SOLVED Viruses through Firefox?

[catilley1092]

I've had this desktop with Windows 7 since November. No virus problems until recently. This makes the second time in two weeks that Malwarebytes detained the "Hijack, Display, Pro..." virus. Then today Avast intercepted another one, preventing it from getting on my computer. I didn't have a pen in front of me to write the name of the virus down. There was another poster, Faun, having problems with Firefox. It's been my default browser since IE8 was produced. Other than using IE6 in my VM's temporarily, I've used FF 3.6. The viruses weren't in my VM, they were on my main partition. Could FF be my problem? My virus protection is set to max levels. I scan all of my Windows partitions with Malwarebytes every other day, and fully scan with my AV at least three times weekly. I've not messed with the UAC to lower my protection, nor messed with the firewall security settings. Three times in two weeks is a lot viruses for me. This is getting to be like XP Pro was, dealing with viruses all of the time. For three months, no problems, now it's a regular thing. And no, I don't open spam, or visit porn sites, or click onto popup links. I'm willing to switch browsers, if anyone feels that it will really help. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.:dontknow:

 

[JazMac]

There are stories of some of the FF add-ons being developed as a trojan portal but I can't say this is what's happening with you. Question, did this bug give you nonsense about your Windows firewall being offline?

-JazMac

 

[catilley1092]

There are stories of some of the FF add-ons being developed as a trojan portal but I can't say this is what's happening with you. Question, did this bug give you nonsense about your Windows firewall being offline?

-JazMac

No, there was no mention of my firewall being offline. I brought it up to say that I've not messed with it, or any other Windows security settings.

 

[HaveBlues2]

MalWare Blues

I myself would for giggles disable your Malware software and try scanning your system with a different Malware application. I'm also wondering if you used this same Malware application when you were using Windows XP Pro having the same issues as you are now. I have found that over the years that some programs that may have worked great on one O/S doesn't always work with newer versions.

 

[clifford_cooley]

You can't blame your browser for the Internet being so trashy. I'm willing to bet if your browser was to blame, you would hear allot of articles talking against Firefox security. Until agencies are put into place to clean up the Internet, this behaver will just have to be tolerated.

It is my honest opinion that any website found to be infected should be brought down regardless of what country they are in and stay down until all signs of malware are removed. Now with this in mind who has the power to implement such a plan.

 

[HaveBlues2]

I agree with you 100%, only problem is that if you remove the one bad site, 2 more will pop up in there place.

 

[catilley1092]

I myself would for giggles disable your Malware software and try scanning your system with a different Malware application. I'm also wondering if you used this same Malware application when you were using Windows XP Pro having the same issues as you are now. I have found that over the years that some programs that may have worked great on one O/S doesn't always work with newer versions.

No, I didn't use this malware scanner with XP Pro, I've just recently heard of it through a fellow member here. I'm starting to think what you posted, in fact, I was searching for another scanner. There are so many, it's hard to choose. But the thing is, choosing the wrong one can be a disaster in the making. Some disguises themselves as spyware/malware scanners/removers, when if fact they actually plant bad code on your computer. I was using SuperAntiSpyware until I started using Malwarebytes, it picked up a lot of "tracking cookies", but nothing else.

 

[HaveBlues2]

I myself use the one that come's with Win 7. I haven't had any problems at all since I switched from Vista to Win 7 and I am on this computer darn near all day and all over the I-Net. I guess maybe I should go knock on some wood to be safe!

 

[Nibiru2012]

C_C basically states what is correct about the internet. There are SO many websites with suspect behavior. That is the main reason to have a very concise and thorough internet security suite in my opinion.

I have always surfed the web on the "lunatic fringe" so to speak. I have used and tested many firewalls, AV programs and internet security suites.

What I have found is that the internet security suites do a very good job of filtering malware, trojans, spyware, viruses, etc.

Don't blame the browser - blame the websites. :fight:

 

[draceena]

Would you mind listing any add-ons you have in Firefox? Not trying to cause a panic or anything but I'm curious as I've also heard about the "bad" add ons

 

[Veedaz]

Its a fact there are a lot of bad sites, and i suppose there always will be.

 

[David Chambers]

No, I didn't use this malware scanner with XP Pro, I've just recently heard of it through a fellow member here. I'm starting to think what you posted, in fact, I was searching for another scanner. There are so many, it's hard to choose. But the thing is, choosing the wrong one can be a disaster in the making. Some disguises themselves as spyware/malware scanners/removers, when if fact they actually plant bad code on your computer. I was using SuperAntiSpyware until I started using Malwarebytes, it picked up a lot of "tracking cookies", but nothing else.

