Ok my computer has yet another virus. I'm starting to realize that it is probably coming from online games. If I can't trust the people I'm playing with then I'm done with this s**t.Maybe its some 13 year old genius hacker who has no life other than his computer but maybe its not.

Yeah, I found it was really bad in CS, with little turds screwing my system over everytime. Not even a firewall really helps since they are exploiting vulerabilities in the game's connection itself.What can I say other then get Ghost, ghost your main drive, and everytime you get an infection, simply reghost. I do it almost every 2-3 months.

To get a virus, you must receive it through email, or you downloaded something from another sorce. Gaming does not cause viruses. I use Norton Anti-virus and I never get viruses. Be careful what you doenload. Make sure it is from a good source.

-Gator]To get a virus, you must receive it through email, or you downloaded something from another sorce. Gaming does not cause viruses. I use Norton Anti-virus and I never get viruses. Be careful what you doenload. Make sure it is from a good source.

N'a, It's possible to get virsus's from HL. You can hook up a virus with a spray, and whenever you spray your spray into the game, every client downloads your spray and it infects everyone. Pretty crappy, eh?

N'a, It's possible to get virsus's from HL. You can hook up a virus with a spray, and whenever you spray your spray into the game, every client downloads your spray and it infects everyone. Pretty crappy, eh?

ingenious.

Yup, it is. I belive it was either myg0t or net-tez that started doing this on a massive level, but net-tez has quit gaming or being online in general. Havn't talked to any of them in awhile :/

Jerkov I feel your pain! It happens to me too, but I just delete the viruses.

cl_allowdownload 0 - put this and i'm fairly sure you can't get any virsus's in HL, at least.

My virus scanner says there are no viruses but my computer has been doing wierd things in the past couple of days. Like everytime I double-clicked on something the computer opened up the virus scanner's shortcut properties.

Sounds like a problem with the Antivirus and your computer not a virus itself.I do not, will not, never will, run antivirus.Proper procedures, proper backups and being careful will keep viri out of your computer.Never had a virus either.

When someone does download, is there a way that the virus scanner can check the download before you do it?

No i pretty sure it can't

If you download into a folder and do not open the download. Scan the folder and see if it is infected.Also they can be zipped. Unzip then rescan.

I have a question about the disk defragmentor. How long does it usually take to defragment the C drive?

The new version on Nortons will scan all files you download. Now if you are in a game it can slow things down some. I will be really honest with you...I dont think you are getting a virus from gaming. The new age viruses can infect you EVEN if you just go to a webpage or just being connected to the internet. Having a router will stop all of those types that I know of as long as you have your router setup correct. So if you are connected directly to a cable/DSL modem then you most likely are infected. There are some patches to prevent some of those type of infections, but again the best bet is to keep them on the outside. BTW the majority of viruses are spread by Email and P2P programs (hacked software).

 

 

There are several good AV out there some free.

 

I like Nortons 2004 or AVG 7.0 for AV protection.

http://symantec.com http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

For routers I highly suggest the linksys routers.

 

No matter what virus software you have..YOU MUST keep it updated or else it is just taking up RAM. If you have scanned with a good virus protection and it shows clean try another. If the second doesnt find one you most likely do not have a virus. While I dont know the details it sounds of your problem it sounds more like "bit rott" which happens to almost every windows based system...after so long you should just reformat and install windows again. I do mine about every 3-6 months.

 

If you need any help please let me know and if I can help with any security related questions let me know.

Don't get nortons 2004 anti-virus support; It ruins 1/2 the hard-drives it has because of "anti-pirating" steps. Get 2003 and update it from there - YOu get the same updates as 2004.

1/2 HD? Maybe if your HD is only 600MB...This is a joke right? Yes they have "anti-pirating" but just as windows Xp has. It doenst takeup more space and only activates one time. So if you have a legit copy it doenst matter, if you dont have a legit copy and cant get around it then..well you should go out and buy a copy.As for just scanning your emails and that type of stuff yes 2003 is fine, but he said something about scanning downloads or someone did in which case 2004 is the only one I know that does that.

