Recently I have been reading where a lot of people are being hit with "something" when they are in Photobucket and it has infected their computers. I too have noticed something, but as far as I know - my computer is not infected. I am going to run some scans though after I post this.

When in Photobucket, some kind of strange red banner was at the bottom of my screen. I couldn't tell what it was, but seems like there were some words on it that didn't make any sense. It ran across the full width of the screen, but wasn't very tall - maybe 1/4 or 1/16 of an inch. This has happened twice lately. Right after the banner thing, Avast would go off with a warning of malware and had a place for me to click to abort the connection, so I said yes - thinking something was trying to get in. Then in a few seconds, I think it was something from Adobe Reader that pops up and said that the file couldn't be repaired.

My question is, I didn't ask Avast to try and repair anything - just abort the connection and I certainly don't understand why Adobe would be trying to "repair" a file. So, do you think that the trojan/malware of whatever it was - was trying to come in, but Avast stopped it and then maybe if I had let the connection happen, maybe then that Adobe Reader would have been involved?

Also, beware of Photobucket right now. This has been happening to others for about a week.

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~ Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don't ~

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Thanks for posting this Linda. Definitely scan your computer with MBA-M and let us know what, if anything was found.
Judy

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Windows XP Home Edition
Dell Dimension 4600
40gb HD
1.5GB RAM
Firefox v.3.0
IE7
O.E.6
Internet Hook-up:Cable

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Thank you, Judy! It's running right now!

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~ Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don't ~

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I have read this week about a lot of security risks currently associated with Adobe reader, and would advise you to uninstall it. There are other free alternatives, which work well and also are not as resource heavy as Adobe.

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Scan completed with 0 infections. So, what do you think happened?

Amie, what alternatives are there to adobe? And is the problem really Adobe since everyone that is getting hit seems to be in Photobucket when it happens.

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~ Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don't ~

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I am not saying that it is necessarily Adobe that caused the problem on PB, but Adobe does have a lot of security issues and is also a resource hog. I used to use Foxit Reader http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/reader3.php but last year changed to PDF-XCHANGE VIEWER http://www.pdfxviewer.com/home/prod...ls/pdfx_viewer/
both are good lightweight free programs

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Thanks, Amie! Certainly sounds much better than Adobe!!

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~ Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don't ~

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Apparently Photobucket is aware of the problem., I read a report saying it had been fixed. It affected Opera, Firefox and IE.
It seems the virus was in one of the pop up ads.
Great that Avast intercepted it for you Linda.

I have a PB account but have used ImageShack for ages. I use the ImageShack Uploader - just right click on the icon - I keep mine on the taskbar - and drop your image in the window. It will also resize images for you. It is not necessary to even login to an ImageShack account.
http://reg.imageshack.us/content.php?page=uploader


Foxit is a great alternative PDF Reader.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_foxit/



EDIT:Oops - sorry Amie, you are too quick for me
XChange Viewer looks good, I am going to try it.

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Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana,
Kia tere karohirohi i mua i tou huarahi
~Maori Blessing

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I use Firefox and have Adblock Plus installed. Perhaps having the ad blocked saved me. I went to Photobucket after you started this thread.

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I too have FF + Adblock Plus. I was in PB earlier & noticed nothing incorrect.

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MUST HAVE ADDONS FOR FIREFOX
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2207/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1306/



Tower Specs;Spybot S&D,Avast,SpywareBlaster,SAS,FF,SeaMonkey,CCleaner,M bam,Windows firewall,Free WIFI/DSL

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Just logging into PB will not give you the virus - clicking on the offending pop up ad is what activates it - if you have no pop ups you won't get infected.
A good (up to date) anti-virus prog will usually get it anyway.
If you do not use a pop up blocker clicking on the X or any part of it is likely to activate the virus/trojan

Maxthon has a built in pop-up and floating ads blocker - so I never see them

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Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana,
Kia tere karohirohi i mua i tou huarahi
~Maori Blessing

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Ok, thanks

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MUST HAVE ADDONS FOR FIREFOX
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2207/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1306/



Tower Specs;Spybot S&D,Avast,SpywareBlaster,SAS,FF,SeaMonkey,CCleaner,M bam,Windows firewall,Free WIFI/DSL

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Actually, I was using Firefox and do have the AdBlock popup blocker and never click on the ads . . . but, it did alert two different times. I am so glad that Avast deterred the activity.

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~ Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don't ~

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You shouldn't be seeing most ads! Have you configured Adblock Plus? Right click the ABP icon (it's on one of your toolbars), choose Preferences>Filters>Add Filter subscription. Put a check in Easy List (USA), click subscribe at the bottom, then close out of the screens in the usual manner. You call it AdBlock popup blocker, so, maybe it's actually a different extension.

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