Does anyone know if it is as efficient as the box tells me it is? (of course it says its super awesome and the only progrmam you need for computer saftey)
And/or what else what should I try with it?
Malwarebytes has come up a few times on this thread. Is it a free downloadable program or can I find it on a disk?
Answers to any of that would be awesome.
All you need is a bit of common sense, Avira or Kaspersky, and malwarebytes. Avira also offers a free version for you cheapies.
Here is a suggestion: instead of overloading your computer with spyware crap that claims to clean your PC: get a virtual pc program such as virtualbox or vmware. If anything seems sketchy, you open it / scan it in there first. If it is a trojan/virus/whatever, it wont get into your home pc files asap. You scan it in there and *then* move it safely to your home pc.
You were sure it was a keylogger, and yet you trusted the safety of your personal information to some antivirus software? Had you simply rebuilt your computer after accidentally installing that add-on, you would not have been hacked.
It's not a matter of avoiding viruses and hackers, it's a matter of shutting them out. Even if you have the slightest suspicion of malware, you should take precautions with two very useful tactics. The first tactic is to test it, because an antivirus program will not help you, the second tactic, if you are paranoid or didn't take the precaution of the first, is to rebuild your computer.
Tactic 1: Test
Use a sandboxing / virtual PC program for dealing with suspicious programs. Sandboxie is a good one. When you run a program sandboxed, you isolate it from the rest of your computer. So when you run or install something, you can see where it places files and what it tries to modify (it doesn't matter if the operation was silent or subversive, the results will show up in the sandbox), which is very useful for determining whether or not it is a threat. You can safely run your web browser from within a sandbox as well.
Tactic 2: Rebuild
When you let them in, they're in. So it's best to travel light on your internet-connected computers and keep a standard backup with something like norton ghost - so when (not if) you get a potential trojan or keylogger, you can rebuild your whole computer in less than 30 minutes.
I played wow for about 3 months 2 years ago, and i'm getting at least 1-4 emails a week on wow password changes, and account confirmation emails from dodgy wow lookalike sites.
I had quit WoW in early Dec. Had time on my card till Jan. Me and the girlfriend decided to play again a few days ago. Went to log into my account and it had an authenticator attached to it. I knew something was wrong. Called Blizz and after 45 minutes I was able to get my account back and that authenticator off. Changed my password and ordered an authenticator. My toons were still there, but some items were deleted. My guild bank was wiped out. Blizz restored everything even my gold which wasn't a lot. Whomever hacked my account sold it or gave it to someone else blizz said. (changed hands 2x in those months I wasn't playing). My Alchemy was deleted and they put mining on my toon. All kinds of mining crap in my bags.
Anyway, I got it all back and I am taking steps to make sure it never happens again. I was very impressed with how Blizzard handled everything. I can't say enough about their professionalism. I honestly think I got hacked from using Add ons from Cursed. I never go anywhere else. I had downloaded their cursed client and let it download my add ons. I for one won't be using Cursed or probably not using add ons ever again. Played MMOs since UO and WoW since the beginning and never had any issues like this and always took precautions. To be quite honest I would prefer not using add ons anyway. Play the game the way it was supposed to be played. In Blizz's case they had made a lot of headway into adding cool addons into their game themselves (taking others ideas and incorporating it).
Just be careful folks. It can happen to anyone. Never thought it would to me, but it did. Life lesson learned.
Does anyone know if it is as efficient as the box tells me it is? (of course it says its super awesome and the only progrmam you need for computer saftey)
And/or what else what should I try with it?
Malwarebytes has come up a few times on this thread. Is it a free downloadable program or can I find it on a disk?
Answers to any of that would be awesome.
It's the best Antispyware out there, I also use Spybot and Adaware (which are both free and work just as good as Spy Sweeper), it will keep your computer clean. But also use AVG, Avast or Trend Mircro AV tools.... those are the best anti virus programs out there. McAffee will kill your computer and Norton makes it run super slow.
