This is why "good practices" isn't always enough to keep viruses/malware off your PC.

(My apologies if this is in the wrong PC thread. Wasn't sure where to put it.)

I was simply scrolling down a list of search results on Youtube, with Adblock enabled, and Avast Antivirus installed. I was doing nothing out of the ordinary, but right when I reached the end of youtube's result list, and it automatically loaded another page of results to scroll through, Avast suddenly beeped and a screen popped up telling me they've secured a threat from Google's own servers. Now, it MAY be a false positive, but I haven't been too trusting of Google in recent years either. Situations like this have also happened on too many other "safe sites" to go unnoticed for me.

Simply put, while using your best judgement and not going anywhere fishy is a good precautionary measure for avoiding unwanted software on your computer, it doesn't always work. An extra layer of protection can go a long way.

That actually happened to me as well today. Good thing I invested in some security tools.

That being said, I don't trust downloads and websites, even if they are from the most secure companies. One of the many reasons reasons why I absolutely refuse to use a credit or online bank debit card online for shopping.

Part of good practice is having security software installed.

virus cant hurt me. I never had anti virus and used pc for many years to game and youtube and it probably got infinite virus and I dont care.

when it gets slow its usually the web browser ad ons haha and if it ever goes slow just format and erase everything and instal again windows from 0. never needed to. but if ever need thats an option.

Of course if you have important work stuff or credit card or illegal sh#$ well maybe virus can be dangerous xD

@Zuon: what tools do you guys recommend? Clearly Avast by you, @blazepanzer24, but anything else?

I'm currently using Avira and getting tired of the constant popups and "extras" they want to offer me.

Wondering if it is worth it to go "premium" on a different program.

@mrbojangles25: Avast is all I've ever really needed. There was a time where I tried Avira instead due to a friend's recommendation, but the frequency of the pop ups and alerts are just WAY too high. A couple other highly recommended free Antivirus programs are Malware Bytes and AVG Antivirus, but the reason I stick to avast is because it offers a realtime website scanner that none of the other free offerings have. I never actually have to run a manual scan.

I dont have any antivirus on mine. I just use common sense.

@euro_bucks: Then I'm sure you're aware that people like you are the reason I made this thread. Common sense isn't enough. Google was trying to install phishing software on my machine through the YouTube search function, dude.

https://www.reddit.com/r/avast/comments/8ywi2i/avast_seems_to_have_a_problem_with/

That's probably a false alarm.

Good Security software made by a Russian company is always a good idea!

oh wait..

I don't really use anti viruses, neither did any of my device ever get affected as such since the performance has never degraded. If I feel something is not right then I get malwarebytes and scan and fix it and then it's back to normal.

Ive found that just microsoft security essentials that comes with Windows is enough

I always browse on my virtual machine. Overkill? Absolutely. Takes most of the worry out of it though. Still possible but I'm going to make it as hard as I can for those pesky viruses.

I used to use AVG and Kaspersky before, but they were very annoying with popups/notifications and shit. Now I just use Windows Defender and NoScript extension in Firefox. Been good that way for years on multiple systems. It is always good to backup your important stuff just in case a format is needed though.

Kaspersky is Russian, has worked with Russian military.

installing this stuff might end up being the exact opposite of what you are wanting it to do.

Ive been running windows defender only with windows 8-10 , any kind of new window pop up and I shut down the browser via task manager ...no issues so far and I have everything backed up in triplicate in case something does sneak through

@tryit: same thing usa company's do to other powers

absolutely!

but Sun Tzu would never teach 'In war roll over to your enemies when they do the same thing you do'

not the best military advice ever

HJ GOOD DAY

@Zuon It is 99.99999% a false positive. If YT had been attacked then it would have attacked large numbers of viewers and it would be in the news. Google itself wouldn't do such a thing because, again, if it happened to you it would have others and google would be a a sh!tstorm of bad press, right now. However your Avast AV could very well be a dud (or worse). It could be that Avast, itself, if CAUSING your issues. I cannot tell you what it was, exactly, until you can post the log file. If Avast caught it then it logged it. Post that and I can give better response... Below are paragraphs from the linked article on how sh!tty Avast has been and may potentially still be...

While modifying Google's open-source Chromium browser into Avastium, Avast removed a safeguard that stopped a Web server from remotely accessing local (i.e., non-Internet) files or running local commands on a client's (i.e., your) browser. Without that safeguard, Chromium's Developer Tools made it possible for the Web server to remote run malicious JavaScript code in a client's browser.

Once a site containing malicious code — which could be embedded in an ad, iFrame or a number of other ways — was opened on a PC that happened to have Avast installed, an attacker controlling the malicious code could launch the Avastium browser on the client machine and use it to browse the computer's files — including passwords, bank statements, love letters, naughty pictures and so on.

Full article here (it doesn't describe the exact same event, but it is similar enough to raise eyebrows)

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/avast-secure-browser-not-secure,news-22214.html

Me too. So crazy. No antivirus for over a decade and when the rare issue comes up, it is mbam that I run. But I am a network engineer with a decade of experience. It is impressive that a non admin would do this.

My laptop must have a pretty strong immune system, because I haven't used any protection software on it, ever. Never had any viruses.

If you're not using any type of end point protection software, then you clearly are NOT using common sense.

This is a false positive.

Anti-Virus software is almost redundant in 2018, your Windows Defender does as much practically.

It's all about IPS/HIPS these days.

I use Linux. :-)

ESET for me.