense usually.
The malicious site warning feature as found in most modern browsers seems a better fit as it warns less and you take the warnings more seriously.

Glassed Silver:mac

[brn]

I suggest a HOSTS file along with Firefox protection (i.e. Adblock, NoScript, etc). Also check his Java plugin and make sure it's up to date.

[Luc2k]

WoT is way overrated.
It's got a ton of false alarms and porn sites are often market as malicious or potentially malicious.

You'll end up training yourself to not listen to it too much and only apply your own common sense usually.
The malicious site warning feature as found in most modern browsers seems a better fit as it warns less and you take the warnings more seriously.

Glassed Silver:mac

Guess it depends on what you use. I've only seen bad warnings on a few image dump sites.

[Dot Matrix]

Stop him from installing addons the sites request. Set his UAC and SmartScreen filters to their max settings.

[Jan]

Couldn't he use Metro IE to view pron instead?