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Virus on page?



 
 
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  #46  
Old March 19th 19, 12:16 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Virus on page?

On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:48:07 -0000, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 18/03/2019 15.03, Mayayana wrote:
"Commander Kinsey" wrote

| Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has links to
click just like a webpage.

Not to nag, but you might also consider not allowing PDFs
to load in your browser. They're a common attack method.
They're not webpages. They only load at all because Adobe
has been trying, for many years, to find a way to hijack
the Internet. (Flash, PDF, AIR.)


Firefox has some support to display PDF internally without using a
plugin from adobe or elseware. But the rendering is not as perfect. I
don't know about other browsers, but I suspect they do similarly. I
believe PDFs are safe as long as the reader does not supports or ignore
the possible javascript code they can contain.


You'd be hard pressed to develop anything worse than Adobe's Acrobat Reader. Just try printing something from it, you won't get anything remotely like what's on the screen. I often have to screengrab it and print it from Paintshop Pro.

Usually if a PDF is linked it's because you want a copy.
So it makes sense to set your browser so that you
download PDFs. Then you don't have to keep going
back to the website every time you want to look at it.
A PDF is not necessarily safer on your computer than in
the browser, but there are two differences:


And because the leaflet can be printed, with accuracy.


Adobe, accuracy, ROTFPMSL!

1) You can use a PDF reader with script disabled or with
no scripting ability, to be safe. (Like Sumatra.)

2) A downloaded PDF is less likely to take you by
surprise, in case you were tricked into clicking the link
to it.

Ads
  #47  
Old March 19th 19, 12:16 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Virus on page?

On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:50:52 -0000, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 18/03/2019 20.08, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 14:03:54 -0000, Mayayana
wrote:

"Commander Kinsey" wrote

| Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has
links to
click just like a webpage.
|

Not to nag, but you might also consider not allowing PDFs
to load in your browser. They're a common attack method.
They're not webpages. They only load at all because Adobe
has been trying, for many years, to find a way to hijack
the Internet. (Flash, PDF, AIR.)


Hijack?


Design technologies that get very popular on Internet, but being owned
by them, they get paid in some manner. They also do not publish all the
details of the technology so that it is hard by others to replicate the
implementations.


I can't say I'm surprised that Adobe would be that underhanded.
  #48  
Old March 19th 19, 12:17 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,718
Default Virus on page?

In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

| Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has links to
click just like a webpage.
|
Not to nag, but you might also consider not allowing PDFs
to load in your browser. They're a common attack method.
They're not webpages. They only load at all because Adobe
has been trying, for many years, to find a way to hijack
the Internet. (Flash, PDF, AIR.)


adobe isn't trying to hijack anything, certainly not with pdf, which
isn't even owned by them.


This is inexact.


it is not.

There is a published PDF standard, which they no longer own.


i said that.

But they
can add, and do add, additional features that only them support properly
(because they don't publish).


as can others, however, content creators are not required to use them,
and it would be foolish to do so. it's rare that a pdf on a web site is
anything fancy.

Usually if a PDF is linked it's because you want a copy.


not necessarily.

So it makes sense to set your browser so that you
download PDFs. Then you don't have to keep going
back to the website every time you want to look at it.


it makes a lot more sense to read it in the browser and save a copy if
desired, rather than have to switch to a separate reader just to see
the pdf and then trash it if it's not worth keeping.


Actually, the browser always downloads the PDF to temporary storage
before rendering it. In theory this can be done in memory, but why would
they? It is more work.


browsers download everything to temporary storage, and whether it's in
memory or a cache file depends on available resources and not relevant
anyway.

the point is that a user can click on a pdf and read it directly in the
browser just as they do with any other web page. it's just another
link. if the pdf is interesting enough to keep, click another button to
save it, otherwise, close the window (or click the back button) and
it's gone.

the workflow mayayana describes is to always save a pdf in a separate
file, then switch to a different app to read it, and if it's not worth
keeping, switch to explorer to trash it. that's a lot less efficient.
  #49  
Old March 19th 19, 12:17 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,718
Default Virus on page?