-StateCop]1/2 HD? Maybe if your HD is only 600MB...This is a joke right? Yes they have "anti-pirating" but just as windows Xp has. It doenst takeup more space and only activates one time. So if you have a legit copy it doenst matter, if you dont have a legit copy and cant get around it then..well you should go out and buy a copy.

 

As for just scanning your emails and that type of stuff yes 2003 is fine, but he said something about scanning downloads or someone did in which case 2004 is the only one I know that does that.

I do have a legitamte copy, and it ruined my 150 gig HD. This happens all over the place because of their anti-pirating software. Whether it's legitamate or not, you're screwed over. This, is why, i won't support the 2004's anymore. I didn't mean it took up 1/2 your HD space. It locks up the HD and you can't use it anymore. No fixes. You get nothing from nortons; they say they're not responsible.

I have 2003 Norton Antivirus and I've used the Stop-Sign free virus scanner a few times. They both said that I have no viruses anymore.

geting viruses through gaming is one of the dumbest ideas ive ever heard, lol. sorry but at this point i ntime it is not possible....... u can from advertisements but u gotta click to open it.... have you checked to see whats on your comp before u had any antivrus or firewall stuff up?

>FINNER]geting viruses through gaming is one of the dumbest ideas ive ever heard, lol. sorry but at this point i ntime it is not possible...

No, if someone attaches the virus to the spraying tag, and they spray it in HL; it'll upload it to the server, and the clients will download the virus'd spray from the server. Either way, you're allowing it to be downloaded because you have the cl_allowdownload to 1; instead of 0. It's very possible and very real.

It is possible to spread viruses through gaming. But I'd have no idea what those ways would be.

My guess for the frequent virii on your comp would be that you fileshare, which is a major way to get them. Either that or you open email attachments blithely, or you visit seamy websites. Another way is to get worms from them exploiting your unpatched system or an exploit in your software, or you have a filesharing enabled with write ablilities. State cop is right about getting an av, and if you're cheap get avg which is free. Also get a firewall, that way you can monitor any programs you currently have installed, I'd suggest zone alarm or sygate personal firewall both of which are free. If you want to do an online scan go to : http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan. Another thing to consider is not logging in as root if you don't need to, cause if you get a virus as root it has root level access too. Most likely your problem comes from something you are doing (I'm guessing cause you didn't say what exactly you got). I've run systems with out av without getting them, and that's cause I dont go to where they are. Of course if you don't wanna ever risk infection I suggest you get a comp in a locked room with no modem or ethernet card or cd-rom drive, or usb, or floppy or zip drives and high level encrpytion for access. Also I've never heard of getting a virus in HL by playing online, of course that is not my expertise and I'm sure it's possible. It just seems unlikley, for a start they'd need your ip to connect to your machine (except for the exploit das pointed out). It would seem very unlikely to be the cause, but again you didn't state what the problem was exactly.

Norton 2004 has this wierd thing where a windo will popup from the task bar saying "such and such file is awaiting a AV scan", than you hit ok or ignore. Its really stupid, it doesnt do anything but prolong long file DL's.

I use Norton Personal Firewall and the included Norton Anti Virus for years now. I download a lot, i go to many different pages, i use p2p networks. Until now, there was never a problem with a virus. Its important that you read carefully all messages when you surf through the web. The most problems i had was deinstalling some norton products. Its hard to clean the system from any files that were installed by norton software. If you have or think you have a virus, absolutely the best way is to make a complete new installation, even after the virus was detected and killed by your anti virus software. I think everyone must have a firewall and a anti virus program. Its absolutely important. The best way to protect your system is a linux firewall. Its a little bit complicated in the beginning but when its done, its almost perfect... Hasta la vista