Virus in DVDTalk cookies?
 

This morning I opened the DVDTalk Other forum and received the following popup from Symantec Antivirus:

Scan type: Realtime Protection Scan
Event: Virus Found!
Virus name: Midsummer
File: C:\Documents and Settings\bct$jda\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Location: Quarantine
Computer: LT00020
User: bct$jda
Action taken: Clean failed : Quarantine succeeded : Access denied
Date found: Mon Dec 29 09:43:39 2003

I closed out the browser windows, opened it back up again, and received this notification:

Scan type: Realtime Protection Scan
Event: Virus Found!
Virus name: VCL.SNF.522 (d)
File: C:\Documents and Settings\bct$jda\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\HS1CVL0R\get[4].media
Location: C:\Documents and Settings\bct$jda\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\HS1CVL0R
Computer: LT00020
User: bct$jda
Action taken: Clean failed : Quarantine failed : Access denied
Date found: Mon Dec 29 09:45:33 2003

Has anyone else received these notifications from Symantec here? No other websites are giving me the virus warning, and I've never received one before on this site. SAV states that the first virus is located in a .txt cookie file, which I don't think is possible so I assume it's a false alert, but the second one I'm not sure about.

In case you want to check it out, I am using SAV Corporate Edition 8.0 with IE 6.0.

I've never heard of a virus coming from a web page, and there's nothing on this site which would pass along a virus. Something must be amiss on your side

The cookie is generated on the client side based on information from the website. IOW... what Geoff said.

In addition to what Geoff said, looking up info on those viruses provides the following:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com.../dyn/7117.html
http://securityresponse.symantec.com.../dyn/4101.html

Midsummer is actually a Master Boot Record virus. VCL infects .COM files. The DVD Talk cookies might just be collateral damage. Sounds like it's time to update your virus defs, boot into Safe Mode, and do a full scan of your computer.

I must have some virus there is no way for me to post threads, edit, except for this box found at the bottom of each post. For one day I had the Post Thread button and thay's why there is only 1 post my me on The Final Countdown" There is no button for meassages etc. I have reloaded, refreshed, logged out, lodgged in, but nothing seems to help right now there are no post new threads or post reply buttons on any forum of DVDtalk.


I must have some kind of virus, what do you all think it could be?

Try this from the FAQ

MISSING BUTTONS
All of the forum icon graphics have been moved to the ads.kleinman.com server. If you are blocking ads servers, then you won't be able to see the post new thread/reply to thread buttons and other buttons or icons. You'll need to exempt ads.kleinman.com from your ad blocker.

Also, we removed the Members button from the line of buttons in the top right of every forum (it was with the other gray buttons: user cp, register, faq, search). Mostly because of concerns that spam companies were using it to get our member's email addresses.

Missing Buttons if Your Use Norton Internet Security
Apparently when using Norton Internet Security 2003, it's not as simple as just 'adding a site' to allow things through.

From NIS, click the Options button and select Internet Security.
Go to the Web Content tab.

If DVDTalk is not in the tree, add it.
The default global settings are:
Information about your browser: Use Default Settings: Permit
Information about visited sites: Use Default Settings: Block
Animated images: Use Default Settings: Permit
Scripts: Use Default Settings: Permit
Flash animation: Use Default Settings: Permit

The default user settings are:
Cookies: Use Default Settings: Permit
Java applets: Use Default Settings: Permit
ActiveX Controls: Use Default Settings: Permit
Pop-up ads: Use Default Settings: Permit

**Here's the kicker:**
In the Ad Blocking tab:
Click the Add... button.
Select the Permit radio button.
Key ads.kleinman.com in the text box.
Click Ok

Click Ok on the Options window.

Refresh the DVDTalk IE window.

The buttons appear.

virus's are able to transmit through websites, although..it'd be more likely that that would be the intention of the website..and dvdtalk.com has no interest in spreading virus's... Also, while I'm no expert on virus's, i'm pretty sure they can piggyback on existing files, such as .jpg, .txt... this probably isn't the right place for that discussion though :)

no. Generall a .txt file is a plain text file, there is no extra encoding in the file, so no where for a virus to hide. As for a JPG, no. However executable files can be reassociated to look like other files...

What amazes me is that MrJeff went back and edited his post. -eek-