Funny thing is I have been with Blizz for a little over 5 yrs, been playing WoW since 6 months after it came out. I have never had any issues with hacking of my account, I don't use Curse for my stuff though either, I use WoWInterface for all my addons! As you have probably been told before, never put an .exe on your computer for 3rd party interaction, most likely a keylogger!
But at least Blizz honors their product and wants you to keep coming back, so they go out of their way to try and make you happy! I will give them that!
Not to be offensive but I still think you have to be stupid to have it happen. Clearly they didn't breach your firewall and maliciously go after you, you went to a bad site and downloaded a file from there, that is stupid.
First off I don't use third part apps for any MMO I play, never have, never will. I feel they are ridiculous and are basically cheating (in the fact that often times they give you advantages over those who don't use them). Also MMOs are easy and do not require extra assistance. But if I was going to use third party add ons, I would bookmark the sites I trust to be malware free so I didn't accidentally type something in wrong.
It truly is easy to avoid getting hacked.
It bugs me when I watch a show about how a guy got scammed into giving some Nigerian his bank account info and got robbed and he says "It can happen to anyone". No it can't because you have to be dumb to fall for one of those e-mails.
It's one thing if someone hacks into your bank and gets account information, or deliberatly picks a person and actually hacks into their computer to get the information they are looking for. Or a waiter at a restaurant steals your credit card information. Those are things that are essentially impossible to avoid and could result in a stolen identity. I can easily take pity on someone that happens to, but not someone who willing gives out the information. The same is for someone who willingly goes to a site and downloads a bad file.
This^^^
I have been gaming since 97 with UO and I have never been "hacked".
Of course I don't use chea...er 3rd party hack...er programs and that seems to be one of the biggest reasons people get "hacked". The others being the fake emails or giving info out to others.
It's simple really, play the game the way it was intended without 3rd party assistance and you don't have to worry about it. Don't fall for fake emails. Don't give your info out to anyone. Use different password/username combos for each game.
13 years of safe gaming with no issues following those simple rules.
That's just it, many of us that have been hacked followed thoes rules.
We'll see U back here next year on the same side as us.
Don't count on it.
I have heard numerous stories throughout the years and it almost always invariably comes back to one of the above reasons for the compromise.
99.9% of the time the error occurs at the end user. Whether it's the result of using the same UN/password combo or surfing some unscrupulous sites, or letting someone else know your info, or whatever.
Brute force hacking is simply too inefficient for scammers to use and it's much easier for them to scam you through email or bogus 3rd party sites as demonstrated by the OP and the myriad of posts on various forums.
I have never had a keylogger on my system. Only 1 virus as a result of letting some else use my box, which I no longer do. And only minor spyware which is swept off my box immediately after surfing the web using spybot search and destroy and ad-aware.
But I'm sure it's just a coincidence and I have just been lucky, right?
Like I said it's simple. Don't give out your info anywhere but the official site. Use different PW/UN combos for everything. Don't download 3rd party hacks. Don't open anything with an executable. Don't open bogus emails and give out your info after following a bogus link. It's not hard if you pay a small bit of attention to details.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Every now and then I catch something from browsing fairly legitimate sites. Once was at Delphi forums about ten years back, and recently - oh about ten months ago - it was Yahoo web mail.
The crap can be in the ads and sometimes even legitimate companies aren't careful enough about who and what they allow to run ads on their sites.
So despite all the "it's this, it's that" in this thread it doesn't really matter, people who are careful, don't use add-ons, etc., etc., ad nauseum will get caught and find their virus software, etc., pretty pointless - this is not to say don't use it, it does catch 99% of the crap, but that one percent can hurt.
When the 1% occurs I visit majorgeeks.com, follow their instructions to run the plethora of free, scanned and inspected, and recently updated software bits that help them spot the offender when they inspect the logs.
I do this to make absolutely certain that my comp is clean before running it again. There can be a wait up to two days, but I find it well worth it in the long run.
