First you give me a virus and then you delete the thread about it. I dont appreciate this, but i came across as pretty rude. In any event I am 99 percent sure the virus came from here
I will make the following point:
SInce this is not the first time youve had a problem with viruses here, I would assume you people have a better idea on how to rid myself of it than i do, in which case I would appreciate any advice. Norton antivirus or mccafree dont seem to get rid of it entirely, in fact mccafree didnt detect it even the slightest.
I apolgize for my previous rudeness, but this is serious
The first post was inappropriate in a public forum like this -- the language was too foul to even leave an edited version in. (I do appreciate anger at viruses, but I'm quite confident it's misplaced, and even if it was valid such a post would be deleted due to the content.)
I'll try to explain why this is really, really, unlikely:
1) The software, while open source (anyone can download the source code, look at it, add things for personal use), is controlled at the site level. In other words, random people cannot simply post things to the VLC servers, and have it appear in the compiled code that is distributed. There are a limited number of people with write access to the places where the source code resides, and every change that is posted by those people includes a message to all developers, identifying precisely who made the change, what modules were changed. It's part of the configuration management system -- no way to bypass it. A revision history is maintained for all of the source files, so you can readily see who changed what, when, and revert files to different versions if necessary.
2) Assuming a person does have write access, posts a change, the changes are, informally, peer reviewed. People write this software for enjoyment, the intellectual challenge and satisfaction of putting out a good product, and are interested in learning from each other, how things are done and if something can be improved. This happens constantly -- people will make comments to each other about how a change is implemented, ways to make it better -- so it would be virtually impossible to have a chunk of code, source code mind you (this software is compiled, not just distributed) slip in. Virus code, the kinds of things it does, would stand out like a flashing red light (adding lines of code to set permissions on a .exe or .dll file, open it, prepend a hexadecimal string (virus), and save the file aren't the kind of things that would go unnoticed, since none of the operational vlc code generates or modifies such files).
3) The software itself isn't even compiled (built) on a Windows machine, so there is no essentially no chance that a build server would become infected and somehow infect an already-compiled copy of VLC. (It's built on Linux servers). The operating system calls, the kinds of things necessary to infect the Linux server, would be different from the kinds of things that infect a Windows file -- you would have had to have a really large, bloated, infection, very complex, for it to have a vector to infect code it is compiling for another OS (the software isn't a Java app, doesn't use any of that cross-platform interpretted software, where there is a risk of cross-platform infection).
4) The software is written in C and C++, not java or another real-time-interpretted cross-platform language. This relates to (3) -- very tough to just "toss in" something that gets run at run-time, is a virus, but is not visible to the developers.
5) The tools used are all major, cross-platform. VLC does use libraries from other well-known open-source projects, but these are projects with similar developers, configuration control mechanisms, etc, and the software is compiled from source, once again. Given that the source code of VLC is peer-reviewed, limited access for write, etc., about the only way to infect it would be to actually manage to create a gcc cross-compile tool that somehow adds an infection. That stuff gets a LOT of attention -- people are picky about compiler tool changes. The builds are generally done with tools/libraries that are NOT the bleeding edge -- in other words, by the time a given update is added to VLC, normally the code/tool has been used by a heck of a lot of other people and projects, so if some evil mastermind had come up with a polluted gcc cross-compiler, a whole lot of other people and apps would have hit the problem before it arises in the VLC tool chain.
5) The executables actually get tested by people with experience, who use the application in production environments, have extremely good virus scanners and the like. There are a couple of people who download just about every nightly build, start it up, see how the changes have had an effect. No virus problems have been seen.
6) There were, indeed, some false positives with VLC last year, due to the installer/packaging tool, the thing that makes VLC a self-installer on Windows. This was documented, known -- virus scanners were triggering on a code sequence that the installer did indeed have, even though the installer actually had no virus (people did check). Personally, I have similar problems with VNC (not VLC, it's something else) -- false positives reported by some scanning tools, even though the app itself truly is not infected.
I hope this helps you. People do care, but the entire code creation/review/compilation mechanism makes an infected VLC (IF downloaded from this site, or an official mirror) basically a non-problem. I don't say it is impossible to have an infected application, just that in order to have it occur someone would have to go through tremendous hoops to make it so.
(Sorry this is such a long post. Your overall question/concern is fair, and I wanted to provide you with a reasonably complete explanation, to let you know that VLC doesn't ignore viruses, just that there is a methodology that is very solid.)