In article , Commander Kinsey
wrote:

You'd be hard pressed to develop anything worse than Adobe's Acrobat Reader.
Just try printing something from it, you won't get anything remotely like
what's on the screen. I often have to screengrab it and print it from
Paintshop Pro.


then you're doing something very, very wrong.
  #50  
Old March 19th 19, 09:36 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Chris
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 832
Default Virus on page?

Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 18/03/2019 13.40, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 03:26:19 -0000, Carlos E.R.
wrote:

On 18/03/2019 00.15, Commander Kinsey wrote:
WARNING!Â* Do not click the misspelt link below (between asterisks)
unless you know your computer is protected.

On Stirling Council's parking page
https://my.stirling.gov.uk/media/442...park-guide.pdf
There is a link to the thistle centre car park, which they have misspelt
as **** http://www.thethsitles.com/ **** instead of
http://www.thethistles.com/

Question 1) Is this a virus?Â* It just bleeps very loudly through the
speakers and asks me to click to update something.
Question 2) Can this be reported to someone?Â* The company they rent the
domain name from perhaps?

(I've already advised Stirling Council to correct their spelling error)

The first page is a PDF, not a web page


Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has links to
click just like a webpage.


Depends on the local configuration - in my machine it doesn't :-)

and looking at the properties
it was generated on 2014. It is possible that the link is outdated and
now points to somewhere else than intended, because of a typing error or
no maintenance of the site.


It must be a typing error, it would never have been spelt thsitle.

Anyway hopefully they will update it now I've warned them.Â* I'm
surprised nobody else came across it before, parking in Stirling is so
bad you have to research first!Â* Even if you pay, hardly anywhere allows
more than a 2 hour stay.


Wow. I have never seen something like that here


To be fair there's not a lot to do in Stirling so 2 hours is plenty

There is the rather magnificent Stirling Castle, nearby, and there's plenty
of parking. Some of it free IIRC
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Castle

  #51  
Old March 19th 19, 09:45 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Chris
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 832
Default Virus on page?

Commander Kinsey wrote:
Oh, Youtube changed to HTML5 4 years ago :-)
Surprising as I didn't think all browsers took up HTML5 for quite a while.

So how come a big company like Adobe made such a piece of crap, and didn't fix it?


They didn't make it, they bought it. I guess in the end it was too hard to
maintain and required a specific install for every os. Just like java which
is all also dying. HTML 5 is os agnostic by default. IOS not supporting it
was the killer blow.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash


  #52  
Old March 19th 19, 11:43 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,718
Default Virus on page?

In article , Chris
wrote:

Oh, Youtube changed to HTML5 4 years ago :-)
Surprising as I didn't think all browsers took up HTML5 for quite a while.

So how come a big company like Adobe made such a piece of crap, and didn't
fix it?


They didn't make it, they bought it. I guess in the end it was too hard to
maintain and required a specific install for every os. Just like java which
is all also dying. HTML 5 is os agnostic by default. IOS not supporting it
was the killer blow.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash


actually, ios not supporting it greatly injured it, but it limped along
for a few years as adobe desperately tried to get it to run on android.

the killer blow was when android stopped supporting it.
  #53  
Old March 19th 19, 12:17 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
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Posts: 1,356
Default Virus on page?

On 18/03/2019 23.49, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:39:59 -0000, Carlos E.R.
wrote:

On 18/03/2019 14.31, Paul wrote:
Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 03:26:19 -0000, Carlos E.R.
wrote:

Possibly one of those adds you get triggered the blast (maybe from
your
antivirus?). I have heard that blast on a friend's laptop once, and
scared me ****less. I must say that you guys on Windows get more fun
that us poor lads on Linux :-P

I've never had a bleep like that before.Â* It sounds like the BBC2 test
signal.

History of computing comes to mind...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_speaker

If the sound system is down (driver is not working),
OSes are allowed to use "PCBeep". PCBeep is considered
to be the "backup notification system". If the sound
card goes missing, software is allowed to abuse that.


On my desktop machine, the beeper is tiny and hardly heard. I could not
find a bigger unit.


Most desktops don't even have one.Â* This one is unusual.


Mine originally had nothing. No beeper, nor the wire connected to the
audio card (IIRC the card doesn't have the connector, either). When I
bought it online I forgot to add the internal speaker/beeper component,
I did not see it. So years later I bought a bag of 10 or 20 from Amazon
for a puny price...


