Spam/Malware/Trojans on GameCopyWorld

[ArchangelX]

noparts,

Your summary is basically what I experienced. I'm posting this using FireFox because if I were to use IE to come here, I'd be right back at the start of all of the crap, and would have to spend the next day cleaning malware and trojans out.

I've gotta say, someone here needs to wake up and start looking through the ads, or the core of the forums, and the site. I tested this...after I figured out how to clean my system thoroughly (more than ever before, this was the most serious encounter I've ever had), I came back to this site specifically to post this warning and to see if it really was GCW. Guess what? Slammed again, completly, only this time I had AVG running and was able to catch some of it. And it wasn't just from GCW...it's from FileForums as well. Some got through again, since I was using IE, so I went back through the cleaning process again and got rid of everything.

I know how difficult it is to run a forum, and I have no idea how hard it must be to run a place like GCW. I've got nothing but respect for the hard work that's been put into it for the past couple years...but you guys HAVE TO FIX THIS. There's no way in hell I'll risk coming back here again because it's simply too much work to clean everything up again. And I'm a power user. What happens if someone that has absolutely no clue comes here? And I'm sure they do. They're doing it right now, and their computers are getting totally screwed because of it.

I'm really surprised there haven't been any additional posts about this. I guess I'm just glad noparts posted, too.

Anyways, for those of you that have been infected, I was so frustrated by this experience, I put together a guide that explains what tools I used to get rid of the infections I got from this site specifically. You can check it out here if you've got problems, which I'm sure a few of you do. And even if you don't, I'd still check your system out, because I bet you do!

Repairing WinXP/Vista - Guides, tools, & links to help get you back on your feet!

Please, whoever is in charge, take a look at what's going on. If it's the ads...then get rid of them and use a better ad provider that doesn't allow viruses. Or look in your core files for the forum. Much respect. Thanks.

[Joe Forster/STA]

Please, be patient. Empire, the admin, cannot visit this forum every day. But he'll reply to it as soon as possible and disable the advertisements in question. (No, neither GCW nor FileForums carries malware, only the ads may.)

[Grumpy]

Sorry to hear both of you have experienced so much trouble with the ads etc.
I too still use IE and I have NEVER experienced any problems like the ones you two have explained.
The ads are location dependent so I am obviously not seeing the same ads you guys are.
I use Bitdefender and I also use a seperate popup program called PopUpCop.

I can appreciate your frustration, it is annoying to get this type of crap from any site let alone GCW and Fileforums.

I can however suggest an easy fix for your problems.

Google 'Malwarebytes Anti-Malware' and download the Free version. From experience of helping members of my gaming clan it is an awesome program for ridding your system of any malicious content.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will fix your current problems. It wont stop you from getting the crap again but it will solve you current problem!

Btw, the Windows Firewall is crap.

Good luck

[Joe Forster/STA]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will fix your current problems. It wont stop you from getting the crap again but it will solve you current problem!

So will any firewall/virus scanner that also has an Internet filter module, e.g. NOD32.

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Btw, the Windows Firewall is crap.

So is Micro$oft Internet Explorer. Use Firefox (or Opera) instead. (Both are free.)

[Grumpy]

So is Micro$oft Internet Explorer.

I do also use Firefox but I have no issues with IE 6.5.
IE7 is crap.

99.9% of the time I still use IE. Works a treat when setup correctly.

[EMPiRE]

Again... It is possible to get "infected" as we use third party advertisers over which we do not have any control. So if a third party is spamming or sending crap then it is possible it is shown @ GCW, even when we are totally against this crap. Usually the advertising company showing the 3rd party advertiser will remove the crap asap but sometimes it is quite hard to see who is doing this as most ads are geo-targeted to a specific country or region, this means most users (including us) will never see this crap!

Most of the free sites in existence are using 3rd party ads and they have exactly the same problem...

If there was other/better alternative advertising then we would use it but this simply does not exist anymore... The hosting bills have to be paid and this ain't cheap running 10-12 servers worldwide!

So just be prepared that it can happen and make sure you are protected (but this is nothing new... if you are well protected nothing can "screw-up" your system, unless you are stupid to trust the contents of "popups", you have to be suspicious if something happens that never happened before!)

We are getting at least 20-30 emails per day from people who genually think a certain file is infected but in all cases they are false positives, this is something we can never fix unless AV software is updated properly. It's frustrating but we are getting immune about this and just delete these emails...

Some people think that we are sending this crap on purpose, if you are one of these people then just go elsewhere and do not come here complaining about it. It's the current state of the internet and it will only get worse!

Our policy over the past 10 years has been (or at least try) to never show malware, trojans, virusus & popups of any kind, this policy has not changed!

[Frum]

Originally Posted by EMPiRE

Again... It is possible to get "infected" as we use third party advertisers over which we do not have any control. So if a third party is spamming or sending crap then it is possible it is shown @ GCW, even when we are totally against this crap. Usually the advertising company showing the 3rd party advertiser will remove the crap asap but sometimes it is quite hard to see who is doing this as most ads are geo-targeted to a specific country or region, this means most users (including us) will never see this crap!

Most of the free sites in existence are using 3rd party ads and they have exactly the same problem...

If there was other/better alternative advertising then we would use it but this simply does not exist anymore... The hosting bills have to be paid and this ain't cheap running 10-12 servers worldwide!

So just be prepared that it can happen and make sure you are protected (but this is nothing new... if you are well protected nothing can "screw-up" your system, unless you are stupid to trust the contents of "popups", you have to be suspicious if something happens that never happened before!)

We are getting at least 20-30 emails per day from people who genually think a certain file is infected but in all cases they are false positives, this is something we can never fix unless AV software is updated properly. It's frustrating but we are getting immune about this and just delete these emails...

Some people think that we are sending this crap on purpose, if you are one of these people then just go elsewhere and do not come here complaining about it. It's the current state of the internet and it will only get worse!

Our policy over the past 10 years has been (or at least try) to never show malware, trojans, virusus & popups of any kind, this policy has not changed!

First of all let me say how much I have enjoyed using this site over the past five years and thank everybody that has been involved in keeping it running....

However

Sorry dude I am no expert... but when I download a file and upon downloading before Ive run it or unzipped it, it opens java, disables my firewall and sends me nice stuff like trojan.downloader.. then I think you have a serious problem..

Your policy may well be not to show malware, trojans, viruses or popups of any kind, but turning a blind eye or telling people to go elsewhere, its the current state of the internet??? lol sorry I wonder why that is??

Sorry that attitude sucks dude

Yours hopeful of a clean website

Frum