Malwarebytes update deletes legitimate system files

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    It can be but also there can always be an exeptions. I've seen few rigs connected to internet and used for about a year, two, some of them even more without any kind of anti-virus or anti-spyware/malware software: just simple Windows XP Firewall. Owners of those rigs brought them to us to do some hardware upgrade and I was shocked by the fact thet they are not using anything to protect their valuable things on that rigs: business documents, personal photos and videos...
    We did a though scan of those rigs with:
    Combofix
    Hijackthis
    Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10
    latest Kaspersky Anti-Virus or Kaspersky Internet Security
    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
    SuperAntiSpyware

    ...and found: nothing! OS was working perfect for years withous any protection (except Windows XP Firewall)! For internet browsing most of them were using just stupid Internet Explorer 8.0, Outlook Express for e-mail... I've seen that with my own eyes, I know it's hard to believe but it was real.
    On our question: "...people, what kind of internet sites are you visiting daily, are you downloading something from internet...etc?" ...most of them answered with: "...we are visiting few sites with news, watch some Youtube's..." ...and most of them were older than 40, 50...maybe that fact explains everything.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2013
  2. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    No idea if Kaspersky is any good or not, I'm giving it a shot as I got a free license

    You said MB was crap, its not
    You said Kaspersky would automatically uninstall it, it doesn't

    I'm running KAV2013 & MB together absolutely fine

    NOD32 is my favourite AV, but decided to give some others a trial atm
     
  3. AbjectBlitz

    AbjectBlitz Ancient Guru

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    Rubbish, I have not used one full time for atleast 5 years or more. My brain is the best anti virus.

    I have done the odd 1 scan a year and remove AV again, every time NO virus.

    The way I see it AV is best suited for computer illiterate users, the careless and downright idiots. Obviously if one has sensitive data on their PC then you also need it as a precaution. My gaming rig? hell no.
     
  4. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    In most cases if you are installing KAV/KIS/PURE after some other previously installed anti-malware software like MBAM or SAS (even if you arent using their real-time protection) then most likely KAV/KIS/PURE will ask you to first remove that anti-malware software just in case it will collide with their real-time protection sometimes in the future. This is so logic, two programs trying to do a same protecting job in the same time interfering eachother in their job will likely cause troubles to OS and installed programs, like two woman trying to be No.1 in one house with one man, almost impossible... ;)

    But this "trick" is a simple solution: first install KAV/KIS/PURE and after that install MalwareByte Anti-Malware, SuperAntiSpyware or other anti-malware software but don't turn on their real-time protection, use them just for simple scaning every few days, weeks or so. This "install rule" can be applyed to almost any kind of anti-virus software with active real-time protection + anti-spyware/malware program without active real-time protection. I'm using that "rule" for years: latest KAV or KIS real-time + MBAM Free & SAS Free
     

  5. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    lol man, with that statement you just cured my cancer... LMFAO

    I agree common sense is a half of the solution for protecting your rig but in years behind me I've seen so many people saying this (and later they had eaten their word after OS colapsed because of the damage produced by all sorts od malware) that I just can't believe out there still exist people thinking like that.
    I know on some old and slow 10 years old single-CPU rigs with 512MB of RAM anti-virus software with active real-time protection can be an resource hog but today most of us even on smart mobile phones have an dual-core CPU, not to mention fast desktop CPU-s with 4, 6 or 8 cores... on those fast rigs (with fast SSD's especially) you can hardly notice real-time protection of AV software is working in a background.
    On almost every decent AV software you can always find a so called: Game Mode ...and with it AV software will not bother CPU of your gaming rig with uneccesary jobs offering you a maximum performanse with exelent protection.
     
  6. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    Common sense helps to a point, but if all you guys who think they don't need an AV came to visit G3D one day, and Oops an hour earlier it was hijacked and infected with malware that infects each visitor to that site, you don't know you are infected, you decide to do some buying online, or log into your email, or check your bank.....
     
  7. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    You're thrusting people that you don't know more than you should and it's obvious that you have too much free time for waste. One day you will have wife (maybe you have one now, I don't know), kids, full time job and not much free time to waste it on constant OS reinstallations.

    My simple rule for years: build rig, install OS and all other neededd stuff, secure it with AV an AS software, clean and maintain it from time to time.... until new OS arrives and then all over again onthe same rig if it is capable enough fot that new OS. I have not much time to waste on unneeded OS installations every few months. Over 20 rigs at home and at my company, this "rule" is working perfect in my case. Try to that "rule" of yours in my case, no way bro...
     
