Virus popup threats

[ricksdisconnected]

No, it removes problems. Yes, you have to reinstall anything you installed in the last 30 days. your data stays the same.

yeah but you gotta re log into everything too like forums, sites, and so on yes??
i ean thats whats happened to me last 2 gos. been a while maybe its not like that any more.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Follow these actions in order:

1. If it's a Windows PC, perform a System Restore to an earlier date.
2. Quit watching porn.
3. Once you've quit watching porn, keep quitting watching porn until you quit.

I have had over a dozen PC's and laptops over the last 2 decades, and except for my first two, none have ever had a virus on them.

McAfee and Norton are ass, and anyone outside a business environment who still pays for A/V is wasting money. AVG used to be decent, IDK about today. Windows 11 doesn't need additional virus protection unless you're in a corporate environment (liability), and in that case no legit company uses non-business class protection.

I also don't recommend using OS default browsers.
I do recommend using Chrome and DuckDuckGo.
I do recommend installing AdBlocker Plus and Ghostery extensions.
I do recommend clearing browser caches frequently to minimize tracking.
I do not recommend saving username, password, addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, or any other personal info in browser caches.
I do not recommend using computers or computing devices; by the time you get your machine locked down enough to be reasonably safe, the operating system and all of your software and apps will have become outdated, and you will nee to start over with all new stuff.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

I do not recommend saving username, password, addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, or any other personal info in browser caches.

why this one?

 

[mark123]

I use SuperAntiSpyware and run it on my Windows machines. It gets a little crazy with wanting to delete browser cookies but there’s a setting that prevents that. I also set it to only run when I want to scan.

Then I have a network-wide ad and porn blocker. I use lists that also block malware and phishing scams. A pi-hole is the easiest solution.

 

[mark123]

I agree with the Vin except for this:

I do recommend using Chrome and DuckDuckGo.

Chrome is a Google tracking app. You can use a chromium based browser though. I suggest Brave.

DuckDuckGo sold out a couple years back so I use Brave search but it does fail me from time to time. Sometimes you have to use DDG or even Google to get relevant results.

Also, you need to be using a password manager in this day and age. I use bitwarden as it’s well-vetted and proven.

 

[paul-e-mann]

yeah but you gotta re log into everything too like forums, sites, and so on yes??
i ean thats whats happened to me last 2 gos. been a while maybe its not like that any more.

Yes, you will have to log back into everything.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Follow these actions in order:

1. If it's a Windows PC, perform a System Restore to an earlier date.
2. Quit watching porn.
3. Once you've quit watching porn, keep quitting watching porn until you quit.

I have had over a dozen PC's and laptops over the last 2 decades, and except for my first two, none have ever had a virus on them.

McAfee and Norton are ass, and anyone outside a business environment who still pays for A/V is wasting money. AVG used to be decent, IDK about today. Windows 11 doesn't need additional virus protection unless you're in a corporate environment (liability), and in that case no legit company uses non-business class protection.

I also don't recommend using OS default browsers.
I do recommend using Chrome and DuckDuckGo.
I do recommend installing AdBlocker Plus and Ghostery extensions.
I do recommend clearing browser caches frequently to minimize tracking.
I do not recommend saving username, password, addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, or any other personal info in browser caches.
I do not recommend using computers or computing devices; by the time you get your machine locked down enough to be reasonably safe, the operating system and all of your software and apps will have become outdated, and you will nee to start over with all new stuff.

Amen...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

I agree with the Vin except for this:

Chrome is a Google tracking app. You can use a chromium based browser though. I suggest Brave.

DuckDuckGo sold out a couple years back so I use Brave search but it does fail me from time to time. Sometimes you have to use DDG or even Google to get relevant results.

Also, you need to be using a password manager in this day and age. I use bitwarden as it’s well-vetted and proven.

Bah, every app is a tracking app. And that includes your OS (if you use M$ and Apple, and probably others). Dissing Chrome, DDG browser, this and that - it's just nit-picking anymore.