Every now and then I catch something from browsing fairly legitimate sites. Once was at Delphi forums about ten years back, and recently - oh about ten months ago - it was Yahoo web mail.
The crap can be in the ads and sometimes even legitimate companies aren't careful enough about who and what they allow to run ads on their sites.
So despite all the "it's this, it's that" in this thread it doesn't really matter, people who are careful, don't use add-ons, etc., etc., ad nauseum will get caught and find their virus software, etc., pretty pointless - this is not to say don't use it, it does catch 99% of the crap, but that one percent can hurt.
When the 1% occurs I visit majorgeeks.com, follow their instructions to run the plethora of free, scanned and inspected, and recently updated software bits that help them spot the offender when they inspect the logs.
I do this to make absolutely certain that my comp is clean before running it again. There can be a wait up to two days, but I find it well worth it in the long run.
Cheers!
I recall a specific instance a number of years ago when allakhazam.com had an ad on their site that was spreading a virus.
I was hacked in AIon. The bad site was their main one! Never been hacked before in over ten years of playing games. After weeks of trying to get my in game stuff restored, I got only part of it. Then the company "Aion" robbed me too. I didn't get over 200 plus molars (used for armor) back which would have sold for a million kinah per hundred. Aion said I couldn't have had that much money on my account so they took it too.
The security was the worse of any game I have ever played. Our Legion had over 30% hacked! Gold sellers were everywhere. BOTS omg Aion had so many bots it looked like a stirred ant hill. The bots made questing very hard since everything was being striped. The auction house prices were controled by the bots, too.
We had over 200 members in our legion and now all have left! So going to a trusted site is NOT always safe. The stupid one is someone who thinks they never will get hacked.
I recall a specific instance a number of years ago when allakhazam.com had an ad on their site that was spreading a virus.
I remember that, and thottbot also. It's why you don't want to DL Cosmos applications, just do individual DL of the adds and extract them and that dumb Curse Client that people are DLing to cut out the looking... your asking to get hacked doing that one!
Another piece of advice is to use personal firewall software or get a home firewall device for your internet connection and BLOCK EVERYTHING OUTGOING by default. Poke holes for sites/apps that you trust as needed. It won't stop your machine from getting infected in the first place....but it will help stop whatever malware package you might have from dialing home with your information once it gets it.
Also, from time to time, take a look at the processes you have running on Task Manager...and see if there is anything you don't recognize running. You can also do a search for recently modified files, to see if there are any executables or DLL's that have recently been loaded onto your machine when you expect them.
Avoid Add-Ons/Plug-ins or just uneccesary applications in general. The first rule of security is that the more things you have running...the greater the vector of an attack a potential hacker has. Each cute little widget that you add to your desktop is just another potential thing that can get compromised.
Switch your e-mail client to display plain-text only.... and don't let it use Word as your editor for mail messages. Consider disabling Active Scripting on your browsers and enabling it on a site by site basis as neccesary..
A while back, someone suggested that I write a column to raise awareness about keylogging and other forms of account hacking, and I thought to myself, "Why? It's pretty cut and dry. Don't be stupid, and you'll be just fine."
Huh, so somebody genuinely careful and security concious managed to get hacked. Okay, I'm open minded, maybe there is some risk I'm overlooking, maybe I'm not as secu
I made the tired mistake of thinking it the site ended in .org instead of .com. Without a second thought, I downloaded the executable file and then ran it
I have not bather to read through all replies but if this has been mention I don't think it will hurt some one mention it a gen.
Way accounts get hacked to start with. It's because of the secondery market of selling ingame items and accounts. Just remember that next time you buy "gold". That you're an enabler of the hackers that hack your friends accounts. Because if there was no real money to be earned here 99% of all hacked accounts would never get hacked.
I store my password in a little text file with an innocuous name and then open that file and select and copy the password (goes to clipboard) .. close the file, then open wow and then paste the pasword in with ctrl + v so the keylogger if it exists would only get ctrl + v as a password.
