Unwanted downloads?

[Bry]

Sorry, I know very little about softwear and computers, but I have a problem. Browsing around the web, I occasionally enter a site that immediately starts downloading things. This produces such annoying things as new icons on my desktop, and it reprograms explorer to open on a new page. The new icons don't go away when I try to throw them in the recycling bin. They just come back when I reboot. Same with the foreign homepage. This has happened three times.

Can anyone tell me how to avoid this, and better, how to correct it when it happens?

thanks,
Bry

 

[DKSuddeth]

all those porn sites tend to do crap like that, run ad aware every day to get rid of the BS that it throws on you.

http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10214379.html?tag=lst-0-1

 

[jimnyc]

You may want to look at your security settings in your browser as well. Are you using IE?

No file should ever be downloaded to your machine automatically, you should always get prompted.

DK is absolutely right though, download and run AdAware - awesome program.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

 

[Bry]

thanks for the help guys. Jim, yes, I'm using IE. I'm not sure how my security settings should be. any tips?

Thanks,
Bry

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Bry
thanks for the help guys. Jim, yes, I'm using IE. I'm not sure how my security settings should be. any tips?

Thanks,
Bry

For starters, check out this link, nice little online utility for testing your browsers security. It will offer fixes for any problems it finds.

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck

 

[lilcountriegal]

Jim... I ran your program and came up with this:

Dear Customer,

The Browser Security Test is finished. Please find the results below:

High Risk Vulnerabilities 3
Medium Risk Vulnerabilities 2
Low Risk Vulnerabilities 2

can you translate? LOL

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by lilcountriegal
Jim... I ran your program and came up with this:



can you translate? LOL

I believe had you scrolled down it would have detailed what each result was and reccomend a fix for each. Do you still have the page open so you can scroll down? If not, try running it again!

 

[eric]

Another suggestion is to do a windows update from Microsoft's windows update site, that many times takes care of some of the security holes.

 

[lilcountriegal]

I did scroll down and see the Windows Update recommendation. So, I clicked on it and did an update.

I just re-did it after the update, and now its 5, 2 & 2. I give up LOL.

I recently got an email from Paypal saying they were limiting my account activity due to suspicious activity (and a click here link to fix the problem link). I didnt click on the enclosed link because I wasnt sure exactly what I was clicking on, so I just emailed Paypal and havent received a response back yet.

I saw this thread and figured I'd check to see how vulnerable I am. Which, apparently, is very.

Thanks for the links though. When I have more time, I'm going to check out the one Evil posted... I clicked on it, and as most of that crap is foreign to me, I'll have to read it in better detail.

After that email from Paypal, I keep getting flashes of those Citibank commercials with the old lady and the fat guy drinkin a beer talking in other voices about all the things they hacked into and bought under someone else's account.

 

[jimnyc]

The paypal email is definitely a scam!

No reputable company will ever require email or web updates of personal info. Never do this except via telephone or regular mail.

Here's another example to avoid:

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/paypal_scam.html

 

[jimnyc]

lil, to avoid you fears, you may want to install some sort of firewall protection that will help you avoid hacks, malicious scripts and other internet activity that can cause harm.

I router/switch would have built in protection as well.

Try this for starters. Zone Alarm is a great program, but could be annoying when you first start. For example, the first time you go to access the internet it will come up with a warning letting you know that 'Internet Explorer' is tring to access the internet via port 80. It then asks you if you want to grant permission (and there's an option to keep it as a rule so that you don't have to ever do it again). This will happen for any programs that access the internet. At least you'll only have to do it once. After that, any incoming attempts considered to be harmful will be stopped in their tracks and you will be prompted with the activity. Can't hurto to try it anyway, and it's free!

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/company/zap_za_grid.jsp

 

[eric]

The paypal email is definitely a scam!

Listen to Jim, he is absoultely right, there are a number of paypal scams !

 

[lilcountriegal]

This is the email I got from PayPal. It looks legit. The return address is [email protected] (thats their return address). For some reason a little chuckling granny cleaning the pool popped up in my mind when I read it though.

From : <[email protected]>
Sent : Saturday, March 6, 2004 9:59 AM
To : [email protected]
Subject : Notification of PayPal Limited Account Access [email protected]

| | | Inbox


Dear [email protected],


We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your PayPal account may
have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security
of your account and of the PayPal network is our primary concern.
Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to
sensitive PayPal account features.
Click below in order to regain access to your account:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=login-run

For more information about how to protect your account, please visit
PayPal's Security Center, accessible via the "Security Center" link located
at the bottom of each page of the PayPal website.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your
assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal
system. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
The PayPal Team


Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be
answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the
"Help" link in the header of any page.


PayPal Email ID PP198
PayPal Email ID PP316



(P.S. the link looks pretty general to me, but I took off the last portion of the link just to make sure no one can access it. Like I said, I'm a computer moron )

 

[jimnyc]

It does appear legit. I still wouldn't do anything until I hear back from them directly. As long as it isn't asking for SS# or credit card!!

 

[lilcountriegal]

I changed the password.. thanks for the advice Evil!

I re-emailed PayPal. I'll update you when I hear back if it was a scam or not. Thanks for the advice, guys!

 

[lilcountriegal]

Welp... here's the verdict:

Dear Karin T***,

Thank you for contacting PayPal.

Thank you for bringing this suspicious email to our attention. We can confirm that the email you received; was not sent to you by PayPal. The website linked to this email is not a registered URL authorized or used by PayPal. We are currently investigating this incident fully. Please do not enter any personal or financial information into this website.

If you have surrendered any personal or financial information to this fraudulent website, you should immediately log into your PayPal Account and change your password and secret question and answer information. Any compromised financial information should be reported to the appropriate parties.

If you notice any unauthorized activity associated with your PayPal transaction history, please immediately report this to PayPal by following the instructions below:

1. Go to https://www.paypal.com/
2. Click on the Security Center at the bottom of the page
3. Click on "Report a Problem"
4. Select the Topic: Report Fraud
5: Select the Subtopic: Unauthorized use of my PayPal Account, and click Continue.
6. Follow the instructions to access the appropriate form

If you have any further questions, please let us know.

Sincerely,

The PayPal Team

 

[remie]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
all those porn sites tend to do crap like that, run ad aware every day to get rid of the BS that it throws on you.

Thanks for that tip DK. I downloaded Ad Aware a few days ago and it has all but eliminated all the crap I used to get.