  8. Doug

    Doug Guest

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    Doesn't exactly take long to reinstall windows (20-30mins?) and you are afk for most of it... Then it takes me another 10-15 minutes of installing the programs which I backup the .exe's for and drivers etc and done. What can I say I like a fresh start, blame it on OCD **** :) I get really restless and annoyed when my install is getting old and there's random files and old program install remnants and stuff.

    Just ran MWB scan and it found 2 keygens, which I knew about, on a full scan and nothing else, which isn't a surprise. First time this install has been scanned.

    I rather spend the little time dealing with a problem when it arises with this topic than live with an AV full-time. I've probably spent more time in this thread than I've spent dealing with viruses on my PC
     
  9. Veeshush

    Veeshush Maha Guru

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    On the other hand too, AVs shouldn't give anyone a false sense of security either. They're great to have, sure, but they don't always pick up stuff and especially new stuff. That's why, for instance, Malwarebytes and many other AVs rely on "malware hunter" volunteers, or rely on people submitting in the wild viruses.

    For every single virus definition, there's the first batch of people who took that hit and got their systems infected.
     
  10. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    A firewall is useless for stopping a PC from becoming infected with Malware.
    Once a PC is infected, it's infected - stopping extra crap from being installed isn't really helpful - if you feel the need to install a firewall on a home PC then maybe you should think about changing your surfing habits.


    And I'm well aware of all traffic on my PC thanks;

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2013

  11. WildStyle

    WildStyle Guest

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    Right so it flags necessary system files as malware but that doesn't mean you have to remove them. Review what it finds and deselect them. Or does this problem only apply to the paid version that runs in realtime?
     
  12. Veeshush

    Veeshush Maha Guru

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    It would alert you from say a trojan trying to call home and download something if you had the annoying alerts up for everything. For someone trying to connect to your machine from the web though, I believe those are/can be blocked from the router. Everyone gets the odd Chinese/Russian/botnet origin IP pinging their router from time to time.

    Less I'm wrong and stupid.
     
  13. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    It's clear as a day that here are two sorts of users thinking something like this:

    No.1 I want to feel safe, I'm using AV/AS software, free or payed commercial one and I want to prevent damage and needless loss of time in case I stumble on some sort of malware

    No.2 I feel safe without any AV/AS protection and I will deal with problems caused by some malware when it happens if it happens

    Users No.1 are spending time and possibly money (my case) for AV software licences at the begining, but when you look further as time passes later they are saving their time, money and their nerves preventing disaster to happens.
    Users under No.2 probably have more free time to spend it on dealing with problem when it happens, they risk more and in most cases they loose much more when disaster strikes.

    Both approaches can function OK until one moment when everything can go to hell. That "disaster-moment" happened for some Malwarebyte's users few days ago, but "disaster-moment" strikes much offten people under group No.2, I have no doubt about that because as I said before I make for a living on those people under group No.2

    It's pointless to argue further about that, both groups are defending their oppinions. As long as all of us are happy with methods we are using until then there is no need to change strategy...
     
  14. airbud7

    airbud7 Guest

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    Me neither.....:)
     
  15. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    "Once a PC is infected, it's infected" ...is this is some kind of joke, even my 6 y.o. kid knows that, lol
    It's obvious that you are talking/thinking about simple crappy Windows Firewall: use some serious commercial Firewall programs for advanced users or some advance Firewalls integrated into some AV's and you'll se what I'm talking about. Don't blame simple Windows Firewall because it is so basic and not capable to deal with some serious threats.

    "And I'm well aware of all traffic on my PC thanks"
    You think that Windows will give you a full list of background network traffic connections, lol man, how old are you?
    Use some advanced Firewall software and you'll see how wrong you are, for example just install PeerBlock and set it right, open few tabs in your browser and surf some on few sites like Yahoo, Youtube... and you'll se how many hidden traffic communication without your knowledge/approval are happening between your OS and programs you are using and remote servers somewhere on the internet. After 10, 15 minutes of surfing post here some screenshots of your PeerBlock setup and hidden/unwanted communications PeerBlock just blocked so we can laugh here...

    "if you feel the need to install a firewall on a home PC then maybe you should think about changing your surfing habits"
    No coment about that, do as you think it's the best for you, maybe a list of unneeded/unwanted communications blocked by PeerBlock will make you change your oppinion...but probably you'll stick with your current oppinions/habits thinking that we are using 100% safe internet connections, totaly private and not corporate monitored... oh boy...

