Whatever Happened To Computer Viruses?

The media stopped hyping them. That's all. Gee, I wonder if they've ever done this with a biological virus...?

The best virus I've had would start opening a lot of message Windows when you turned on the pc and you had to fight against it by rapidly clicking the close button, if you managed to close up to the first window then it stopped but if you couldn't it would just keep going until it freezed the pc

my OS is a virus

The viruses are built in now. Everything you buy nowadays harrasses you with ads. It high jacks your systems abilities to capture your attention. A far more dangerous virus.

pegasus has left the chat

There is so many other better ways to do it now. We don't need people to download things to get on their computers.

The only virus today is Microsoft edge. No matter how often you delete it. It always reinstalles within 24 hours.

Back in 2002ish we got a new desktop computer and in mere months it was suddenly very slow. We blamed my step brother since he had been downloading games onto it and assumed that he must've unwittingly downloaded an undetectable virus that did permanent damage even after a fresh windows install.
Like it was stable but very slow and we couldn't afford to get another so we kinda just put up with it, because well, we still need a computer. We just weren't allowed to use it for computer games anymore.

Fast forward to 2008ish we opened the computer to have a look, it was supposed to have two sticks of 256mb ram as that was what mum bought at the time, but in fact there was a single stick of 128mb.
In other words someone broke into our home, stole the original ram and installed really shitty ram in its place which explained why the slowdown was so sudden. xD


As for the last time I got an actual computer virus, I really don't remember. xD

The money maker is tracking your activity on the internet, and most people are oblivious to it. Facebook is probably the worst.... why are there facebook trackers on literally every site you visit? So they can create a profile of you, even if you do not have a facebook account. Advertising, advertising, where the real money is made

all the viruses are all put in video game cheats

We all know the lack of viruses came about because of all the reputable free porn sites existing now. 😆

Are you guys drunk? Who told you that the Virus threat is over? Have you sourced this other than wikipedia?

The Virus threat has just gotten invisible. The first phase of it was just about "proof of concept" in the infancy of IT. Nowadays Viruses and stuff is targeted to make money. To do that it doesn't need to be obvious. Quite the opposite. Quietly steal user data. Quietly add the computer to a botnet. Quietly provide an handy backdoor. We don't notice viruses because without symptoms it's impossible to look for them in trillions of lines of code. Until some massive DDOS happens and you are left wondering where they got a couple of millions of computers to play with.

Do you understand what I'm saying? We can't see viruses anymore. That doesn't mean that they don't exists. We know they exists. Probably a lot of them. Probably everywhere. The last Symantec report I did browsed some years ago did read like "EVERYTHING IS COMPROMISED! WE ARE ALL DOOMED! FLY YOU FOOLS!"

So much misinformation in the comments. Viruses are still very common, you should still use an antivirus software, and no, windows defender is not "enough".

They are all still in Limewire

The amount of viruses I had loaded up on the family pc back in the early 2000's because of limewire was insane lol

They still exist. I have made one to fuck with a friend of mine

Microsoft is just a pile of dogshit. That's why computer viruses exist.

skips fixed that problem when he killed the mega virus

Haha our government bought them all and hid them in Microsoft Windows so that they can sell us subscriptions to HBO Max

Did that person in this video just suggested to use discord? Right after explaining that latest viruses collect your data without your consent.

I'm paying 60€ a year for a subscription to Malewarebytes on three devices. The last time I actually had a virus was a couple of years back, maybe five or six, when I used the free version of Avira and a windows 7 OS. The malicious program was then discovered by the free version of Malewarebytes at that time, I had suspected something was wrong since I experienced a slower PC. So basically the company that I've been paying for several years now, are actually the ones that convinced me by being better than their competitor.

Also using double browser security: One from Malewarebytes (it's free) and one from AdGuard (one of many addblockers). As soon as I'm trying to follow a dubious google search result instead of one of the safe websites, one or the other of the two extensions will stop the connection and display a huge warning with exact reasons what that website was infected with.


It's probably overkill to still stay subscribed, but I don't want anyone to use my machine for their virtual DDOS networks or mining bitcoin, or fish my online banking data.

It’s pronounced "data" and not "data"

What happened to computer viruses? Linux servers filtered them out. Otherwise windows would be doomed.

Great video. Probably the closest to a old school virus for average users now is ransomware. And like you mention is for profit.

