Referring members to Cybersafety

[black mirror]

Just a question.....
What are the top 5 signs that a member might be infected with something nasty
and needs to go to CS.......;)

I know how busy CS gets and dont want to put extra strain on an already overwhelmed forum and i thought it might help others if we knew exactly..
thank you for your time and any replies
Take care
BM

[renegade600]

theres nothing set in stone - there is nothing exactly. All signs of possible nasties could also be signs of other problems and its sometimes impossible to tell the difference so some logs are posted only to eliminate one possibility.

[black mirror]

theres nothing set in stone - there is nothing exactly. All signs of possible nasties could also be signs of other problems and its sometimes impossible to tell the difference so some logs are posted only to eliminate one possibility.


there must be some signs that set ALARMS off......:D

[renegade600]

I guess the only real sign is when someone says they need help getting rid of soso virus/trojan their antivirus software found and cannot delete.

IMO, if you don't know the signs of possible problem, then should you really need to be trying to help?

maybe this will help (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/viruses/intro_viruses_signs.mspx) or you can search google using signs of viruses as keywords. Theres alot of info out there about this subject.

[black mirror]

IMO, if you don't know the signs of possible problem, then should you really need to be trying to help?

.

thats not a very nice attitude to have renegade600.. i was only asking a question...
That is exactly the kind of response that puts new members off asking questions
;)

[renegade600]

thats not a very nice attitude to have renegade600.. i was only asking a question...
That is exactly the kind of response that puts new members off asking questions
;)

I was not trying to be rude or mean. IMO, it is a very valid point. Sometimes when you answer questions, you have to ask yourself if you really should be answering ones you are not sure of.

If I was being rude or mean, I would not have given you a reference link for more info on what to look for. However, I will not apologize for my answer.

[Rainbow32]

there must be some signs that set ALARMS off......:D
http://hjt.networktechs.com/
http://www.hijackthis.de/
Anything questionable found then the log should be posted in CS.

[Pi rules]

Often members post errors saying like "****.dll was not found" while XP is starting. If you either know or look up the file and it is malicious or not found, then you should probably refer them to Cyber Safety. Usually this means that some malware was removed, but there are still traces and possibly additional malware installed.

[black mirror]

thank you all for your replies,, i really appreciate it

[spunkie1]

black widdow came in the middle of my problem when i and others, including moderators, were totally baffled ...i have to say that the direction that she pointed me in was right on the mark and solved my original problem...thanks for the input and keep it up...you're helping more than anyone knows...:D

[oracle128]

If there's a problem with:
connecting to the internet
setting the browser home page
accessing secure sites/servers (HTTPS, FTPS)
changing the desktop wallpaper
deleting particular files or folders
abnormally long windows boot or file load times
"missing file" messages
advertisement popups when the browser is not open
advertisement popups on known safe websites
irregular search engine results
abnormal HOSTS file entries
(this is by no means a definitive list)

then malware is a probable, but in no way certain cause, and thus should be referred to CS for a checkup.

However, only do so AFTER trying the common solutions and the more specific ones. What we don't need is the "everything's a virus!" mentality spreading around further than it already is (mainly thanks to the media and stupid chain emails), which doesn't help anyone. The possibility of malware should be treated as the exception, rather than the rule. Don't concern yourself too much with having the member check for malware ASAP to avoid further detriment to the machine - by the time the user's noticed the oddity, posted here, and received a response, there's a damn good chance it's already too late, and the malware has already released its payload and done the majority of the damage it's going to do.

I agree with renegade's point to a certain degree. Under some circumstances, there are times when advice from an inexperienced user can do more harm than good - the main reasoning behind the CTH policy of disallowing CS help from unverified/untrained members. Unfortunately there's a fine and ambiguous line between 'knowing just enough to point others in the right direction' and 'knowing just enough to cause more harm than good'. I don't, however, believe this applies to all situations, and there's certainly little harm in referring a problem to another thread/category/member/website (other than potentially wasting other's time, in which case I hope this post helps avoid that).

[dammit]

Nice factual and comprehensive answer oracle. ;)