    I'm not paranoic, I'm telling you things how they are and not trying to make stories like: "...we are living in a safe world, everything is the same like 100 years ago, whole world is a happy place to be for everyone of us..." and other crap... Things are not the same like they were 15 years ago when internet was on it's beginings for public usage, adapt your habbits to be safe on internet, don't be so "smart" to not use some protection like 20, 25 years ago when viruses were common like AIDS 50 years ago. Use common sense people, don't be so stubborn, sooner or later you'll hit a wall with your head...

    P.S.
    Bet you don't use condoms when you are visiting local parties... ;)

    P.S. #2
    Man it's just TCP/IP & UDP communication list Windows is showing to you, it's just a small part of communication traffic that's going on in a background while you're using internet...
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2013

  16. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

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    I agree with Crazy.

    Having actually spent time trying to fix computers that have received viruses, and trying to save the original user's files, I can safely say that a small investment of $20-$50 for a top rate Firewall and scanner is nothing compared to the damage that can be incurred by a virus that slips through.
     
  17. Doug

    Doug Guest

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    I used to use AVG religiously until I became a latency whore in CS 1.6 and did everything to try keep it <20ms, so AV had to go, windows firewall is very annoying with its popups and is the first thing to be disabled after install along with UAC

    Out of curiosity what kind of disasters are you talking about? I have never experienced one nor do I know of anyone who has, but it seems to be a huge threat to you. Fraud, account hacks etc?

    The people you earn your living off obviously can't get rid of infections themselves probably because they're too casual PC users, and do stupid things to get them in the first place. Things like when you try to download something and instead it first downloads 'download-manager-3000.exe' and they think that's normal and merrily click next next next, yes install toolbars, finish, then boom adware/malware.

    My dad is 60 and is constantly having his laptop infested with crap, always complaining on the phone about a different problem, and he was once pretty computer literate around win95-98 times, but I know for a fact he can't tell which flashy download banner is the legit one on a page and is always being duped so it must happen all the time for the average laptop surfer. Oooh, FREE SMILEYS..!
     
  18. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

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    It gets even worse when the computer was being used by young children.

    You wouldn't believe the amount of companies that make child friendly games with the "click to install" crap that literally brings a super computer to its knees. A simple AV and firewall would have stopped 99% of that crap.
     
  19. Doug

    Doug Guest

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    Hopefully this will help quell that a bit, not getting hopes up, not sure if that's purely for IAP's

    btw I have no problem with other people using AV and recommend it to normal people! I just rather go commando, lol
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2013
  20. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    Disaster like loss of huge amount of personal data: pictures, personal video recordings, company documents... More than dozen times I've seen a HDD's with thousands of destroyed JPG pictures and MPEG video files attacked by viruses who were targeting all kinds of compressed files on HDD, among them all sorts of compressed still image formats and compressed video formats. Someones entire life memories in digital format, pictures and videos of kids, weddings, birthday parties..etc were destroyed in ma matter of minutes or hours by those nasty viruses. People were literaly pulling ther hair out because of thet loss, crying like a kids because of that but it was too late, damage was done and there was no programs like GetDataBack, Recuva or similar that could recover/repaired those damaged pictures, videos... I was sorry for those poople but that was all I was able to do in those situations, I bet most of them were prepared to pay me hundreds/thousands of Euros just to save all those thousands of pictures and videos but damage caused on those messed up pics and videos were irreversible... That kind of damage I'm talking about, in most cases all that was possible to prevent just with use of some simple freeware AV software, but most of those those people were "smart": "...I don't need AV software, virusa attacksd are happening to some other people, I'm not like others..."



    Yes, you're right, most of them are casual PC users, knowing only the basic stuff about computers and their OS's and programs they use. For them some nice freeware or commercial AV software is perfect solution, install it or eventually pay a year licence of some commercial one, let someone who knows how set it right and they can continue with their normal lives.
    But more than I should I was witness of data loss on HDD's of people who were using computers for 10 years and more and who were considering themselfs some kind of computer geeks: too many of them were not using propper AV/AS protection or they were not configured correctly, installing all kinds of warez software and crapware and at the and they ended with all kinds of malware on their HDD's with complete unusable OS's. I never had a problem to take money from those people because they know what they are dealing with and expect to be safe without propper protection. Sooner or later all of them will feel how bad can felt someone who just lose huge amount of personal data from HDD's. And that is not the worst thing: many of them were so stupid that they visit us few times a year with this so so stupid thinking: "...do not install me an AV, just clean my HDD's from viruses and other malware and let me pay what it cost you to do that..." ...and few months later they come back (!?) with same words, how stupid someone cam be to do that few times a year!?
    Believe me, you can't imagine how stupid and careless people can be...
     

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