I'll try to explain why this is really, really, unlikely:
1) The software, while open source (anyone can download the source code, look at it, add things for personal use), is controlled at the site level. In other words, random people cannot simply post things to the VLC servers, and have it appear in the compiled code that is distributed. There are a limited number of people with write access to the places where the source code resides, and every change that is posted by those people includes a message to all developers, identifying precisely who made the change, what modules were changed. It's part of the configuration management system -- no way to bypass it. A revision history is maintained for all of the source files, so you can readily see who changed what, when, and revert files to different versions if necessary.
2) Assuming a person does have write access, posts a change, the changes are, informally, peer reviewed. People write this software for enjoyment, the intellectual challenge and satisfaction of putting out a good product, and are interested in learning from each other, how things are done and if something can be improved. This happens constantly -- people will make comments to each other about how a change is implemented, ways to make it better -- so it would be virtually impossible to have a chunk of code, source code mind you (this software is compiled, not just distributed) slip in. Virus code, the kinds of things it does, would stand out like a flashing red light (adding lines of code to set permissions on a .exe or .dll file, open it, prepend a hexadecimal string (virus), and save the file aren't the kind of things that would go unnoticed, since none of the operational vlc code generates or modifies such files).
3) The software itself isn't even compiled (built) on a Windows machine, so there is no essentially no chance that a build server would become infected and somehow infect an already-compiled copy of VLC. (It's built on Linux servers). The operating system calls, the kinds of things necessary to infect the Linux server, would be different from the kinds of things that infect a Windows file -- you would have had to have a really large, bloated, infection, very complex, for it to have a vector to infect code it is compiling for another OS (the software isn't a Java app, doesn't use any of that cross-platform interpretted software, where there is a risk of cross-platform infection).
4) The software is written in C and C++, not java or another real-time-interpretted cross-platform language. This relates to (3) -- very tough to just "toss in" something that gets run at run-time, is a virus, but is not visible to the developers.
5) The tools used are all major, cross-platform. VLC does use libraries from other well-known open-source projects, but these are projects with similar developers, configuration control mechanisms, etc, and the software is compiled from source, once again. Given that the source code of VLC is peer-reviewed, limited access for write, etc., about the only way to infect it would be to actually manage to create a gcc cross-compile tool that somehow adds an infection. That stuff gets a LOT of attention -- people are picky about compiler tool changes. The builds are generally done with tools/libraries that are NOT the bleeding edge -- in other words, by the time a given update is added to VLC, normally the code/tool has been used by a heck of a lot of other people and projects, so if some evil mastermind had come up with a polluted gcc cross-compiler, a whole lot of other people and apps would have hit the problem before it arises in the VLC tool chain.
5) The executables actually get tested by people with experience, who use the application in production environments, have extremely good virus scanners and the like. There are a couple of people who download just about every nightly build, start it up, see how the changes have had an effect. No virus problems have been seen.
6) There were, indeed, some false positives with VLC last year, due to the installer/packaging tool, the thing that makes VLC a self-installer on Windows. This was documented, known -- virus scanners were triggering on a code sequence that the installer did indeed have, even though the installer actually had no virus (people did check). Personally, I have similar problems with VNC (not VLC, it's something else) -- false positives reported by some scanning tools, even though the app itself truly is not infected.
I hope this helps you. People do care, but the entire code creation/review/compilation mechanism makes an infected VLC (IF downloaded from this site, or an official mirror) basically a non-problem. I don't say it is impossible to have an infected application, just that in order to have it occur someone would have to go through tremendous hoops to make it so.
(Sorry this is such a long post. Your overall question/concern is fair, and I wanted to provide you with a reasonably complete explanation, to let you know that VLC doesn't ignore viruses, just that there is a methodology that is very solid.)
-
The DJ
- Cone Master
- Posts: 5987
- Joined: 22 Nov 2003 21:52
- VLC version: git
- Operating System: Mac OS X
- Location: Enschede, Holland
- Contact:
And let us not forget that you should always download your copies of VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Use the links on those subpages for each platform. The mirrors of the main server are also in a secure setup and linux based, which should prevent any infections.
True virus infected files of VLC are only possible in practice if you download it trough P2P apps or something like that, because then you cannot check the source.
But that would be stupid of course and no user would ever do that.
Use the links on those subpages for each platform. The mirrors of the main server are also in a secure setup and linux based, which should prevent any infections.
True virus infected files of VLC are only possible in practice if you download it trough P2P apps or something like that, because then you cannot check the source.
But that would be stupid of course and no user would ever do that.
Don't use PMs for support questions.
