viruses and malware from realgm.com

[cram]

I switched over to IE from Firefox because most of the apps i use at work require it....and ever since doing so i've been getting viruses & malware. I visit ~10 of the same sites daily, and everything else far more randomly. I actually started sorting out where the viruses and malware were coming from.

Realgm.com

I think this is as much about IE as it is about realgm, but its interesting that everything's coming from this site. Or more likely, the advertisers on the site.

Couldn't the people who run realgm (and generate 10's or 100's of thousands in ad revenue) do something to fix this? The site seems more disease ridden than a tijuana whorehouse.

Suspect the mods will want to move this to the off-topic forum or something, but we all know it'll be lost there. Only reason it'll change is if the community itself actually gets a little peeved off. So, please leave it here for a while.......at the very least as a warning to those who run IE to beware the stuff they can pick up at realgm.com.

[Tofubeque]

Hear, hear. I first picked up malware on my last computer right around when I started visiting this site.

I have newer antivirus software now, but I know as soon as it starts going out of date I'll have to get worried again. This place is like a porn site.

[McFurious1]

+1

[RapsFanInVA]

I have IE and I don't have antivirus software. Basically I'm rawdoggin it, and don't care what kind of viruses I'll pick up. Don't tell me how to live my life. If realgm strikes me with syphillis, then so be it.

[jay632]

been hit a couple of times, but scanner caught it, else i try to task manager and close browswer.

[scirocco53]

I got it on Monday morning around 1:30am. Took me a few hours to get rid of it. I was shocked, as I did not expect it from this site.

[Moginly]

If you want to get rid of the ads completely and not risk the viruses/malware switch to firefox and download an add-on called Ad Block Pro (ABP).

[Schad]

Moving to the Feedback and Suggestion forum, because the admins read it daily.

[Anatomize]

If you guys want to rid malware and other types of viruses from this website, please get rid of your HTaccess (a useless file) through your FTP for this website.

Afterwards, look for any <iframe> tags in your HTML code on any of your pages, you have a huge archive so it may be difficult to find, you can try to find it in your find & replace under edit on dreamweaver. If you find an iframe tag inside your code, remove it immediately. If you managed to find and clean it, consider changing your server access password, the viruses nowadays can steal and change your ftp password and it would become troublesome for you.

If you have any more questions PM me.

[OzzyAZ]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/35

^^ Will this work at your job? I don't want to even imagine having to use only IE.

[Clutch Carter]

For users forced to stay with IE, you can try privoxy.

[cram]

If you guys want to rid malware and other types of viruses from this website, please get rid of your HTaccess (a useless file) through your FTP for this website.

Afterwards, look for any <iframe> tags in your HTML code on any of your pages, you have a huge archive so it may be difficult to find, you can try to find it in your find & replace under edit on dreamweaver. If you find an iframe tag inside your code, remove it immediately. If you managed to find and clean it, consider changing your server access password, the viruses nowadays can steal and change your ftp password and it would become troublesome for you.

If you have any more questions PM me.

Couldn't realgm do something so that the site is less virus-ridden?

[Anatomize]

^ The steps I mentioned are necessary in order to clean the virus from the website. I had this problem and people couldn't view my website (blocked by virus); once I cleaned the <iframe> tag the virus was no longer an issue. I really don't know if any steps they can take to block future viruses, but the website designer should consider doing weekly cleanups using super antispyware, malwayre bytes, and Avast.

IE is just terrible, it has ActiveX which is practically a portal for letting viruses into your computer through many websites you visit.

[dillio]

Same problem here. Last Friday I had 5-6 browser tabs open and had a "spyware detected" popup advertisement. Thinking nothing of it, I closed it. Over the next couple hours I got infected with some very nasty malware and ended up having to do a Vista recovery + restore to the previous day in order to rid myself of it. I never thought it was RGM because I had other tabs open from a variety of troubleshooting websites that I don't frequent, so I figured it was one of those. Then today, about 20 minutes ago, I had that same ad pop up again. I immediately Task Manager -> End Tasked IE, unplugged my ethernet, and did a full virus/malware scan.

The _only_ site I had open was RealGM so I'm not 100% positive it came from this website (or one of its advertisers).

[lovehoops01]

Everyone should be very careful. This probably is one of my last two posts here. I just want to say goodbye to the guys in my forum, and that will be it.

I got a Trojan virus that started installing all kinds of other viruses on my machine on Jan. 10. This was the only place I had been for two days.

I had Norton AntiVirus, updated Windows. I had updated everything the day before and Norton was active when I logged in that day.

By the time I started getting warnings, the Trojan virus had stripped the Norton, taken down my Windows Firewall and prohibited me from doing anything to stop it (I had the Conficker antivirus there, too, so I don't think it was that). It still was installing worms when I shut down my computer.

I took it in to try to get it cleaned up and had to have my computer wiped.

I have enjoyed my years here, but I can't afford to spend hundreds getting my computer fixed if they can't keep this stuff off the site.

Good luck, everyone.

[YogiStewart]

my update:

i also was infected - likely from RGM.
notified RGM about it.
they've looked into it and i think things have been under control as of late.

it likely came from some of the ads on the website.

if you want to be safe, download an anti-malware software. i did and i can see whenever crap is trying to infiltrate my computer. it helped me with another blog site this morning.

don't blame RGM, though. the malware likely comes from the middlemen who get the ads together for this site.

[OzzyAZ]

Same problem here. Last Friday I had 5-6 browser tabs open and had a "spyware detected" popup advertisement. Thinking nothing of it, I closed it. Over the next couple hours I got infected with some very nasty malware and ended up having to do a Vista recovery + restore to the previous day in order to rid myself of it.

Yea, some of the ads are scripts that download the program for you without you doing anything.

If someone does get infected by one of these, reboot in safe mode and run System Restore and go back to a date before the infection. Some of them still run while in safe mode; if that's the case, use ComboFix (be sure to do a backup first): http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofi ... e-combofix

[dillio]

don't blame RGM, though. the malware likely comes from the middlemen who get the ads together for this site.

Uh what? This website is the channel by which users are being infected with viruses. That represents a serious breach of trust between the user base and the site administration and it's completely inappropriate for you to say "don't blame RGM" imo. Nobody's saying this website's administration is purposely infecting its users with viruses but it's happening and it's 100% their fault. If it's the advertisers, they need to be more careful with who they allow to advertise. If it's "middlemen" as you say, they need to figure out who it is and get rid of them. If the site itself is infected, they need to spend some time/money and sort it out.

[YogiStewart]

don't blame RGM, though. the malware likely comes from the middlemen who get the ads together for this site.

Uh what? This website is the channel by which users are being infected with viruses. That represents a serious breach of trust between the user base and the site administration and it's completely inappropriate for you to say "don't blame RGM" imo. Nobody's saying this website's administration is purposely infecting its users with viruses but it's happening and it's 100% their fault. If it's the advertisers, they need to be more careful with who they allow to advertise. If it's "middlemen" as you say, they need to figure out who it is and get rid of them. If the site itself is infected, they need to spend some time/money and sort it out.

i agree.
RGM is responsible, but they weren't acting irresponsibly per se, if you know what i mean.

i'm not happy at the lag time in investigating this (i've been complaining for 3-4 months).

[sp6r=underrated]

This is becoming a problem for me as well.