I'm working on it...

NEWS FROM MALWAREBYTES DOT ORG

I have the full paid version of this program, and I highly recommend it!

We are observing a particular large malvertising campaign in progress from popular adult site x - hamster[dot]com, a site that boasts half a billion visits a month.

In the past two days we have noted a 1500% increase in infections starting from x - Hamster.

Contrary to the majority of drive-by download attacks which use an exploit kit, this one is very simple and yet effective by embedding landing page and exploit within a rogue ad network.

In short, I can't post their link, but the exploit is coming in through Flash Player. So if you use that site, beware!

Read it before it's gone. It's one of those b*tch to copy pages for me.

Oops. Thanks, my flash was in the affected version range.

I was on MEDIA-ITE earlier today and there was a popup that came on three times that said my "download" was ready and had no option to refuse. I download nothing I don't know or didn't ask for in advance. So I kept closing the browsers and preventing the download and finally just left Media-ite for the afternoon. I think it was related to the advertisements on the site and the site managers caught it and stopped it. It wasn't on the site after dinner. It must be malware season.

added:

I trust links on this site. I also trust Paolo when he says a site is bad news.

Plus, I have my three or four "naked" sites that are very well protected and that's all I go to.

Even had my YOUTUBE preferences trained to go to the popular and classical music I like.

SO please listen to Paolo when he tells you not to go to a site or link there because it has malware.

Thank you, Dave.

Malwarebytes has a free version, but you have to update and run it manually. No real-time protection. Still worth it, though. It's saved my butt more than once.

This is why adblock and noscript are mandatory.

Malvertisements are way too easy.

Exactly, Z.

I've had those for so long, I looked at YouTube with IE on a new Windows 8 computer, and I was amazed how different it was.

One small further point:

No matter what you run (I just use MSE and Adblock), if you use windows (up to 7, I don't have 8), you should ALWAYS have Task Manager open.

I've got it always running ready to maximize, and I use it to close those tricky, bastarding pop-up windows that get through asking you to click "yes" or whatever. Never, ever click the "x" in the top right of the window; those X's are often fake and just part of the link.

By having task manager open, you can always safely close your browser.

(Note, don't wait to fire it up when you need it; some of the nastier infections a computer can get will deny you the ability to open the program. Just always have it open and ready to use).

A good paid for Antivirus works well too.

River

This stuff is scary and reminds me how very little I know about computers.

Question: I'm using Win 7 pro. (Like I'm a pro, right) Comcast is my ISP. Norton is part of their package and seems to work well. I occasionally get a message that Norton has blocked something. But lately my computer will occasionally freeze. It did it yesterday while wishing a friend a happy birthday on his facebook page. The only way to free it up that I know of is to hold down the on/off kill switch and restart the computer. I have no idea if it's a computer problem or a possible malware problem. If I download any of these defensive programs mentioned in this thread will Norton and the new program see each other as a threat and fight each other? Comcast's Norton is the only protection I'm using.

nvrgag, a few quick points.

- Not all paid-for anti-virus programs are good. Norton is an unbearable hog of resources and has other problems I won't go into. However, it can also be an utter bitch to remove, and you should NOT stick another paid-for av/malware protection program while you still have Norton.

- Your slowdown/freezups could be anything. You probably need a good ol' re-install of windows by now. Too many possibilities to list with no more info.

Maybe, try turning your Norton as "off' as possible and run malwarebites free version (or something else somebody here may recommend) to clean up any trouble.

But really, wiping a hard drive and reinstalling windows is not a big project. Simply copy all your porn (sorry, files!) onto memory sticks (after you scan them first of course) and re-install windows with your discs or let a shop do it.

The ol' girl will act like a new filly for sure