-
Piccolo
.
I am going to admit that mayb ei was qucik to blame VLC, but i am NOT doing it on a whim, and my reasonds have abosolutely nothing to do with the "rumor" listed in the download section.
Let me tell you about the FIRST time i got the virus for details in case you people are actually serious about what you do:
The virus does not stop me from using simple tpying documents or wordpad, or getting on the internet, which is really what i mainly do. It does stop me from doing just about everything else. I didnt notice this until maybe a couple days after i first downloaded VLC, or maybe didnt take in to account that i dl'd VLC, and thus was unsure what to attribute it to, so i figured maybe it was jsut off some random site or something.
What it did (and is doing) is put a --please stay polite-- load of Adware on my computer, some infected files, a buncha popups, and it caueses DR Watson to "malfunction"., and slow doen my computer a great deal.
It had nothing to do with DR watson coincidentally malfunctioning at the same time, as fully disabling DR watson did nothing to stop this, but getting rid of the virus DID.
Meaning, DR watson wasnt "malfunctioning", it either had a virus on it or was the virus ITSELF. Mccafree didnt detect it but Norton did, and removed it, as well as numerous adware. Restore mode seemed to take care of everything else.
Ok, either clearing my desktop or restore mode rid me of VLC, and my computer was COMPLETELY FINE for 2 or 3 days. I mean 100 percen squeaky clean, and was careful to avoid any strange websites.
NOW FOR THE SECOND TIME I GOT THE VIRUS
SO i decided to DL VLC.
DO you know what happened as soon as it finished downloading?
My computer was pumped full of adware, had infected files on my computer, and the DR watson thing started. Remember,: previous two minutes, squeaky clean. 2 minutes later, --please stay polite-- over.
Ok, I got this virus AS SOON AS I DOWNLOADED THIS THING. and had NO PROBLEMS the PREVIOUS --please stay polite-- MINUTE, OR THE 2 DAY INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST TIME I GOT IT OR THE SECOND. LITTLE TO NO ADWARE, NO INFECTED FILES, NO DR WATSON VIRUS IN MY DAILY SCAN, AND BADDAA BING EVERYTHING IS --please stay polite-- THE MOMENT I DOWNLOAD.
Now admittedly, this could be some drastic coincidence, but from my point of view, not likely.
I dont know the first location i downloaded it from but the second time i believe was some paris server ON THIS SITE, NOT SOMEWHERE ELSE.
I dont know much about computers. There is no "falsely detected virus" because this is still --please stay polite-- me in the ass. Secondly, that whole thing about this being a "linux" program is a pile of --please stay polite--, because while VLC maybe have been made in linux (or whatever explanation you use), MAYBE the installation program was made in windows. Well, i doubt you'd overlook that, but man dont expect me to think you wouldnt either.
Let me tell you about the FIRST time i got the virus for details in case you people are actually serious about what you do:
The virus does not stop me from using simple tpying documents or wordpad, or getting on the internet, which is really what i mainly do. It does stop me from doing just about everything else. I didnt notice this until maybe a couple days after i first downloaded VLC, or maybe didnt take in to account that i dl'd VLC, and thus was unsure what to attribute it to, so i figured maybe it was jsut off some random site or something.
What it did (and is doing) is put a --please stay polite-- load of Adware on my computer, some infected files, a buncha popups, and it caueses DR Watson to "malfunction"., and slow doen my computer a great deal.
It had nothing to do with DR watson coincidentally malfunctioning at the same time, as fully disabling DR watson did nothing to stop this, but getting rid of the virus DID.
Meaning, DR watson wasnt "malfunctioning", it either had a virus on it or was the virus ITSELF. Mccafree didnt detect it but Norton did, and removed it, as well as numerous adware. Restore mode seemed to take care of everything else.
Ok, either clearing my desktop or restore mode rid me of VLC, and my computer was COMPLETELY FINE for 2 or 3 days. I mean 100 percen squeaky clean, and was careful to avoid any strange websites.
NOW FOR THE SECOND TIME I GOT THE VIRUS
SO i decided to DL VLC.
DO you know what happened as soon as it finished downloading?
My computer was pumped full of adware, had infected files on my computer, and the DR watson thing started. Remember,: previous two minutes, squeaky clean. 2 minutes later, --please stay polite-- over.
