OT: Be careful surfing RealGM (viruses/malware)

[SpaceJam]

Damn...this happened to me as well a while ago. Thanks for the heads up.

[lobosloboslobos]

as you probably know, mods have zero vested interest in the businessside of RGM. i would assume that RGM gets paid per clicks, but that is a guess.

Understood. I'm sure nobody lays this on the mods. BUT you guys have connections to the overlords of RealGM that we do not. This is a really big issue and it should not happen. What do you recommend can be done to fix it?

[YogiStewart]

on a side note, which anti-virus program do you guys recommend? i use kaspersky (russian version) on one computer, but my other computer is naked and devoid of virus scanners. i used to have a campus-issued Norton Antivirus program but i noticed that it slowed everything done and required 5 minutes to load every time i turned on the computer. suggestions?

Kaspersky is one of the best.
Futureshop.ca was selling a year's subscription for $15 a few weeks ago. bloody cheap.
it also will slow everything down unless you create exceptions/exemptions. Norton AV ain't so hot.

[YogiStewart]

I had a scary incident two days ago instantly after calling up RealGM. It was probably Antivirus Pro that popped up on the screen.

I was using IE 8, with an updated version of Vista and McAfee. I simply exited from IE immediately via task manager and restarted the computer. A full McAfee scan showed nothing, and I haven't had any problems since.

i wouldn't be surprised if it comes back. don't mean to scare you, but the virus scanning softwares out there don't always detect AntiVirus Pro. its one of the more frustrating versions of malware out there.,

[YogiStewart]

as you probably know, mods have zero vested interest in the businessside of RGM. i would assume that RGM gets paid per clicks, but that is a guess.

Understood. I'm sure nobody lays this on the mods. BUT you guys have connections to the overlords of RealGM that we do not. This is a really big issue and it should not happen. What do you recommend can be done to fix it?

i personally have been posting this on the moderator board for the past 3-4 months.
it started with a "guys, not sure where its coming from, but it may be RGM" to "i get this 5 min after going on RGM" to "my antivirus and antimalware software shows that its RGM and here is the url that proves it."

my concerns started as being ignored, then "looked into" and, when others complained and i repeatedly complained, they were addressed.
i think.
because things were quiet for a week or so here and then, on Monday, i noticed that Malwarebytes detected trouble. it could always be a user's avatar or sig, or it could be an ad. i didn't look into it.

its incredibly frustrating. i almost stopped coming to the site. but that's like going cold turkey on crack cocaine, man.

[DG88]

This happened to my dads computer he lost everything

[hoop_head]

Few things to mention here.

1. This site is not safe to surf with IE anymore when IE privacy is set to medium-high. If you must surf with IE, at least change your cookie settings under Tools - Internet Options - Privacy to High.

2. Mozilla Firefox 3.5 with Ad Block Plus is the way to go, you can avoid the unwanted & dangerous ads + security is very good (I have experienced zero problems with Firefox).

3. You know what your security software looks like. While using IE last week at work to surf RealGM, the computer went crazy and a strange window popped up saying I had 300+ infections, and to click a provided button to fix the problem. It looked real enough, but I knew it couldn't be real. I simply went to my Norton Internet Security Suite, and ran a full check while the bogus security window was still up. Norton found nothing, so I simply closed all open windows. When I did, Norton then alerted me to the blocked attack. Had I clicked on the bogus "click here to fix" option, my computer would have been infected & trashed no doubt.

4. With IE, you can go to Tools - Internet Options - Privacy and click on the Sites button. You can block ANY site from downloading cookies to you computer. Before I started using Firefox, I would check the scan results from Norton and manually block each site that had put a tracking cookie on my computer. Sad to say, RealGM is not innocent here (Norton always found a RealGM tracking cookie before I blocked the site).

Cheers.

[Kevin Willis]

YogiStewart is right, Kapersky is good. CA is crap. Plus that freakin' thing prevents anti-virus from working. I had Malware, Kapersky, CA and another one on my PC and only Kapersky worked.

It's like a game too because if you don't know better you click on it to scan your pc and it takes over your firewall which can let other virus through. It was an orgy of destruction. Thank goodness for Kapersky.

Norton is alright but not quick on new viruses. I have Bell anti-virus on one of my PCs and that thing is a freakin' vault but it slows the computer down to nothing. I keep sensitive data there. And yeah I also think some viruses may be embedded in avatars - not the movie.

I feel for everyone who lost a PC to this virus.

[I hate pod 6]

This happened to my computer at work, I thought it might have came from this website but wasn't sure. Luckly I know my way around computers and was able to delete it myself rather than having IT people ask me how i got it. On another note anyone else have wonder how some people get IT jobs because I often know more than them and I'm in accounting?

[Kevin Willis]

Few things to mention here.

1. This site is not safe to surf with IE anymore when IE privacy is set to medium-high. If you must surf with IE, at least change your cookie settings under Tools - Internet Options - Privacy to High.

2. Mozilla Firefox 3.5 with Ad Block Plus is the way to go, you can avoid the unwanted & dangerous ads + security is very good (I have experienced zero problems with Firefox).

3. You know what your security software looks like. While using IE last week at work to surf RealGM, the computer went crazy and a strange window popped up saying I had 300+ infections, and to click a provided button to fix the problem. It looked real enough, but I knew it could be real. I simply went to my Norton Internet Security Suite, and ran a full check while the bogus security window was still up. Norton found nothing, so I simply closed all open windows. When I did, Norton then alerted me to the blocked attack. Had I clicked on the bogus "click here to fix" option, my computer would have been infected & trashed no doubt.

4. With IE, you can go to Tools - Internet Options - Privacy and click on the Sites button. You can block ANY site from downloading cookies to you computer. Before I started using Firefox, I would check the scan results from Norton and manually block each site that had put a tracking cookie on my computer. Sad to say, RealGM is not innocent here (Norton always found a RealGM tracking cookie before I blocked the site).

Cheers.

How about Opera or Maxthon? Opera has never given me a virus and Maxthon as well. What are ppl's thoughts on that?

[CR Reina]

The recent string of problems seems to be completely isolated to Antivirus Pro 2009, which is infecting computers all over the place and is obviously not something that RealGM's advertisers are infecting anybody with.

I completely understand your concerns and frustrations, but we have been assured by outside consultants that everything on RealGM is safe.

I posted a thread on the feedback board yesterday that runs down what is going on with our advertisers and is where you should let us know about any issues that any of you have.

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=978414

I suggest you read that thread above and post any concerns, either now or in the future there. The mods here can only relay things back to us and this will put you in touch more quickly and directly.

[ROBBS]

While Kapersky and ESET NOD32 imo is one of the best Antivirus software out there, there are some good free alternatives. I personally use Avira AntiVir, which is great. You can also try Avast! or even MSE. But yes, like Yogi mentioned, Antivirus PRO can get past a lot of these antivirus programs.

[dacrusha]

Firefox for me (except at work where our Intranet is only compatible with IE).

Here's some good advice: if you ever, ever, EVER get a popup message that says your machine has (possibly) been infected, NEVER touch that popup to click OK. As someone else said, close those popups via task manager and then do manual scan using Malwarebytes or another trusted program.

Also, I'm a firm believer in not doing scheduled virus scans... this just leads to complacency and a false sense of security. You should scan your drives manually at least once every 2 weeks.

[Clutch Carter]

Stay away from IE and you should be fine. Something like adblock and/or privoxy is the way to go.

[dTox]

its great to have a mac