There is one major area where viruses designed for pure mayhem and destruction still thrive though and that is with militaries and intelligence agencies where the goal is in a conflict to take down services in an enemy state. A recent example of this I was reading about a Ukrainian operation that shut down ATMs in Russia. Infrastructure and the "internet of things" is also a space that still has alot of security holes.

It's much easier and profitable to hack into websites and steal your passwords or buy your passwords off the dark web and just use your credit cards that way. Or Phishing you directly for the information. That or ransomwar'ing major corporations, which is their most lucrative trick.

All the talk about Windows, Windows... What kind of masochist do you have to be to use Windows? 1st. You are paying for something that is "analogous" to free applications on Linux (example with MS Office and Libre Office) Libre is free and has more applications and features than MS Office. I won't even talk about viruses and protection, it's clear to everyone. For GUI (Appearance) I'm on Manjaro Plasma Linux....Windows in no way even comes close, in terms of freedom, beauty and performance, to my Linux. About the performance... Again, there is nothing to talk about, things are vastly different. And yes, you can run your Windows games and applications on Linux. There are thousands of forums written on the subject. AGAIN I ASK, WHAT OF A MASOCHIST DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO USE THIS DISGUSTING ERROR CALLED WINDOWS AND MICROSOFT? IF THERE WERE NO WINDOWS, WE WOULD NOT BE TALKING ABOUT VIRUSES AND TROJAN HORSES NOW!

That one friend after him asking how long ago you had a virus:
Well, I tried to download free ram and now it says my computer is infected with yessir vbuck stealer.. oh well.

Honestly never used any antivirus and also never had a virus 🤷🏽‍♂️

Why do it with all the illigal media stealing and selling your information authorized by the nwo government.

There was a time where you could get worms like the "Blaster" from just connecting your pc to a infected local area network. Ever since Windows XP SP2 I can't remember this happening though. And this was probably also the last time I ever got a virus. Haven't used an anti virus since and every time I've ran a malware scanner it's the same story... 100 potentially harmful objects such as cookies and several HIGH risk warnings for programs such a Autohotkey lol. Some real time programs are even quarantining perfectly safe programs! Programs as such, even the highly rates ones are designed for one thing and one thing only: To get you into upgrading their software by making you scared. Windows defender is all you need and it's free.

bring them back

Microsoft’s incompetence continues to astound me. Of all the missed opportunities, there would be no google if not for IEs failure of a service. The fact that the pre installed browser was so bad everyone would immediately download a different one is impressive considering people always prefer simplicity.

They're still around, they just morphed into their actual names like hacks and mods. Calling them viruses for so long was very effective at installing fear of the word in society's psyche, and got us where we are today. Not much need to label hacks as viruses now. People are confirmed scared of the word to the point of seeking out injections of God knows what.

I always used spybot in the 2000s.

Hacking your brain!!!
20%
50%
70%
99%
Hacking completed.
Go to: memories.
...
Oh god this is disgusting🤢🤢🤢

So many hours as a kid spent fixing our poorly performing computer:

C:\format c:
Install DOS
Install Windows
Get internet working
Install all drivers
Install games
Repeat every few months

HOW MUCH STOCK VIDEO IS OUTHERE OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT THEIR COMPUTERS?

I still remember always looking up what the best Anti-virus was back then XD

As long as you know what you are clicking and downloading, you gonnq be fine

They figured that viruses don't actually stop people from pirating stuff, so they stopped making them/fearmongering

It's harder to get the data into peoples systems even if not impossible, it's more efficient to just be a scammer on social media sites

J0hn McAfee died not long ago...

The current state of malware is much scarier now. At least, you used to know that you were being screwed back then.

McAfee died and suddenly viruses stopped.

The only times i encounted antivirus warnings was when I was compiling MY OWN C++ code on windows. It runned the check EVERY TIME i ran the program I WROTE MYSELF, and sometimes even deleted it without asking. That's why I hate antiviruses: they always assume I don't know what I am doing, but even if I actually do not know my thing, I have nothing to steal from me. They are completely pointless to me!

they are now web based and are ransomware.

The single biggest security threat right now in my opinion is the absolutely criminal negligence of email providers to give accurate sender readings on emails.

It is simply too easy to spoof / change or hide the sender's email address, or even flatout spoof your identity into a legitimate sender ID.

Next gen email protocols that are already available to eliminate this risk exist but have yet to be implemented and it's causing billions of dollars of damage and life ruining problems for hundreds of thousands of honest workers.

viruses and trojans still exist, but nowadays they just get used as a botnet, meaning, they are mining crypto currencies on your computer or they'll be used to DDOS another platform