do you get viruses from searching for art/references?
polycounter lvl 14
Do you get viruses from searching for art/references? I've been having repeated issues getting things on my PC but of course not on my Macbook. I'm beginning to believe the only work around is to search the internet with the Macbook, save images to my Pinterest page and only access them on my PC by staring at them on Pinterest.
Replies
I haven't had a virus on my PC in years, and any references I need I just grab from the usual places (Google Images, mostly.) I've had my free antivirus (Avast, old habit) block some "unsafe" results I've tried to open from Google image search results ("Blah blah we've blocked a harmful webpage for you 'cause we're so nice"), which may well have been false alarms, but other than that example I can't think of a time when I've encountered anything I thought was suspect or potentially harmful to my PC while reference scouting. It is usually pretty easy to find references from historical websites or legit photo galleries or what have you.
From my experience (personal and also having done the tech support thing for awhile), 90% of most viruses come from people downloading (and usually installing/unzipping) things they probably shouldn't be downloading (illegal apps and torrents, porn, trying to find hacks for a game, etc). Either that or it's the spyware type stuff that comes bundled with seemingly legit programs that you could by all means not install if you read the fine print and uncheck relevant boxes. Not saying you're guilty of any of those things, just saying that's usually where they come from as far as I can tell. Getting viruses simply from like, google searching for images of a 14th century carriage is something I'd consider difficult to do - especially if you're using a browser like Firefox with potentially helpful add-ons (noscript, etc.)
tl:dr - No. Anyone who practices smart web browsing and uses an up-to-date browser with a couple helpful plugins should have no issues.
Otherwise if you're that concerned, I'd get a paid anti-virus. I run webroot secure anywhere and you barely know it's there until something gets flagged. You can occasionally get really good deals on a subscription at newegg.
This could be it. I'm constantly being told to update my flash player and Java and do so. It has a tendency to give me random things like McAfee and such that I don't need. I do typically uncheck anything in front of me I don't want. I do sometimes uninstall things that show up in my programs list that I don't know about, usually after downloads like mentioned above. Microsoft Security Essentials is telling me that I'm clean but I'm getting this:
http://s357.photobucket.com/user/chillerone/media/AT/rr1_zps379c9b02.png.html
I've had different issues in the past, this is what I have now. It locks up every system in my network until I click on the top link saying I will look into the issue. It came one days randomly, then it showed up today a few days later. I was simply on Polycount.
I'm still not sure what the mechanism was, but it was one of those annoying things that locks you out of certain parts of your machine and tries to extort you for money. Booted into safe mode, ran Malware Bytes, and that got rid of it pretty quickly.
This is the only time I've ever managed to pick up a virus though.
It is possible though, I managed to get a virus a while back because Java's web plugin is an insecure piece of trash. What's annoying is I was using MSSE at the time and it didn't catch it, I found out only when I decided to scan with another piece of software when the security vulnerability made the news.
I disabled Java's web plugin and got Avast instead of MSSE and all is well.
TL;DR: If you have java installed, disable the web shit...
now what about getting sick from staring at nasty reference - gore, etc. happens far more regularly here.
I'm hearing this quite a bit. The most frustrating thing to me is that I'm not going to anything illegal, not downloading porn, etc. I have email, facebook, Pinterest, art and references sites, Polycount and occasionally checking sports standings ... these are 99% of what I do, but I've gotten several viruses over the years. I get asked, "What sites are you going to - STOP IT" ... I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I'm beginning to strongly suspect the theory about getting things install along with legitimate updates. Updating my Flash Player and Java are especially on my thinking at this point.
uninstall java. that shit is nothing more then a security risk.
also blocking flash is not bad idea. you can manually enable it if you want to watch a video that requires it.
mallware links are usually very obvious, just use common sense when browsing the web.
Also use pinterest for reference, a lot of people have done the sorting for you already
And security essentials, but most of the time I have not had a anti virus software.
And last time I got a virus is like 8 years ago, I got it by pressing a link someone sent to me on msn.
So I have no idea how some of you get it by searching on google.
Actually, I haven't had a computer virus since I was 13 years old. I don't use any anti virus software either. It's just a common sense thing.. once you've had a few viruses, you learn what to avoid, and it becomes pretty easy.
A quick search tells me that .png files were used in virus spreading specifically designed to try to hit people via image searches as recently as Feb. 2014. For those curious: http://threatpost.com/png-image-metadata-leading-to-iframe-injections