You have two real options: minimize the spying regardless of your apps, or stop connecting to the Internet.

I am my own password manager, and I would never trust a 3rd party cloud service to manage my personal credentials (I have over 500 accounts in an encrypted spreadsheet, and I don't even trust that), however, I did have to use bloatware like LastPass and a couple of other pieces of licensed junk for company use.

We could go on about this all day, week, month. I'm a 202+ year tech (or used to be since I retired from technology over a year ago), and if you ask 5 tech's the same question, you'll get 10 different answers.

Good luck to everyone who's trying to be secure and free from techno-abuse, both from both inside and out.

By the way, DuckDuckGo sold out to who? What does "sold out" mean? I know that they started censoring "misinfo / disinfo" by anonymous searches last year, but that is by no means "selling out". They still "claim" not to track your data, which as I understand it, they don't track your IP address. Regardless, I don't care, I use VPN's on all my devicii: PC's, laptops, tablets and phones.

I even have a VPN on my home appliances ( ) - JK.

 

[Metroman]

MLP & SG should be the same as here...

is this on a phone? do you use an ad-blocker? or do you get all the ad's?

Desk Top computer. Yes I use ad blocker. I dont watch porn.

 

[mark123]

… I dont watch porn.

It’s a go to IT joke. We’d say it just to see who squirms. Don’t take it personally.

However, the things I saw back in the day. 😳 I wasn’t IT, I was a lowly programmer that got forced to fix a few things at work. We’d get work computers in with tons of crazy porn. We would erase it from the work computer. When we’d give the computer back we would watch them frantically look around on the computer and ask “is anything missing?” 😂

Kinda trollish but when you get hollered at for delivering what they ask time and time again, you have to make it fun or your get depressed.

 

[Lo-Tek]

No Adblock or spyware on my laptop and no problems with popups or malware. Just lucky???

Quit watching porn? That seems unlikely. ;-)

 

[tallcoolone]

By the way, DuckDuckGo sold out to who? What does "sold out" mean? I know that they started censoring "misinfo / disinfo" by anonymous searches last year, but that is by no means "selling out".

That was 100% selling out. For DDG at the time it was the very definition of selling out.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

All I really want to do regarding computer security is to find a way to tell Windows 10 to stop bothering me about my free upgrade to Windows 11. I don't care if it's ready. I don't care if it's free. I don't want it at all and won't install it. Maybe my mind might change some time in the future, but for now....0.00000 percent intested. So stop bugging me about it.

I can do this by turning off Windows Updates, but then it won't update 10, either.

Windows 7 was perfect. They should have stopped trying to "improve" Windows at that time, and just kept it current with technology by regular updates. No reason at all to change the UI.

 

[paul-e-mann]

@ricksdisconnected so did you do it?

 

[SkyMonkey]

Bitdefender and Malwarebytes here, and no problems.
(famous last words)

 

[Dogs of Doom]

as far as AV, I only use the Windows security, whatever it's called today...

I use Malware Bytes, but, only as a scanner, every so often

I use Opera as a browser, & have Ublock Origin, Adblocker & Popupblocker plus, I use Ghostery & another one called Disconnect, which stops trackers from seeing where you come from & where you go, when you leave a site...

Sometimes, one, or all of them block functions/features on some sites, so, I end up having to pause/disable once in a while, but, so far, they seem to keep me pretty safe.

Using AVG & Malware Bytes as live protection, they block way too many sites & for no good reason.

Oh, & Opera does have some sort of ad/cookie blocker buit in, as most browsers seem to these days.

but, add-ons/extensions can be the source of hack via malicious code...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

That was 100% selling out. For DDG at the time it was the very definition of selling out.

To my knowledge, the only promise DDG has ever made is that they won't track you [by IP], which they still do not.