I'm not sure this is such a good idea as many here think. It is true that a primitive keylogger will only monitor, what is being typed and then your copy/paste will give protection. But many keyloggers today also check the paste-buffer, so in that case you will not be protected by using copy/paste.
This is meant as a friendly warning, you are probably not as safe with this method as you think you are.
Jaime had some good advice in her article and I want to thank her for that. I think it is important we get good advice out to people so they can be better protected.
The one rule I go by is paranoia, I always assume I'm never safe and that 'hacking' (aka keylogging/virus/etc) can happen to me anytime. So far 15 years online with only 1 virus, which I got from a friends 'safe' boot disc, haha
MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIAL! is one of the top lot of setting ,some believe it is less because there arent that many tweak dont let the deceiving emptyness fool you this is a full security counter mesure again various security issue
adjustable to accomodate vast scenario
avail in 32 and 64 bit from xp to w7 it cover most system
you ll need a legal os copy to run this
and you ll need to be up to date with microsoft update
aside from thoase i recommend M.S.E
and once it scanned once it scan very fast
and you get all this free!
way better then live onecare and no not because its free its truelly a great software and yet deceptively simple!
I store my password in a little text file with an innocuous name and then open that file and select and copy the password (goes to clipboard) .. close the file, then open wow and then paste the pasword in with ctrl + v so the keylogger if it exists would only get ctrl + v as a password.
I'm not sure this is such a good idea as many here think. It is true that a primitive keylogger will only monitor, what is being typed and then your copy/paste will give protection. But many keyloggers today also check the paste-buffer, so in that case you will not be protected by using copy/paste.
This is meant as a friendly warning, you are probably not as safe with this method as you think you are.
Jaime had some good advice in her article and I want to thank her for that. I think it is important we get good advice out to people so they can be better protected.
The one rule I go by is paranoia, I always assume I'm never safe and that 'hacking' (aka keylogging/virus/etc) can happen to me anytime. So far 15 years online with only 1 virus, which I got from a friends 'safe' boot disc, haha
If a keylogger reads the copy and paste, then it would read it with you having typed it anyway. Most keyloggers don't read copy and paste information so it helps and doesn't hurt if you're in a private environment.
Comments
All you need is a bit of common sense, Avira or Kaspersky, and malwarebytes. Avira also offers a free version for you cheapies.
Here is a suggestion: instead of overloading your computer with spyware crap that claims to clean your PC: get a virtual pc program such as virtualbox or vmware. If anything seems sketchy, you open it / scan it in there first. If it is a trojan/virus/whatever, it wont get into your home pc files asap. You scan it in there and *then* move it safely to your home pc.
Curious.
You were sure it was a keylogger, and yet you trusted the safety of your personal information to some antivirus software? Had you simply rebuilt your computer after accidentally installing that add-on, you would not have been hacked.
It's not a matter of avoiding viruses and hackers, it's a matter of shutting them out. Even if you have the slightest suspicion of malware, you should take precautions with two very useful tactics. The first tactic is to test it, because an antivirus program will not help you, the second tactic, if you are paranoid or didn't take the precaution of the first, is to rebuild your computer.
Tactic 1: Test
Use a sandboxing / virtual PC program for dealing with suspicious programs. Sandboxie is a good one. When you run a program sandboxed, you isolate it from the rest of your computer. So when you run or install something, you can see where it places files and what it tries to modify (it doesn't matter if the operation was silent or subversive, the results will show up in the sandbox), which is very useful for determining whether or not it is a threat. You can safely run your web browser from within a sandbox as well.
Tactic 2: Rebuild
When you let them in, they're in. So it's best to travel light on your internet-connected computers and keep a standard backup with something like norton ghost - so when (not if) you get a potential trojan or keylogger, you can rebuild your whole computer in less than 30 minutes.
There you go. Live and learn.
