Could my computer get infected with any harmful software if I watch something online?

[anonymous]

Say, if i stream a video and watch it online will my computer get a virus? Like, I found a website where I can watch movies online and I stream the video directly (not download). Could my computer get infected with a virus...? Trojan? Worm? Anything harmful that will destroy my computer.

[(A)]

YES





☼

[Seb]

Yes because you need to "download" the video to be able to watch it (That's why sometimes it takes some time to load) Watching movies online is 1) Illegal and 2) Dangerous.

[<3]

depends what you watch.

[Laz H]

Maybe. The code on the page you visited could download malicious software if you're using an unreliable browser *cough*InternetExplorer*cough.

[Eric]

no, if you have a firewall it will disallow and packets trying to get to ports they are not allowed in, and if you have antivirus it will scan the incoming data looking for anything malicious.

[Muckdoomee]

No, you will need to install a fake codec or a fake flash update in order to get malware. It is by user intervention.

If you come across a video clip on the net and you want to watch it, and then an error message pops up saying, sorry you cannot watch it, you need to install a flash update to watch it, that fake flash update is malware. Now, this sort of attacks are prevalent on social networking such as MyFace, FaceBook, AIM, MSN and more.

This practice of installing fake codec or flash update has been around for a while, and now, there are more and more attacks on social networking where the users are more likely to drop their guard if a video clip was sent from their "Buddy" but the video clip was never sent from their "Buddy" in the first place.

There are also fake YouTube pages too with the same principle of asking you to install fake flash update, again, user intervention is involved. Just google Koobface, fake codecs, fake flash updates and fake youTube pages and loads of sites that can tell you more on there.

[Maktoom]

yes sometimes.
if you delete your temporary files of browser after watching something it will be good.

[Steve]

maybe, your pc may get infected with virus once it connects to Internet!

[miniatureboundary826]

It depends on which site are you going. But i don't think its possible if you're not downloading the video. But if you see you have much pop up, you may have been infected.

There is no anti virus/spyware which is 100% accurate but there are many good antivirus/spyware. If anyone said this or that antivirus/spyware is the best, its all a LIE.
If you want the paid version, i think Kaspersky Internet Security is a worth value buy.

http://www.kaspersky.com/products

For the free one, here is some recommendation:

ANTI VIRUS
* AVG
* Avira
* Avast
* PC Tools

Just remember to choose only ONE anti virus.

ANTI SPYWARE
* Malwarebytes Anti Malware
* SUPERAntiSpyware
* Spybot Search and Destroy
* Norman Malware Cleaner

You may need two anti spyware because its okay but don't run it on the same. Run it one after another.

FIREWALL
* PC Tools Firewall Plus
* ZoneAlarm

Firewall is important too. Don't miss it.

CLEANING YOUR PC
* CCleaner
* Wise Disk Cleaner
* Wise Registry Cleaner

All the software can be downloaded here :

1. http://moneylessmax.blogspot.com/search/...
2. http://moneylessmax.blogspot.com/search/...