I think you're referring to is their minsinfo/ disinfo search engine censorship policy, which was introduced about a year ago. If you call that "selling out", I disagree, and here's why: they never guaranteed otherwise, and millions of other websites do the same thing and don't announce it. Moreover, if you're gonna crack on DDG over search engine censorship, you might as well unplug all your connected devices and say goodbye to the Internet. Otherwise, you have many, many other fish to fry while denying yourself the convenience of DDG's 'no tracking' policy.

I'm not making a stance over which browser is the best. I just can't stand anything "Google". I accept Chrome, but I've got everything locked down as tight as can be, short of pulling the plug.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

To my knowledge, the only promise DDG has ever made is that they won't track you [by IP], which they still do not.

I think you're referring to is their minsinfo/ disinfo search engine censorship policy, which was introduced about a year ago. If you call that "selling out", I disagree, and here's why: they never guaranteed otherwise, and millions of other websites do the same thing and don't announce it. Moreover, if you're gonna crack on DDG over search engine censorship, you might as well unplug all your connected devices and say goodbye to the Internet. Otherwise, you have many, many other fish to fry while denying yourself the convenience of DDG's 'no tracking' policy.

I'm not making a stance over which browser is the best. I just can't stand anything "Google". I accept Chrome, but I've got everything locked down as tight as can be, short of pulling the plug.

by them filtering out stuff, makes them merchants of said disinfo / misinfo...

who decides what's true / false?

what happened to free speech?

what happened to free thinking / thought?

they've decided that you are too dumb to decipher for yourself...

censoring things from searches, is psy-op shit, devised by bad actors. Notice how all the disinformation is being found out as truth & that the suppressors were the ones handing out the disinformation narrative all along? It's gaslighting...

When you go to google & do a search for something & nothing remotely similar comes up, they are out to make you think:

* that what you are looking for doesn't exist
*that nobody else is even thinking about looking for that
*nobody in their right mind would search for that
*you are either stupid, or crazy to even consider that

They've been doing it for so long, many people believe what their algorithms tell them...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

by them filtering out stuff, makes them merchants of said disinfo / misinfo...

who decides what's true / false?

what happened to free speech?

what happened to free thinking / thought?

they've decided that you are too dumb to decipher for yourself...

censoring things from searches, is psy-op shit, devised by bad actors. Notice how all the disinformation is being found out as truth & that the suppressors were the ones handing out the disinformation narrative all along? It's gaslighting...

When you go to google & do a search for something & nothing remotely similar comes up, they are out to make you think:

* that what you are looking for doesn't exist
*that nobody else is even thinking about looking for that
*nobody in their right mind would search for that
*you are either stupid, or crazy to even consider that

They've been doing it for so long, many people believe what their algorithms tell them...

Right, but my point is that DDG announced they were doing that, it didn't change their "no tracking" policy as some interpret it, and all the other search engines have always been doing it, they just aren't transparent about it.

Otherwise, I gotta digress. It isn't worth the argument, it's just another search engine. I always recommend DDG, everyone should use whatever they prefer.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

Right, but my point is that DDG announced they were doing that, it didn't change their "no tracking" policy as some interpret it, and all the other search engines have always been doing it, they just aren't transparent about it.

Otherwise, I gotta digress. It isn't worth the argument, it's just another search engine. I always recommend DDG, everyone should use whatever they prefer.

I'm not arguing w/ you.

I'm just pointing out the problem w/ their practice...

I use them a lot, but have noticed that their search has gotten poorer in results. Used to be you could find what you're looking for, w/ a simple search, now, you have to look 100 pages in, if they even get you there.

I used to like the old metacrawler, that used no filters, except what you typed in & it searched through all the other search engines to find you results.

But, that was before all this information suppression nonsense too...

I've tried some of those newer ones, like Brave, etc., it seems that, when I tried them, they didn't have a very good database, maybe they've gotten better, but I haven't been back. I also am not too trusting of these new browsers that make the claim that they are god's gift to you, in all these respects. If they had nefarious intent, would they tell you?

"We're not the bad guys, you can trust us!" ...