Ok, I got this virus AS SOON AS I DOWNLOADED THIS THING. and had NO PROBLEMS the PREVIOUS --please stay polite-- MINUTE, OR THE 2 DAY INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST TIME I GOT IT OR THE SECOND. LITTLE TO NO ADWARE, NO INFECTED FILES, NO DR WATSON VIRUS IN MY DAILY SCAN, AND BADDAA BING EVERYTHING IS --please stay polite-- THE MOMENT I DOWNLOAD.
Now admittedly, this could be some drastic coincidence, but from my point of view, not likely.
I dont know the first location i downloaded it from but the second time i believe was some paris server ON THIS SITE, NOT SOMEWHERE ELSE.
I dont know much about computers. There is no "falsely detected virus" because this is still --please stay polite-- me in the ass. Secondly, that whole thing about this being a "linux" program is a pile of --please stay polite--, because while VLC maybe have been made in linux (or whatever explanation you use), MAYBE the installation program was made in windows. Well, i doubt you'd overlook that, but man dont expect me to think you wouldnt either.
-
Piccolo
I didn't hear anyone claim to be infallible, but what you're describing isn't a VLC problem, at least not the official VLC, as released for download from this site (and designated mirrors). The rest of the user community (pretty large) hasn't been reporting the problem you describe.
No past experience with it causing viruses, only past experience with AV programs generating false positives over the NSIS installer, which does NOT contain a virus or spyware. That's old news, just included it for completeness.
I tried to provide a long background writeup, informative. Please, if you don't believe it, think that other people, who use both the self-installer and the daily builds, don't actually have their own AV and spyware detection/block programs running, or are simply ignoring a problem, feel free to go away and find another application.
The only thing that I can think of is, by any chance after installing VLC did you immediately go to a site and try to download a movie? Certain sites are infamous for installing a variety of nasty things. Personally, I run a spyware blocker, disable activex (have it set to notify), plus run a real-time antivirus program that scans all files on my disk and when launched.
Anyhow, if you think that maybe the installer is corrupt, though others haven't had the problem, you can actually download a zipped version of VLC, one which doesn't even have the installer.
--Run a sweep on your system -- anitvirus, spyware, to make sure you start from a clean state.
--Download the .zip version of vlc
--Rerun the sweep, to make sure that you don't actually have a latent Internet Explorer problem -- some spyware is self-reinstalling, this is documented on the Web
--Install vlc in c:\Program Files -- just unzip it, don't launch it
--Use your antivirus program, tell it to scan all files in that directory (the vlc directory), and subdirectories of it
Does your AV program report that there are viruses in it?
Good luck!
No past experience with it causing viruses, only past experience with AV programs generating false positives over the NSIS installer, which does NOT contain a virus or spyware. That's old news, just included it for completeness.
I tried to provide a long background writeup, informative. Please, if you don't believe it, think that other people, who use both the self-installer and the daily builds, don't actually have their own AV and spyware detection/block programs running, or are simply ignoring a problem, feel free to go away and find another application.
The only thing that I can think of is, by any chance after installing VLC did you immediately go to a site and try to download a movie? Certain sites are infamous for installing a variety of nasty things. Personally, I run a spyware blocker, disable activex (have it set to notify), plus run a real-time antivirus program that scans all files on my disk and when launched.
Anyhow, if you think that maybe the installer is corrupt, though others haven't had the problem, you can actually download a zipped version of VLC, one which doesn't even have the installer.
--Run a sweep on your system -- anitvirus, spyware, to make sure you start from a clean state.
--Download the .zip version of vlc
--Rerun the sweep, to make sure that you don't actually have a latent Internet Explorer problem -- some spyware is self-reinstalling, this is documented on the Web
--Install vlc in c:\Program Files -- just unzip it, don't launch it
--Use your antivirus program, tell it to scan all files in that directory (the vlc directory), and subdirectories of it
Does your AV program report that there are viruses in it?
Good luck!
-
Piccolo
"I didn't hear anyone claim to be infallible, but what you're describing isn't a VLC problem, at least not the official VLC, as released for download from this site (and designated mirrors). The rest of the user community (pretty large) hasn't been reporting the problem you describe."
Maybe their sisssies. Good point nonetheless. In my opinion the ONLY other possibility is VLC somehow activates some weird pre-existing virus. Since this doesnt seem likely, ill just say it had a damn virus on it.
"No past experience with it causing viruses, only past experience with AV programs generating false positives over the NSIS installer, which does NOT contain a virus or spyware. That's old news, just included it for completeness."
who cares?
"I tried to provide a long background writeup, informative. Please, if you don't believe it, think that other people, who use both the self-installer and the daily builds, don't actually have their own AV and spyware detection/block programs running, or are simply ignoring a problem, feel free to go away and find another application."
