Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

FrontAd8693 OP t1_it7r4m3 wrote

Reply to comment by axewhyzedd in TIFU by downloading malware onto my laptop when I tried to get a game by FrontAd8693

I think Iā€™m just gonna get games the legal way now šŸ˜…

16

QwertyChouskie t1_it9r9fm wrote

Still get uBlock Origin though, having a good adblocker is as important, if not more, than antivirus nowadays.

There was a recent post here on Reddit warning about the top result for MSI Afterburner (a legitimate, free utility) being an "ad" that went to an identical website but the download contained a keylogger or something along those lines.

10

laplongejr t1_itgqgkj wrote

uBlock origin and as the cherry on top, a network-wide DNS blocker like Pihole, Adguard or NextDNS

3

reevanas t1_itr9juf wrote

I mean what you've described is a Google Search Network Ad which an Ad Blocker wouldn't even block. Scammers have been using Google Ads for a while now to do this.

1

QwertyChouskie t1_itrzn9e wrote

I don't know what adblocker you are using that doesn't block Google Search ads but sounds like it's time to switch...

1

axewhyzedd t1_it7u1la wrote

That's the best way to avoid viruses then šŸ˜…

2

laplongejr t1_itgpef1 wrote

Note that some legal games can still cause damages to a computer. Notably, a dreamcast game loaded a virus when plugged into a computer to access the bundled screensaver. And some legal games anticheat system is borderline acting as a rootkit.

1

axewhyzedd t1_ithwar8 wrote

I heard Valorant's Vanguard Anti Cheat was acting as a rootkit. Not sure if it was true though.

2

laplongejr t1_ithyq0g wrote

Well, it is a question of control. An anticheat, by definition, is a software that needs to strip control from the user to give it to its developer.
A software bundled with a malicious piece of code to "strip control from the user to give it to its developer" is the practical definition of a rootkit.

So it depends on what is or isn't malicious, but computers don't care about that.

2

laplongejr t1_itgpoxy wrote

Note that you can legally get free games, like on r/FreeGamesOnSteam that list such deals.
Some special cases to the rule also exists : Minecraft used to provide the old Classic for free in browsers, nowadays provides a time-limited demo, and Raspberry Pi OS still bundles a very, very old legal free copy of Minecraft with features to integrate the virtual world with IRL devices.

And sometimes you can pay for an illegal copy, like Uplink in 2000 : the publisher never paid the dev for the copies they sold, which means the people who paid for the game weren't more legal than the ones who pirated.

While I'm on it, devs prefer that you pirate games rather than using key resellers. It is a legally grey area, but those keys are often obtained with stolen details, or by scamming the devs out of press keys. Both cost money to the dev's customer support team, while pirating doesn't cost them a penny. It's technically a legal copy, but it's a very unethical way of getting cuts.

2