I played wow for about 3 months 2 years ago, and i'm getting at least 1-4 emails a week on wow password changes, and account confirmation emails from dodgy wow lookalike sites.
So many scammers out there..
my web design: www.advancedws.com.au
I had quit WoW in early Dec. Had time on my card till Jan. Me and the girlfriend decided to play again a few days ago. Went to log into my account and it had an authenticator attached to it. I knew something was wrong. Called Blizz and after 45 minutes I was able to get my account back and that authenticator off. Changed my password and ordered an authenticator. My toons were still there, but some items were deleted. My guild bank was wiped out. Blizz restored everything even my gold which wasn't a lot. Whomever hacked my account sold it or gave it to someone else blizz said. (changed hands 2x in those months I wasn't playing). My Alchemy was deleted and they put mining on my toon. All kinds of mining crap in my bags.
Anyway, I got it all back and I am taking steps to make sure it never happens again. I was very impressed with how Blizzard handled everything. I can't say enough about their professionalism. I honestly think I got hacked from using Add ons from Cursed. I never go anywhere else. I had downloaded their cursed client and let it download my add ons. I for one won't be using Cursed or probably not using add ons ever again. Played MMOs since UO and WoW since the beginning and never had any issues like this and always took precautions. To be quite honest I would prefer not using add ons anyway. Play the game the way it was supposed to be played. In Blizz's case they had made a lot of headway into adding cool addons into their game themselves (taking others ideas and incorporating it).
Just be careful folks. It can happen to anyone. Never thought it would to me, but it did. Life lesson learned.
It's the best Antispyware out there, I also use Spybot and Adaware (which are both free and work just as good as Spy Sweeper), it will keep your computer clean. But also use AVG, Avast or Trend Mircro AV tools.... those are the best anti virus programs out there. McAffee will kill your computer and Norton makes it run super slow.
Funny thing is I have been with Blizz for a little over 5 yrs, been playing WoW since 6 months after it came out. I have never had any issues with hacking of my account, I don't use Curse for my stuff though either, I use WoWInterface for all my addons! As you have probably been told before, never put an .exe on your computer for 3rd party interaction, most likely a keylogger!
But at least Blizz honors their product and wants you to keep coming back, so they go out of their way to try and make you happy! I will give them that!
Don't count on it.
I have heard numerous stories throughout the years and it almost always invariably comes back to one of the above reasons for the compromise.
99.9% of the time the error occurs at the end user. Whether it's the result of using the same UN/password combo or surfing some unscrupulous sites, or letting someone else know your info, or whatever.
Brute force hacking is simply too inefficient for scammers to use and it's much easier for them to scam you through email or bogus 3rd party sites as demonstrated by the OP and the myriad of posts on various forums.
I have never had a keylogger on my system. Only 1 virus as a result of letting some else use my box, which I no longer do. And only minor spyware which is swept off my box immediately after surfing the web using spybot search and destroy and ad-aware.
But I'm sure it's just a coincidence and I have just been lucky, right?
Like I said it's simple. Don't give out your info anywhere but the official site. Use different PW/UN combos for everything. Don't download 3rd party hacks. Don't open anything with an executable. Don't open bogus emails and give out your info after following a bogus link. It's not hard if you pay a small bit of attention to details.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Every now and then I catch something from browsing fairly legitimate sites. Once was at Delphi forums about ten years back, and recently - oh about ten months ago - it was Yahoo web mail.
The crap can be in the ads and sometimes even legitimate companies aren't careful enough about who and what they allow to run ads on their sites.
So despite all the "it's this, it's that" in this thread it doesn't really matter, people who are careful, don't use add-ons, etc., etc., ad nauseum will get caught and find their virus software, etc., pretty pointless - this is not to say don't use it, it does catch 99% of the crap, but that one percent can hurt.
When the 1% occurs I visit majorgeeks.com, follow their instructions to run the plethora of free, scanned and inspected, and recently updated software bits that help them spot the offender when they inspect the logs.
