CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 A friend of mine has a problem that has stumped me - no shocks there then eh? He uses AVG as an anti virus package and recently was infected by something called JS/downloader.agent. He did not immediately recognize it (he is not the brightest) and it sat on his PC for about 2 weeks before being deleted. He now has a problem with his playback of avi files that have come from torrents which may or may not be linked to the infection. This only affects the latest downloads and older AVI files already burnt to disk play fine. What happens is that after the torrent has been downloaded and you try to play it through WMP you get an error message coming up that says: Opening file - The file you are attempting to play has an extension (.avi) that does not match the file format. It then goes on to ask if you still wish to try and play this file and when you click yes the media starts with some music and a screen that shows a sun rising. It then stops and says "Codec erroe: use Windows Media player" and then a web page opens on IE that has a site reference 91.121.93.184. This then stops and a warning comes up saying that this site could be a "bad 'un". I have downloaded the latest version of codecs and I have run AVG again and not found any infection. I was now thinking of running NOD32 trial software to see what that did but after that I was a little bit stuck. Should I try a Malware finder? Maybe Adaware? Any help greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Simple, the latest video downloads he has are fake and trying to install spyware. Try downloading from a different source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Simple, the latest video downloads he has are fake and trying to install spyware. Every one of them? That would mean that approximately 20 of his downloads (the latest that is) are all fake and that from a random selection. That seems very coincidental to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Every one of them? That would mean that approximately 20 of his downloads (the latest that is) are all fake and that from a random selection. That seems very coincidental to me. He's probably downloaded them all from the same place? Either they were dodgy when he downloaded them or some virus has infected those to try and connect off to some spyware site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 He's probably downloaded them all from the same place? Either they were dodgy when he downloaded them or some virus has infected those to try and connect off to some spyware site. Thank you for that filos mou. I will go back later and have him delete all these and find out where he got them from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallshinyant Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Just a quick one, in case what ever he had destroyed his codecs, try getting him to download and install VLC player. Its free and comes pre-packaged with all the codecs you could need. try playing them on there. if they play ok, then there is something else wrong. On a side note. Problem with a virus like JS/downloader.agent is that it does not do any harm its self, but it will happily sit in the background downloading and installing other malicious software. Your friend might not of seen the last of his problems. I always suggest wiping a machine and re-installing windows after a virus but as nobody does, get him to run another virus scanner just to be on the safe side (i.e. http://housecall.trendmicro.com ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edge Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 As above. Download VLC. Great program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 I think your advice regarding running another scan with a different program is a good idea. TBH, VLC wont matter much to him as he rarely watches anything on screen but instead transfers straight to DVD to watch on his TV. This is the first time that he has had problems with WMP and that due to the bad torrents rather than its inability to run the format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallshinyant Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Difficult to say, although it is a common route of attack to disguise things codec requests. VLC player would confirm if this was the problem a problem with WMP or the downloads. either way it will hopefully give him a bit of direction in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 he rarely watches anything on screen but instead transfers straight to DVD to watch on his TV. Do these suspect avi files play ok on his DVD player? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty71 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Simple, the latest video downloads he has are fake and trying to install spyware. Try downloading from a different source. Most probably correct there Thorin, and if you are going to download off torrents btjunkie , mininova etc goddam virus check anything before you open it!! Ive been using mIRC for years, and the newsgroups many years ago never had an issue on there, downloads are much much faster too, 700mb avi's in 7-10 odd minutes, good community too. It seems Thorin Likes his a/v and PC stuff to:eyebrows: Scotty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Do these suspect avi files play ok on his DVD player? He hasn't bothered burning them Jake so he wouldn't know. I have told him to delete them all now and to try another site for a sample download to see if the problem clears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Most probably correct there Thorin, and if you are going to download off torrents btjunkie , mininova etc goddam virus check anything before you open it!! Ive been using mIRC for years, and the newsgroups many years ago never had an issue on there, downloads are much much faster too, 700mb avi's in 7-10 odd minutes, good community too. It seems Thorin Likes his a/v and PC stuff to:eyebrows: Scotty So, other than the normal torrent sites (mininova, pirate bay etc) where else can I find my material to d/l? What exactly is mIRC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edge Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Wow not used mirc for years. Its was all script the last time i used it. If you do alot of downloading then newsgroups are worth looking into. Its work similar to torrents but you can max out your internet speed 24hrs a day if you wish as the servers are quick and reliable. You have to pay for the server that you download through but its about £6/month. I have just got into newsgroups and will never use a torrent again. It would take me days to download a file of about 4gig with torrents as my internet speed isnt great (2.5 meg ish) but this way i can do it in 4 hours so probably save that on electric but mainly time. Also when you search for your downloads there are a few sites who check all the files to make sure they dont contain anything they shouldnt but limit you to say 5 - 10 a day but you can pay like £7 one off to remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Can you explain more about newsgroups please? Or point me to any good links that I can do some research with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Can you explain more about newsgroups please? Or point me to any good links that I can do some research with. You still interested in this Col? You can (ab)use my EasyNews account for a bit if you like. I've got over 300Gb credit so it's not gonna hurt me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.