Yes you can get a virus by just going to a website. But not everyone who visits the bad website will get the virus. It all depends on which exploit the site is using and how up to date your Windows machine is.
There are several ways a computer can get a virus or spyware from a website. The first one is known as a “drive by download”. A virus or spyware infects the computer without any action from the user. This method usually uses exploits in web browsers and Internet Explorer is usually the target.
The second method tricks the user into installing the virus or spyware. The site will claim the user must download a player, codec, Active-X control or some type of plugin for the site to function properly. If the user agrees and download/install the “file” he or she will get infected by the virus or spyware. You may not even know you are getting infected and just move on.
If your computer is patched with the latest Windows Updates and you are using the most current web browser you should be pretty safe from “drive by download”. Some common sense is needed to avoid the second one.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
was reading and a warning came from the webpage. said i was infected and must download and run to get rid of it…it freaked me out because as i was trying to close the download block on the page it went to my computer and it said i had this worm/trogan and i should download and run to get rid of it…i had a hell of a time closing the damn block and page…i ran mcAfee scan it found nothing! anyone ever had this happen..had i downloaded and ran i may have brought in the worm …it looked offical….??
darrell the same thing happened to me. one day i let my brother use my laptop and when i got it back, the same thing happened. i restarted my laptop and then ran my virus scan and i really did have a virus though! i opened up my internet history and it appeared that he was looking at porn so i probably got it from there!
i got my laptop cleaned by geek squad though, even though the whole thing ran me at about $270
Hey guys. I have the same problem if I go to a website ( no porn, just a video-website ) and then a pop-up came and said: YOU HAVE A VIRUS! So I clicked on [ X ], and then another pop up came, with Download this and get rid of the virus! But it was a self downloader, so I clicked fastly the “CLOSE” button. But I have got no virus. Just a fake error, if you download that program, and try to install it, THEN you’ll get the virus. But first, when I didn’t knew this. I let the .exe download by it self, and then I ran it. But it gave me more virusses, and there were more virus removers ( which I didn’t install/download! ) But I’ve learned from my mistake. Later, a site gave me a warning too! ( This is ALWAYS a false alarm ). Now I’m smarter than before. But now I go to safe sites with McAfee Site Advisor. I would recommend all people MSA.
So conclusion:
If a websites gives you a warning and says that you have a virus, and then another ie.exe pop ups, CLICK SO FAST AS YOU CAN [X].. but if you’re stupid and you let it go. You WILL get the virus.
PS: My English sucks, I’m 13 years old and I’m from Holland. So don’t mind my English please.
Being a tech person myself, I’m well aware that a virus is a program and the only way it can run is if it is first executed on your system.
It doesn’t matter how smart the site is, it is unfortunately limited by the fact that IE8 for example does not let any software get installed on your system unless you consent to the download.
Now I agree that sites can offer the download to you without you clicking on anything, but you still have to click run which is quite easy to mistakingly do if you’re new to the internet.
Now I only see this rumor as another ploy for antivirus software which I refuse to use (or pay for for that matter) to pump more dollars out of you. They’re basically trying to scare people into buying their product by making it seem like sites can do more than they actually can.
So whoever wrote the answer at the top quoting “A virus or spyware infects the computer without any action from the user” may need to do a bit more research.
However, I have no problem with being proved wrong. If that person can create a website that can do this or knows one already, I’m more than happy to test it out.
I got slammed by the “Antivirus Live” virus the other day – and I am sure that I did nothing to provoke this other than visit a website. I saw a link on btjunkie.org for another site called freefordummies.com and this is where I first saw the warnings for a virus being blocked by my Windows – and it looked like it was a genuine Windows warning asking me to click to block and delete the threat. This is no doubt where it infected my machine and yes James, I did actually “click” on a button so this is where the infection started I believe also. Go check the sites out for yourself, and see if anything “pops up”. Hopefully if you don’t click on anything no virus will attack your machine with a drive by download – but then again you never know – it sure hit me fast and furious – and was a royal pain to get rid of too. I sure hope no one is foolish enough to buy the Antivirus Live software these morons are pushing – I guess nothing is free after all…
Yeah, I just clicked on a link to go read something and all of a sudden, i end up on a page saying “your computer being infected” but by the website browser instead of the system itself. Instead of downloading anything, i just closed my browser. My laptop should be fine right?