On laptops, the pc beeper is usually routed via the sound card, and it
can go at top volume by default :-/


I didn't know there was still a beeper function unless you were using DOS!


Even in Linux. It is a standard.


I have the vague recollection that some keyboards had one inside :-?


The BIOS beeper/speaker has also been tied in the
past, to games. The motherboard speaker can be
used as a 1-bit DAC, and game soundtracks can be
played through it. (A certain era of Macintosh gaming
did this too, and there were probably 200 games
that did the 1-bit DAC thing... The fidelity is
surprisingly good. 1-bit DACs have also been
used in expensive stereo equipment, in case
you thought that nobody would dare try that :-)
To make that work, just crank up the clock rate,
and the 1 bit DAC does a damn good job. The DAC
needs to be followed by a reconstruction filter,
which is what makes it work.)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Abad%C3%ADa_del_Crimen

«The music played in the game corresponds to the Minuet in G major and
the sonata for flute BWV 1033 from Bach, and Crystal Palace from
Gwendal. The original PC version also featured the "Ave Maria" from
Schubert, in a short chorus recording that played through the speaker
when the player went to the church.

There is a form of copy protection on the PC version: if an illegal copy
of the game was created, in the church area, instead of "Ave Maria", a
voice crying "Pirate! Pirate! Pirate!" several times will be heard
instead, and after that the game will crash.»


Copyright sux.


Oh, yes, but in this case it was funny.

There was at the time a "copyright" program that would copy most
original 5¼ floppies. This game worked just fine, IIRC.

--
Cheers, Carlos.
  #54  
Old March 19th 19, 12:20 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
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Posts: 1,356
Default Virus on page?

On 19/03/2019 00.17, nospam wrote:
In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

| Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has links to
click just like a webpage.
|
Not to nag, but you might also consider not allowing PDFs
to load in your browser. They're a common attack method.
They're not webpages. They only load at all because Adobe
has been trying, for many years, to find a way to hijack
the Internet. (Flash, PDF, AIR.)

adobe isn't trying to hijack anything, certainly not with pdf, which
isn't even owned by them.


This is inexact.


it is not.

There is a published PDF standard, which they no longer own.


i said that.

But they
can add, and do add, additional features that only them support properly
(because they don't publish).


as can others, however, content creators are not required to use them,
and it would be foolish to do so. it's rare that a pdf on a web site is
anything fancy.


On the contrary. Most government forms and complex forms I have seen use
them.


Usually if a PDF is linked it's because you want a copy.

not necessarily.

So it makes sense to set your browser so that you
download PDFs. Then you don't have to keep going
back to the website every time you want to look at it.

it makes a lot more sense to read it in the browser and save a copy if
desired, rather than have to switch to a separate reader just to see
the pdf and then trash it if it's not worth keeping.


Actually, the browser always downloads the PDF to temporary storage
before rendering it. In theory this can be done in memory, but why would
they? It is more work.


browsers download everything to temporary storage, and whether it's in
memory or a cache file depends on available resources and not relevant
anyway.

the point is that a user can click on a pdf and read it directly in the
browser just as they do with any other web page. it's just another
link. if the pdf is interesting enough to keep, click another button to
save it, otherwise, close the window (or click the back button) and
it's gone.


which just copies the file from temporary directory to final directory.


the workflow mayayana describes is to always save a pdf in a separate
file, then switch to a different app to read it, and if it's not worth
keeping, switch to explorer to trash it. that's a lot less efficient.



--
Cheers, Carlos.
  #55  
Old March 19th 19, 12:23 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,356
Default Virus on page?

On 19/03/2019 00.16, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:48:07 -0000, Carlos E.R.
wrote:

On 18/03/2019 15.03, Mayayana wrote:
"Commander Kinsey" wrote

| Technically yes, but the PDF is displayed in my browser and has
links to
click just like a webpage.

** Not to nag, but you might also consider not allowing PDFs
to load in your browser. They're a common attack method.
They're not webpages. They only load at all because Adobe
has been trying, for many years, to find a way to hijack
the Internet. (Flash, PDF, AIR.)


