PSA: Be careful on the internets - viruses, etc..

[Flambeur]

Was surfing the net on the older computer of mine which I thought was pretty well protected (anti-virus, firewall, etc)

All of a sudden got hit with multiple warnings from adobe acrobat reader about corrupted files even though I wasn't downloading any PDFs at the time- turns out the computer had an old version of it which is easily exploited and i surfed onto a hacked site. The only thing that really saved me was a freebie zonealarm firewall which blocked the hacked/corrupt PDF from causing havoc on my system, although I am sure the anti-virus would have stopped it at the next stage.. perhaps. Now after a couple system scans and tests later, I think I'm ok. But it was scary for a second.

Anyway, so don't forget to be careful out there, guys. Use anti-virus/spyware and firewalls, make sure everything is updated, be smart about passwords, set access rules, and don't install/download anything you can't recognize. And of course be smart when surfing the gray zones of the internet.

 

[mafoofan Jr.]

I heard the same thing although I'm quite weary of Good Samaritan notices like this one as well. Absolutely trust no one.

Originally Posted by Flambeur

Was surfing the net on the older computer of mine which I thought was pretty well protected (anti-virus, firewall, etc)

All of a sudden got hit with multiple warnings from adobe acrobat reader about corrupted files even though I wasn't downloading any PDFs at the time- turns out the computer had an old version of it which is easily exploited and i surfed onto a hacked site. The only thing that really saved me was a freebie zonealarm firewall which blocked the hacked/corrupt PDF from causing havoc on my system, although I am sure the anti-virus would have stopped it at the next stage.. perhaps. Now after a couple system scans and tests later, I think I'm ok. But it was scary for a second.

Anyway, so don't forget to be careful out there, guys. Use anti-virus/spyware and firewalls, make sure everything is updated, be smart about passwords, set access rules, and don't install/download anything you can't recognize. And of course be smart when surfing the gray zones of the internet.