I do this to make absolutely certain that my comp is clean before running it again. There can be a wait up to two days, but I find it well worth it in the long run.
Cheers!
I recall a specific instance a number of years ago when allakhazam.com had an ad on their site that was spreading a virus.
I was hacked in AIon. The bad site was their main one! Never been hacked before in over ten years of playing games. After weeks of trying to get my in game stuff restored, I got only part of it. Then the company "Aion" robbed me too. I didn't get over 200 plus molars (used for armor) back which would have sold for a million kinah per hundred. Aion said I couldn't have had that much money on my account so they took it too.
The security was the worse of any game I have ever played. Our Legion had over 30% hacked! Gold sellers were everywhere. BOTS omg Aion had so many bots it looked like a stirred ant hill. The bots made questing very hard since everything was being striped. The auction house prices were controled by the bots, too.
We had over 200 members in our legion and now all have left! So going to a trusted site is NOT always safe. The stupid one is someone who thinks they never will get hacked.
Get a Mac
Whopper is better than a Mac.
Mac's aren't prone to not getting viruses if you think that then your just dense!
I remember that, and thottbot also. It's why you don't want to DL Cosmos applications, just do individual DL of the adds and extract them and that dumb Curse Client that people are DLing to cut out the looking... your asking to get hacked doing that one!
Another piece of advice is to use personal firewall software or get a home firewall device for your internet connection and BLOCK EVERYTHING OUTGOING by default. Poke holes for sites/apps that you trust as needed. It won't stop your machine from getting infected in the first place....but it will help stop whatever malware package you might have from dialing home with your information once it gets it.
Also, from time to time, take a look at the processes you have running on Task Manager...and see if there is anything you don't recognize running. You can also do a search for recently modified files, to see if there are any executables or DLL's that have recently been loaded onto your machine when you expect them.
Avoid Add-Ons/Plug-ins or just uneccesary applications in general. The first rule of security is that the more things you have running...the greater the vector of an attack a potential hacker has. Each cute little widget that you add to your desktop is just another potential thing that can get compromised.
Switch your e-mail client to display plain-text only.... and don't let it use Word as your editor for mail messages. Consider disabling Active Scripting on your browsers and enabling it on a site by site basis as neccesary..
I have not bather to read through all replies but if this has been mention I don't think it will hurt some one mention it a gen.
Way accounts get hacked to start with. It's because of the secondery market of selling ingame items and accounts. Just remember that next time you buy "gold". That you're an enabler of the hackers that hack your friends accounts. Because if there was no real money to be earned here 99% of all hacked accounts would never get hacked.
I'm not sure this is such a good idea as many here think. It is true that a primitive keylogger will only monitor, what is being typed and then your copy/paste will give protection. But many keyloggers today also check the paste-buffer, so in that case you will not be protected by using copy/paste.
This is meant as a friendly warning, you are probably not as safe with this method as you think you are.
Jaime had some good advice in her article and I want to thank her for that. I think it is important we get good advice out to people so they can be better protected.
The one rule I go by is paranoia, I always assume I'm never safe and that 'hacking' (aka keylogging/virus/etc) can happen to me anytime. So far 15 years online with only 1 virus, which I got from a friends 'safe' boot disc, haha
MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIAL! is one of the top lot of setting ,some believe it is less because there arent that many tweak dont let the deceiving emptyness fool you this is a full security counter mesure again various security issue
adjustable to accomodate vast scenario
avail in 32 and 64 bit from xp to w7 it cover most system
you ll need a legal os copy to run this
and you ll need to be up to date with microsoft update
aside from thoase i recommend M.S.E
and once it scanned once it scan very fast
and you get all this free!
way better then live onecare and no not because its free its truelly a great software and yet deceptively simple!
If a keylogger reads the copy and paste, then it would read it with you having typed it anyway. Most keyloggers don't read copy and paste information so it helps and doesn't hurt if you're in a private environment.