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3catkidneyfailure
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« on: September 05, 2008, 04:58:39 PM » |
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Off a Google cat food alert today, September 5, 2008, popped what sounded like a cute free
Cat Food Recipe book.
Awesome cookbook of healthy Cat Food Recipes including ingredients & directions. The XXXXXXX.com Cat Food Recipes Cookbook has over 60 cat food & treat recipes listed so you can explore, learn and cook!
I'm not going to post the download URL until somebody tells me it's okay. I clicked through the prompts and downloaded the file.
Then I noticed it was an .exe (executable) file. So I scanned it with AVG anti-virus and a paid antispyware program, which said
it was clean, but had skipped one of two objects.
Should this freebie download be an .exe file? If you PM me, I can send the URL if you have more sophisticated anti-virus/antispyware
program. It just strikes me as odd that the download is an executable file, and possibly no one should be downloading this cute sounding Cat Food recipe book. HELP!
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catbird
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2008, 05:06:01 PM » |
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We received a note at work this week about exactly this type of thing. There are a lot of false links out there at the moment, masquerading as something innocent, but really malware. Some look like news story links, for example. I'm no expert, but I don't think a cat recipe book would be an .exe file under normal circumstances. Thanks for warning us.
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dingbat
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« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2008, 04:05:08 PM » |
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3cat
Any thing that is an executable file should be avoided. Even if the antivirus says it is ok. In the install process there can then become viruses sent to your PC or possibly the exe could damage files or whatever.
typically a book of recipes should be a PDF, or TXT, or DOC or anything NOT executable.
wise decision to not download and run it.
db
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I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.
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petslave
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« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2008, 04:15:56 PM » |
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The only reason I can imagine it would come as a program file would be if it was a mini-program that lets you choose ingredients, # of meals, etc., then calculated all the amounts and supplements needed.
I doubt something like this would be free though. Anyone in the pet food business of any kind wants to make money at it. Much more likely to be a way into your computer for data mining of some sort. Interesting they picked up on the pet food angle, someone is paying attention to the news. Did you delete it yet?
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dingbat
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« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2008, 04:30:35 PM » |
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Anyone in the pet food business of any kind wants to make money at it. Petslave exactly, anyone going through the effort to write an executable would be charging for it. Most probably a data mining program or some other malicious crap db |
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I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2008, 05:24:11 PM » |
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Yes, I did delete the .exe file without opening it. But I did save and download it before I noticed
the ".exe" Duh!
Just looked in Recycle Bin, and it says:
Cat Food Recipes Cookbook.exe File comes with a really cute cat icon, too.
Women, I guess, always want free recipes, but apparently this is not a good idea!
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menusux
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« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2008, 06:44:43 PM » |
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http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cmosby/archive/2008/03/17/google-ads-abused-to-serve-spam-and-malware-mcafee-avert-labs-blog.aspxServe Spam and Malware Monday March 17, 2008 at 9:05 am CST Posted by Vinoo Thomas Trackback "Early this year we observed spammers using Google page ads in HTML-formatted emails to redirect users who click the spammed URL to the spammers’ sites. "At first we thought Google page ads were being used to conceal the actual URL and subvert traditional anti-spam detection techniques. However, it seems one can change the linked URL to point to any site of your choice–as no validation appears to be done on Google’s end. "One can even point the Google page ad to executable files (malware authors have started doing this), and the link will redirect and download the malware just fine. It’s kind of ironic given than Google is very strict about the kind of file attachments one can upload/download via their Gmail service." http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/analyzer.nsf/docid/2002031510570647Symantec (Norton) Security Scan--Online and Free http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspxMicrosoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 3cat, I believe I'd put a bit of time in at either or both of these sites to see if there was any damage done by just downloading the file.
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petslave
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« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2008, 09:53:07 PM » |
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Very interesting. I googled this site to see what I could find (60 free cat food recipes) and found it referenced on a few free downloadable sites. One had a bunch of links to free downloadable recipes of all sorts. Seemed OK so far, so I got onto the original website, read the descrip, sounded legit.
I clicked the download page link, which brought me to the page with info on downloading the file. I did NOT click the actual "download file" button. Within a few seconds my computer put up a message that said the site was trying to download files and it was blocking it. So even goinig to the download page starts some kind of download process automatically and you don't even have to click the button. Scary stuff.
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2008, 12:54:03 AM » |
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Thanks, all, for information.
I have paid antispyware/malware and free AVG anti-virus. Ran scans on every file on both and came up clean. Also
have Spywareblaster installed with all protection enabled. So it looks like I'm okay. Absolutely hate Norton,
menusux (bad experiences with their AV programs as a customer and resource hog). But all Windows updates except for
last 63MB of SP3 were already installed, and firewall was up in place.
So I ran the 32 times erase on the Recycle Bin and got rid of the .exe file for good! It's now little random 1's and zeros
all over my hard drive free space and can't be reconstructed.
So I guess advice would be don't download even something cute looking that ends in .exe unless it's a new software
program that you purchased and were expecting to install. Sounds like freebies ending in .exe have become very dangerous.
Even Google Alerts can steer you wrong. Avoid this cat food recipes cookbook.exe
Used to have McAfee site adviser, but it caused some kind of problem (I can't remember what); so I ended up
pulling off the system. Anyone have good results on XP with current version of McAfee site adviser?
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« Last Edit: September 07, 2008, 12:59:40 AM by 3catkidneyfailure »
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dingbat
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« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2008, 01:03:29 PM » |
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So even goinig to the download page starts some kind of download process automatically and you don't even have to click the button. Scary stuff. petslave that is correct. ActiveX and VB scripts can do things when you just enter the site. best to avoid any and all of this stuff. the only way to know about this type of program is to download it to a scrap PC, that is one that has nothing on it, run the program, connect to the internet and THEN scan the PC with antivirus and antispyware software. Used to do that years ago. most people don't have an extra PC laying around for this purpose though db |
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I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.
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petslave
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« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2008, 02:36:46 PM » |
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My computer was really slow and kept freezing this morning, but a scan only brought up one tracking cookie. Not sure if that was the problem or if it came from that site, but all was OK after deleting it.
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Mandycat
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« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2008, 09:27:33 PM » |
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3cat -
I have McAfee Plus with Site Advisor and have had no problems with it with my XP OS. However, I probably have far fewer programs loaded that could cause any conflicts.
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2008, 11:29:21 AM » |
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Thanks, Mandycat. Am trying McAfee site advisor again, the freebie. Can't remember why I thought it caused problems.
So here goes again.
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JanC
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« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2008, 01:57:18 PM » |
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I have the McAfee Site Advisor on my PC w/XP & have never had any problems with it.
Just as an FYI, I Googled free cat cookbooks & came up with a bunch of hits. At least half of them had a yellow exclamation point rather than the green checkmark & some even had a question mark. So McAfee sees a problem with at least half of them & that was only the first page.
Damn the bad luck!!!!!!
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Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened - - Anon.
If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went - - Will Rogers
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2008, 02:09:33 PM » |
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Well, fortunately it doesn't like anyone was permanently damaged. petslave's ok, too, it sounds like. I liked the internet better years ago when it was largely composed of safe freebies. But thanks for the advice.  |
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