This stuff happened to me too, and if you leave it, it gets worse. that stuff is a sign of spyware and you should go buy an anti spyware program to get rid of it. i have nortan and even though it says it protects against spyware, it never even told me i had any on my computer.
I was lookin at stuff for Microsoft Corp when I clicked a link to a web site through google my computer screen popped up and started downloadin a trojon virus which infected my entire house net work including my moms computer through the wireless system any ideas on how I got the virus
I have seen literally thousands of different types of viruses and have never seen a virus that can execute itself without a user command. A virus is a programm that is designed to carry out various commands from a simple annoying blip to a program that will delete everything on your hard drive. You can, however be tricked into executing a virus. Rule of thumb, don’t click if your not sure and don’t download if your not sure. Pop ups a lot of times will contain malicious programms.
So U Can Only Get A Virus From Downloading From A Website Or ou Can Get It Just by Clicking To See The Website And Thats it?Cause I havent Downloaded Anythin But IMVU.com???Please please help!
It is an absolute fact that you CAN get a virus/malware, just by visiting a page. Yes, as well, you can get hoaxed into clicking on a link that will download something, and a myriad of inbetweens.
I ask myself, how can Microsoft allow this? Don’t know other than to admire/hate the fellows who spend their lives doing this stuff. And don’t think it’s just some goofy kid in his bedroom. This is cutting edge stuff that is organized and for financial gain.
Now what you can do is this:
Don’t run as administrator or with administrator rights. Set up your pc to logon as a simple user. And only run as administrator when you are going to be making changes to your system. This is a pain of course.
Second and just as important. Get a copy of malwarebytes.org software on your computer. Installed and ready to go before you have a problem. Then when you accidently see that stupid screen pop up that says “you may be infected, download this software right here” you know then you ARE infected. close out all the windows, restart in safe mode, and run malwarebytes in the full scan. and run it again about 3 more times to make sure.
That should keep you from having to spend cash on resolving this problem.
If you don’t have malwarebytes on your system right this minute, go get it. You have been warned!Do it now, not after. It is too hard to fix it after.
i went on a site by mistake on google chrome and it was google chrome that said i have trojans/ malware and it said check so i click check it showed me 2 places. i suddenly freaked out and closed it because i thought it was the website hacking my laptop so i ran avast, spybot and windows defender and none of them came up with any thing. but could any thing be on my computer (virus).
Ariana poor baby iwould have fixed it for free in 12 minutes hit f8 and chose an option until its fixed cut off pc1st then hit f8 as it comes on
Can you get a virus from visiting the site, but closing the page before it loads? I was kind of stupid enough to click on a link, but as soon as it popped up it said, “Not Responding”, so I exited out. Now I’m nervous about if I have a virus… The computer I’m using doesn’t really have as good of protection as the one I usually use.
I received an email. I cliked it accidently. It looked official. It tired to download a file. It said run save or cancel. I hit cancel you guys think I’m okay??
Hey, mcAfee isn’t all that great you should try advast its a good viruis database and i always have it running there is a free trial for a year so that is also nice.. and hey I’m just giving suggestions
Could you Get a virus on an iPod touch?
Hey newbies if you get a security pop up warning from internet explorer security do not click on it. Immediately ctr-alt-delete to get to task manager click on start task manger go the applications file and click on everything that is open with explorer (you can multiclick by highlighting with ctrl hit at same time) highlight all of them with E and then end task. You may have to do it over and over. If this doesn’t work shut down your computer. Restart it in safe mode with networking. You do this by pushing on the F8 key while the it restarts. In safemode w/ networking update your virus protector or down load spybot etc. Do not under any circumstances put your credit card number in to get a virus protector while you have a malware on your system. If you need a virus protector because spybot didn’t get the malware off your system then call and give your credit card number then download it from your email. Usually spybot works but not always and I turne to Vipre. Good luck. If you did happen to click on the box by mistake you have downloaded something bad. It will usually make your Explorer jump wild from website to website and keep prompting you to run a scan. DO NOT. It may even hijack your internet. Go to safemode and do the same as above. Only in safe mode will you be able to run your virus protection.
i know its a bit late to be commenting on this now, but, danny, the virus you probably have is ‘vundo’ which is responsible for fake ads that drag in viruses, in the form of popups. download advanced systemcare 4, this should find and get rid of most spyware, as well as other things.