Windows 10 You gotta be on alert all the time!

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I just got a popup that said "Your Adobe Flash player needs to be updated".

I almost clicked on OK, (it had the Adobe logo on it) but my policy is to always go to the official site to get updates never from popups.

So I searched and picked a site that looked like the official Adobe site, except it said I have to pay $19.95 to get Flash.

I looked again for "Official Adobe Flash Player Download" and it pointed my at Softronic, I thought well that should be safe at least even if it's not Adobe.

My antivirus blocked it and said it was infected!

Finally I found the real Adobe web page, logged into my Adobe account, and found the real link to download Flash.

When I clicked on it, it said, "Your flash is up to date and Google Chrome updates flash automatically when a new version is available, it is not necessary for you to take any action".

Boy you just can't trust anything anymore, it really pays to be suspicious!

Mike

 

[Neemobeer]

Can you send me the link, I wouldn't analyzing it.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Right after I posted the message above I got a blue screen, the "IRQ Not less then equal" thing and my computer crashed.
This is the first blue screen I've seen in a year!

It sent data to Microsoft and then I had to do a hard restart.
It rebooted with no problems and I'm running Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware right now.

I'm not sure that I can pick the link out of the history, I didn't click on the popup, just closed it, probably should have just shut down Chrome, but I'll look.

Mike

 

[Neemobeer]

Can you post your dump file?

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Here's the History I'm pretty sure that the one on the bottom just above Black Desert is the one that started this.

Link Removed

I'll see if I can find my dump file, I'm not sure how to get to it in Windows 10?

Mike

 

[davehc]

It might have been something from merely going on to the Softonic site. It can, like all, have viruses. But the real problem is that many of the downloads from there are loaded with third party crap - harmless enough but producing popups and irritants Several of the antivirus programs will not accept a download from the site..

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

You are probably right, I did't find anything with Malwarebytes after running SuperAntiSpyware, which found about 350 cookies, that's not normal.

I found the dump file but it's 1.5 gigabytes in size, that seem kind of extreme.
When I tried to open it in Word Pad it just bogged down and stopped.

Well everything seems to be working now, and it's off to bed for me.

I'll check in tomorrow.

Mike

 

[helpifIcan]

Yep popups and email links should always be considered bad, especially when the seem to want to help.

 

[holdum333]

Yuppers!
Remove fake update Flash Player or Java pop-up virus

 

[Axel PC]

I'm always fixing my Grandmother, Parents, and In-Laws computer as a result of clicking phising pop ups like that. But honestly I don't know a single person that hasn't become the victim of a clever and well done fake link. I've clicked on many because I was too lazy to check or like the most clever pop up when your doing some action that would legitimately lead to a valid update pop or browser window.

And I think situations like this totally validate and legitimize having ad blockers on your browser.

MikeHawthorne, glad you came out alright in this. It's so frustrating having to clean out PUPs and the like.

Sent from my Note 4 using Windows Forum mobile app

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi Mike;

This one is certainly old news! Porn sites have been doing this for at least 5 years I can think of, and in the Cesspool part of the Internet such as Utorrent, and Pirate Bay, various P2P media download sites this is more and more prevalent. Of course, one has to be careful letting Clients know that they have been "pornalized" let's say when they claim that they never go to porn sites-ever!! Well, these days since so many systems have cross-contaminated even normally safe sites out there, as davehc mentions, it's getting harder and harder to point the finger at the Client actually visiting porn sites which is the source of many of these fake "flash player" update pop-ups. This has caused some divorces, break-ups, and near break-ups after passing along this little Gem of information! It turns out, there are also fake update pop-ups (PUP's in most antispyware apps such as MBAM and Housecall) for most of the common Adobe free downloads including Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Air, and even Shockwave.

The fact that you've never run into this one means that you don't take side-trips into the Cesspool portion of the Internet! Well done. Wish I could keep my Customers from doing that.

Thanks for posting regardless; as people who don't hang out in the Cesspool may not have ever seen it.

<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[holdum333]

Hi! Adobe flash will notify you about a update in your tray. I tell all my seniors only update Adobe and Java if you are notified in the tray.
They are learning and I'm seeing less infections. Safe surfing is the best bet against malware!
Don't click it unless you want a ticket! Wear your seat belt!!

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Well everything seems to be back to normal.

I don't get these very often but it could be partly because I turned off Add Blocker a couple of days ago, because my Comcast home page won't play videos if Ad Blocker is turned on.

I turned it back on, and I'm using the MSN home page now, the Comcast one had been redesigned and is kind of hard to use anyway.

I was careless in one way though I usually don't shut the popups down by clicking the X in the corner, I usually close the browser and then reopen it to get the popup to go away if I don't think it's real.

This time I thought it was real, but opted to go to Adobe to be on the safe side, now I know that it's a fake if it every pops up again.

Another bad place to browse is Music download sites, I used to download free MP3 files all the time, and I was always picking up PUPs and Adware.

Now I only do that if I want a specific piece of music for a video or something, otherwise I pay and use iTunes.

Mike

PS. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but a friend of mine is a superintendent for a school system.

Some one there opened a popup that infected them with a data ransom virus.
They had no backup image, and had to pay several thousand dollars to get there servers unlocked.

These guys said they were from Microsoft and that there computer had a problem, that they could fix for them.

But it soon became obvious that they were totally bogus, and that they could shut their system down with a click.

The people they got to fix their system said that the attack came out of Russia.

They now have a backup of their whole system!!!

I've had several friends who have been hit by this too on their home computers but they just said no, and I fixed their computer afterwards.

 

[William B]

For myself it's really not any different than it was before, and that is to use a good antivirus, use a non admin account for surfing, Use a good spyware application or two. Update and scan with them in a regular basis, and surf safe. Also, I never use browser plugins of any kind I believe they can be a potential vector for getting hooked. Browser depending of course.