Firefox has some support to display PDF internally without using a
plugin from adobe or elseware. But the rendering is not as perfect. I
don't know about other browsers, but I suspect they do similarly. I
believe PDFs are safe as long as the reader does not supports or ignore
the possible javascript code they can contain.


You'd be hard pressed to develop anything worse than Adobe's Acrobat
Reader.* Just try printing something from it, you won't get anything
remotely like what's on the screen.* I often have to screengrab it and
print it from Paintshop Pro.


Huh? I never had any such problem printing from adobe reader reliably.


** Usually if a PDF is linked it's because you want a copy.
So it makes sense to set your browser so that you
download PDFs. Then you don't have to keep going
back to the website every time you want to look at it.
A PDF is not necessarily safer on your computer than in
the browser, but there are two differences:


And because the leaflet can be printed, with accuracy.


Adobe, accuracy, ROTFPMSL!


Well, adobe or others :-)

--
Cheers, Carlos.
  #56  
Old March 19th 19, 02:11 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Virus on page?

"Commander Kinsey" wrote

| Funny how I've never been infected, yet both of AVG and MB have flagged up
things and removed them.
|

I suppose 2 condoms is better than one if you're
going to engage in risky behavior, and that approach
has worked for you. Hopefully they won't slip off.


  #57  
Old March 19th 19, 02:27 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Virus on page?

"Carlos E.R." wrote

| the point is that a user can click on a pdf and read it directly in the
| browser just as they do with any other web page. it's just another
| link. if the pdf is interesting enough to keep, click another button to
| save it, otherwise, close the window (or click the back button) and
| it's gone.
|
| which just copies the file from temporary directory to final directory.
|
|
| the workflow mayayana describes is to always save a pdf in a separate
| file, then switch to a different app to read it, and if it's not worth
| keeping, switch to explorer to trash it. that's a lot less efficient.
|

In case you weren't aware, nospam argues as a hobby.
It never ends. Anything you say is just the raw material
for more adversarial zeal.

I've also come to be wary of people who talk about
"workflow". (I assume you're a Spanish speaker but you seem
to be fully English-fluent.) I don't know where the
word developed, but it seems to be mostly a marketing
device used by software companies to make the use of
their software sound very technical and professional:

"In terms of breakfast productivity, I've added a spatula
to my workflow on days when I'm leveraging egg content.
I've been seeing greatly improved outcomes and a 200%
increase in outcome options, since I can now fry OR scramble."

The Internet is full of important people going in circles
with tremendous efficiency.



  #58  
Old March 19th 19, 02:54 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Virus on page?

Carlos E.R. wrote:


Huh? I never had any such problem printing from adobe reader reliably.


I prefer PDF for its page composition role.
WYSIWYG, generally speaking.

It usually eliminates some of the variability seen
in print dialog boxes. Because for certain transformations,
you get to look at the result, before actually attempting
to print.

If it's going to screw up, it might be a scaling
error when using "shrink to print" and printing an A4
doc on 8.5x11 paper.

I seem to have much poorer luck getting docs
to print properly, using a print dialog within
a DTP program itself. I end up wasting paper
until I get it right. I can probably save
at least one sheet of paper, using PDF as an
intermediary.

Paul
  #59  
Old March 19th 19, 02:59 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,718
Default Virus on page?

In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

There is a published PDF standard, which they no longer own.


i said that.

But they
can add, and do add, additional features that only them support properly
(because they don't publish).


as can others, however, content creators are not required to use them,
and it would be foolish to do so. it's rare that a pdf on a web site is
anything fancy.


On the contrary. Most government forms and complex forms I have seen use
them.


forms are not adobe proprietary.

i've never seen a single pdf posted for public consumption that uses
adobe extensions in more than 20 years.

where it's used is when everyone is using the same software, normally
*within* graphic arts and publishing companies.
  #60  
Old March 19th 19, 02:59 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.computer.workshop
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,718
Default Virus on page?

In article , Mayayana
wrote:


| Funny how I've never been infected, yet both of AVG and MB have flagged up
things and removed them.
|

I suppose 2 condoms is better than one if you're
going to engage in risky behavior, and that approach
has worked for you. Hopefully they won't slip off.


it isn't, nor are two anti-virus utilities.
 




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