Why not try Kaspersky 2010 Internet Security? You can try it for 30 days at no cost. My protection experience has been very good over ten years and with 50+ users. Even the normal annual cost is low, A$39.95 is a small annual cost. Even less on some eBay deals.

It seems that Nibiru2012 also has good experience.

 

[Core]

NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties) as detected by Malwarebytes is a false positive, in case you come across that.

 

[Nibiru2012]

NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties) as detected by Malwarebytes is a false positive, in case you come across that.

I always wondered about that one. Thanks for the heads up.

I had tried Malwarebytes a couple of times and the above was the ONLY thing it ever found. Malwarebytes is way too intrusive for me!

Balloon this, balloon that, question this, question that... blah blah blah. No thanks.

 

[catilley1092]

I always wondered about that one. Thanks for the heads up.

I had tried Malwarebytes a couple of times and the above was the ONLY thing it ever found. Malwarebytes is way too intrusive for me!

Balloon this, balloon that, question this, question that... blah blah blah. No thanks.

Malwarebytes has saved many users from having to reinstall their OS. It's a powerful tool for anyone to have. I'm going to place it on a thumb drive with CCleaner for a portable app that requires no install. Remember Ed that we were helping recently? When he reinstalls, the first thing after booting into Windows would be to click onto Computer, go to the thumb drive, and open and run Malwarebytes. Core even mentioned that bad code hides in the memory, and the memory is the first place that these scanners check. You need the scanner to be intrusive to be able to find any trace of malware. Sure, there may be false positives, but at least you know the program is actually searching for bad code.

 

[Nibiru2012]

I don't need it. ESET Smart Security v4 does exactly the same thing!

It ALWAYS scans the memory on boot up. Besides, any decent system security program will do the same. ESET updates itself several times a day, at least 4-6 at last count.

No Thanks! ESET is one of the top 3 apps out there and I'll stick with it.

 

[catilley1092]

Would you mind listing any add-ons you have in Firefox? Not trying to cause a panic or anything but I'm curious as I've also heard about the "bad" add ons

My addons are Adblock Plus, IE Tab, No Script, Better Privacy and WOT. All of these addons are for security purposes. Too, Adblock Plus helps your web page load faster, it doesn't load the ads. Better Privacy only kicks in when closing the browser, it deletes long term tracking cookies. No Script is one of the best security measures you can get in a browser, it all but eliminates click-jacking attempts. WOT helps you determine the safety of a given web page, it warns you of sites with a bad reputation. And IE Tab is for the sites that requires IE to use (which are few). So, as you can see, I have the bare minimum of addons to Firefox. Core made a vaild point, 2 of the items found (Hijack..whatever), were false positives. The other one, I never had the chance to write it down, as I've configured Avast to abort connection with any page that is potentially infected. I have all levels set to the max, and every last file scanned before I see it. There is a setting pre-checked to skip OS files that are clean, I unchecked that, and another one that only checks certain files upon updating. But it was those two Hijack ones that caught my attention. Everything is fine now. I've scanned my system fully with every tool that I have. Windows 7 is a great OS, the best ever, but you must maintain Windows to keep it running smoothly. It takes a lot of work to do so, but you're rewarded with a system that performs the way it should. Thanks to all for your input to my issue, and I hope the very best for you all.

 

[HaveBlues2]

I myself am not a huge fan of any AV or Firewall Suite application's. For the most part there are a few decent stand alone programs that work quite well. I find that Suite applications are huge resource hogs and I have had problems with them with running business software. Give me the free AVG AV and the stand alone Outpost firewall and I am a happy man. And I like it when application just do one thing well and my resources are left alone. But this is just my opinion. :ciao:

 

[draceena]

Thanks Cat, I have all the add-on mentioned except the IE tab and from the other posts it's looking like some false positives from Malwarbytes which I've seen before.

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks Cat, I have all the add-on mentioned except the IE tab and from the other posts it's looking like some false positives from Malwarbytes which I've seen before.

Yes, it looks like that particular one is a false positive. Perhaps that's why MSE & Avast 5.0 (I have both) didn't alarm me to it. But anytime something alerts me, I jump onto it. I actually did research the one (Hijack, Display, Pro) and the answers were varied. Some said it was a false positive, while others said that immediate action should be taken. So then it comes down to which side to believe, the ones that said false positive outnumbered the ones who said that my system was infected. I trust the advice from long timers on this fourm such as you, and there's others whose opinion I trust. I guess what Malwarebytes is doing is hitting the panic button on the slightest thing, which isn't always bad. They have caught tracking cookies and deleted them. They're not my main AV, but my backup, "just in case" the others miss something. Thanks to all, and consider this thread solved and closed. There's other members that needs issues solved, and that's where I'm headed now.