Thread: eBay scam or what?

Originally Posted by eskimo

not every one like macs
I dont..the daughter has one..and i just hate it!!!

what do you mean when you say its been up for over 380days...its been switched on continuously for that amount of time?

Switched on, running a multiuser database server plus a pile of other servers for remote access, plus being used for software development, data processing (I have contracts with various organisations) and the usual web browsing & email. I sometimes spend months travelling and this thing goes with me everywhere.

There's a few things I don't care for about a Mac, but robustness & reliability aren't amongst them.

PDW

Ken :

Malwarebytes is free and generally regarded as best of type. I run manual scans with it and AGV regularly.

A good clue to it being legit is the bad english. Ebay are evil but they are not illiterate:

"overused solely to confirm your identity"

Macs are not just a matter of getting used to them. They are fine for office web and email but get too far off the beaten track and software isn't available. I started using UNIX in 1990 and built my first machine in 96. You can be as evangelical as you like but it won't change reality.

Also changing machines isn't a realistic response to getting a virus.

Originally Posted by WelderMick

The moral of the story is: Firstly - always check the web address that you are on in case it got hijacked en route. Secondly - if anything does not quite look or feel right, you can almost be certain that it isn't. I'm not trying to scare people off internet banking (which I do daily)... I just want you to be careful.

This is the part where Ken's problem get's interesting, although he hasn't said so in as many words, I understand that the URL in the address bar is correct for ebay, which means that the real address bar is being hidden and a fake address bar displayed, for examples of this see.... Phishing Attacks with Faked Address Bar

What Ken hasn;t reported back on is what happens when javascript is turned off, that might provide a clue as to how the attack is being done.

Also, just a heads-up for those who think reformatting the hard drive is the ultimate fix for these sort of problems, there are attacks that hide attack code on the video card non-volatile memory and probably elsewhere... I'm not saying these are common, but you never know.

If Ken's attack persists across multiple browsers with javascript turned off, then it's most likely an attack on the DNS, maybe cache-poisoning, or re-directing DNS to a dodgy server, perhaps a malicious hosts file.... hard to tell...

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

which means that the real address bar is being hidden and a fake address bar displayed

Well I thought I was pretty informed about this stuff... but I just keep being amazed (and disgusted). Good info Ray

Cheers

- Mick

Originally Posted by mike48

rebytes (MWB) (and Avira Free Antivirus).
You may need to download MWB to a USB memory stick from a clean PC, then
use Safe Mode on your PC to run MWB from the USB, reboot, run again, then reboot.
Use MWB "Quick Scan" mode first, then "Deep Scan" (go mow the lawn, or run it overnite?) if later required.
Have used this method to successfully remove internet browser hijackers from the kids laptops, et alia.

Cheerio, mike

Why the #### do you people put up with this crap?
Get a mac and get on with the fun stuff.

Originally Posted by damian

Macs are not just a matter of getting used to them. They are fine for office web and email but get too far off the beaten track and software isn't available. I started using UNIX in 1990 and built my first machine in 96. You can be as evangelical as you like but it won't change reality.

Also changing machines isn't a realistic response to getting a virus.

Most of us are not command-line geeks or power users. Most of us just want to do basic user stuff without the anxiety. It's not a virus, it's an ever expanding legion of evil, like some trashy zombie flick. It really looks that bizarre to me. And since most of us upgrade hardware every few years anyway, making a different choice when the time comes seems a very reasonable response. That's not evangelism, that's pragmatism.

Sorry, Ken, that's not helping with your immediate problem. Best of luck.

Originally Posted by Bryan

Why the #### do you people put up with this crap?
Get a mac and get on with the fun stuff.

I've had a windows system running since 1994 with no viruses. It's not all about mac v windows.

You haven't had a computer virus in 18 years? Please tell us how you have managed this Peter.

Originally Posted by damian

Macs are not just a matter of getting used to them. They are fine for office web and email but get too far off the beaten track and software isn't available.

As I said:
Mac for the day-to-day stuff (esp web browsing)
PC for the "off the beaten track" software.

Originally Posted by damian

Macs are not just a matter of getting used to them. They are fine for office web and email but get too far off the beaten track and software isn't available. I started using UNIX in 1990 and built my first machine in 96. You can be as evangelical as you like but it won't change reality.

Also changing machines isn't a realistic response to getting a virus.

Look, I frankly couldn't care less what people use as an o/s. If the majority want to suffer using an inferior system, fine. As long as you know it's by choice, I'm not interested in trying to get you to change.

As for software availability, did you miss the bit where I said I'm a software developer? This machine is loaded with open source software that runs under linux, OS X, Windows and Solaris. I know, because I support people running all those operating systems. One of my systems designs has been running continuously in labs, on Sun hardware as server, since 1993. Unix is my favourite o/s. OS X is unix; half the time my screen is tiled with terminal windows connected to back end unix computers via ssh. Speaking of which, where's sshd, sftpd, telnetd, smbd and other standard servers on your Windows o/s? Not there.

Got something that only runs on Windows? Use an operating system that supports virtual machines and run Windows in its own sandbox. Works on a number of o/s, I routinely do this on Solaris (or did in the past).

The fact is that *most* people only use their computer for a pretty limited range of things requiring a limited amount of software which is as available for OS X as Windows. Main exceptions seem to be games and packages like Solidworks.