Acutally, you state right on the front page of the DL section that you had complaints about viruses before. Gee, you're a liar and a virus spreader
"The only thing that I can think of is, by any chance after installing VLC did you immediately go to a site and try to download a movie?"
DOnt insult my intelligence you --please stay polite--. No, i wasnt on any shareware sites, p2p sites, or porn sites, and i pretty much thought i already made that clear. I was careful about what sites to visit after the first virus, and i never got it again until I DOWNLOADED VLC.
"Certain sites are infamous for installing a variety of nasty things. "
like this one?
"Personally, I run a spyware blocker, disable activex (have it set to notify), plus run a real-time antivirus program that scans all files on my disk and when launched."
"Anyhow, if you think that maybe the installer is corrupt, though others haven't had the problem, you can actually download a zipped version of VLC, one which doesn't even have the installer."
I will never attempt to DL this again, and im not complaining about the "product", im complaing about a VIRUS. Idiot. Im asking how to get rid of this --please stay polite--, while warning you that you probably have a virus somewhere.. (figuring you would know how to fix it since youve had this type of complaint b4)
Anyway none of you have been of any help whatsoever and probably arent even in the slightest concerned that you might have a virus somewhere. So, see you later, and I suppose this thread will be deleted to maintain your "image" of efficiency.
Maybe their sisssies. Good point nonetheless. In my opinion the ONLY other possibility is VLC somehow activates some weird pre-existing virus. Since this doesnt seem likely, ill just say it had a damn virus on it.
"No past experience with it causing viruses, only past experience with AV programs generating false positives over the NSIS installer, which does NOT contain a virus or spyware. That's old news, just included it for completeness."
who cares?
"I tried to provide a long background writeup, informative. Please, if you don't believe it, think that other people, who use both the self-installer and the daily builds, don't actually have their own AV and spyware detection/block programs running, or are simply ignoring a problem, feel free to go away and find another application."
Acutally, you state right on the front page of the DL section that you had complaints about viruses before. Gee, you're a liar and a virus spreader
"The only thing that I can think of is, by any chance after installing VLC did you immediately go to a site and try to download a movie?"
DOnt insult my intelligence you --please stay polite--. No, i wasnt on any shareware sites, p2p sites, or porn sites, and i pretty much thought i already made that clear. I was careful about what sites to visit after the first virus, and i never got it again until I DOWNLOADED VLC.
"Certain sites are infamous for installing a variety of nasty things. "
like this one?
"Personally, I run a spyware blocker, disable activex (have it set to notify), plus run a real-time antivirus program that scans all files on my disk and when launched."
"Anyhow, if you think that maybe the installer is corrupt, though others haven't had the problem, you can actually download a zipped version of VLC, one which doesn't even have the installer."
I will never attempt to DL this again, and im not complaining about the "product", im complaing about a VIRUS. Idiot. Im asking how to get rid of this --please stay polite--, while warning you that you probably have a virus somewhere.. (figuring you would know how to fix it since youve had this type of complaint b4)
Anyway none of you have been of any help whatsoever and probably arent even in the slightest concerned that you might have a virus somewhere. So, see you later, and I suppose this thread will be deleted to maintain your "image" of efficiency.
I appreciate that many people here are not native English speakers. However, when you state: "Acutally, you state right on the front page of the DL section that you had complaints about viruses before. Gee, you're a liar and a virus spreader", I would have hoped that you read the download page, and understood what it said: "These are false positives, our packages are not trojaned. "
Actually, the topic will probably stay up, depends on what others think -- I liked the chance to talk a bit about the underlying method of how things are built, as well as to explain a general way of checking to see if a particular package is infected.
You really might want to clean up your language in public forums, try to act a bit more civilly; the swearing bit may be OK in some areas, but is pretty universally frowned on. I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, you said that you weren't particularly technically savvy when it comes to software ("I dont know much about computers."), so I took it as a chance to educate.
Again, good luck, enjoy the weekend!
Actually, the topic will probably stay up, depends on what others think -- I liked the chance to talk a bit about the underlying method of how things are built, as well as to explain a general way of checking to see if a particular package is infected.
You really might want to clean up your language in public forums, try to act a bit more civilly; the swearing bit may be OK in some areas, but is pretty universally frowned on. I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, you said that you weren't particularly technically savvy when it comes to software ("I dont know much about computers."), so I took it as a chance to educate.
Again, good luck, enjoy the weekend!
-
Piccolo
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 50 guests