You also miss the point in the comment re changing computers. No, you don't do it just because you have a virus. You do it the next time you need/want to buy a new machine. The short term cure, if you want to go that route, is to install something like Ubuntu on a bootable flash drive & use that for Web surfing after you clean up your Windows infection.

As I said, do what you like. Put up with virus infections etc. Just realise that you're doing it because you choose to, not because you have to.

Having a computer running Windows is like having a Hercus lathe when you could have a Monarch 10EE.

PDW

I don't want to further derail the thread into a Mac v PC debate, but FWIW I also resisted switching to a Mac for years. Despite having worked in that industry from a hardware perspective, and being very comfortable with the OS side of things, I was spending on average a day a month screwing around with my PCs. Eventually I caved in and decided to try the cheapest MacBook they sold; what a revelation. Within a year all my PCs were in the bin and I switched completely.

Unfortunately it's not yet possible for me to completely turn my back on Windoze, as I have some proprietary software that runs on Win only. However it's no big deal, I run Parallels on my Macs and simply start Win as needed, then shut it down again before it inevitably crashes

Like Peter, my machines runs 24/7 and I think the only time I've had fatal crashes was when I had some memory (that I installed myself) begin to fail. Under that circumstance it's pretty difficult to blame the machine!

Anyway, my 2 cent's worth, and I thought I'd just mention it for those who may be considering finally ditching some over-priced POS OS system (for comparison a full Apple OS costs around 50 bucks if you ever feel the need to upgrade. No "personal", "Pro", "blah blah blah" editions. Just 50 bucks and enjoy your new software suite!).

Pete

PS My latest "toy" is the new MacBook Air. Holy Cow, is this a nice machine. If anyone is "on the road" regularly, just buy it!

Macs are not just a matter of getting used to them. They are fine for office web and email but get too far off the beaten track and software isn't available. I started using UNIX in 1990 and built my first machine in 96. You can be as evangelical as you like but it won't change reality.

Sorry I just saw your post. In a word that is simply crap. It was true 10 years ago, but most certainly isn't now. Virtually every software application is now available on a Mac version, albeit sometimes from another provider. There are now very VERY few software applications where a Mac version can't be found, indeed I challenge you to name even one. On my Macbooks I run Microsoft Office, AutoCAD (on the 'Air only), many specific programs outside the interest of those here, all in a native Mac. Indeed the only reason I persist with the Windows programs I mentioned above is because I have personally been using them for years and don't want to change. The ONLY program I actually need Win for is a program to communicate with my work server. Even then there's a work-around, but I don't see the point since I have XP loaded on the machine. The only other time having a Mac can be difficult is when a FEW, and I've only seen this once or twice, but a FEW sites (The US embassy for example) only allows Internet Explorer as a browser in order to view their site. To say their web site is bad is an understatement, it truly is an embarrassment to their nation. In my case it's no big deal, I simply start XP and use that, however if these were pure Mac machines that obviously wouldn't be possible.

As Peter said, this is just information for anyone contemplating changing their machines in future, and may not help Ken now. Personally I really used to mock Apple users, man am I eating my words now and I'm not too proud to broadcast that fact.

Sigh. You'd think at my age I'd have learned you can't argue with religeous fanatics.

Labor voters, apple users, enviromentalists.....

Originally Posted by jack620

You haven't had a computer virus in 18 years? Please tell us how you have managed this Peter.

Maintain decent anti-virus software (some of which is free)

Be careful where you browse, and which devices and disks get added into your machine.

Every so often run a full system scan just in case.

Originally Posted by damian

Sigh. You'd think at my age I'd have learned you can't argue with religeous fanatics.

Labor voters, apple users, enviromentalists.....

I'm not quite sure who you're referring to as a "religious fanatic", the only person that I've seen making strong, and as it turned out, incorrect, statements about the topic is yourself! With all due respect, it would seem to me you're labouring on an ancient stereotype of both Apple products and users that simply isn't correct , and hasn't been for some 10 years, and especially in the past 5 years!

I couldn't give a flying toss what machine I use in all honesty, I no longer have even the remotest interest in computers, even as a hobby. My computer is nothing more than an appliance to me, I don't sit down and periodically reinstall the operating system on my DVD player or my Television so see no reason I should do so on my computer. I simply want to open the machine (in the case of the laptops) or sit down at my desk and do whatever I want to do. How I go about doing that should be transparent. I found Windows didn't allow that to happen, guess what, I found the Macs do.

I think you're confusing "fanatic" with simply "satisfied customers", and why shouldn't satisfied be happy to pass that information on to others in the hope it will help them too? You may even do what I did, stow your obvious prejudice, take the blinkers off and actually go and purchase a product to try. Frankly I find it more than a little distasteful to be labelled some sort of religious zealot simply because I'm a happy customer; goodness knows satisfied customers are few and far between these days!

Like Peter I don't have any viruses on my Windows side, but I also don't surf the internet, nor open any emails. I also don't run any anti-virus software on it, but in fairness those machines are pretty much isolated from the normal internet use. IF I did get a virus on a Windows machine I'd simply clone a new machine and carry on. That's the advantage of running virtual machines as Peter (PDW) and I do.

Pete