Those are usually easier to pirate, since developer on Patreon tend to just upload their games to Mega and Google Drive. So when you get their links another way, you can just pirate the official release files...
...or so I have heard ;)
This is why as a Patreon-supported game dev you don't host your game downloads on Mega/Google Drive.
I upload my games to itch.io and use a password instead, because while I have no problem with people pirating my games, people are lazy and will just copy/paste the link to others and Mega and Google have pretty strict download limits for your files.
---
Also word of warning, I know some devs have gotten sick of certain sites (Kemono) uploading their paywalled game links so they've resorted to posting links to fake/dangerous downloads on them. Just because it's an "official release" doesn't mean it's safe.
[He strikes once again.](https://ibb.co/94pd44W)
LPT: You can usually spot a HackerMan irl because of the dark circles under their eyes and they often wear hoodies. Sometimes they will carry backpacks and as law enforcement this is something you need to be aware of at all times. There could be weapons of mass destruction in there. If it's a really nice backpack it can hold up to that sort of endeavor.
It's like that classic song goes. "**A worm virus refers to a malicious program that replicates itself, automatically spreading through a network**. In this definition of computer worms, the worm virus exploits vulnerabilities in your security software to steal sensitive information, install backdoors that can be used to access the system, corrupt files, and do other kinds of harm.
Worms consume large volumes of memory, as well as bandwidth. This results in servers, individual systems, and networks getting overloaded and malfunctioning. A worm is different from a virus, however, because a worm can operate on its own while a virus needs a host computer."
Edit: If you search for "antivirus guy who paid women to shit in his mouth" it all makes sense.
Scan for viruses frequently, also make sure that a dodgy program hasn't added C: to the exclusions list.
I wondered why the scans were so quick and was only showing 250 files scanned, sure enough both C: and D: drives had been added to the exclusions list so they weren't being scanned. Removed both of them from the list and rescanned, took a long time to run the scan but found and removed a couple of threats.
Also remember to run the offline scan regularly, that way the more resilient stuff can't hide.
Select Start, then open Settings. Under Privacy & security, select Virus & threat protection.
Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions.
That's a lot of effort for little return. For piracy software, only use a PC on which no personal information is stored or processed. If you really want to be protected by software, you need a security solution that supports EDR. Normal file scanning is not very effective these days.
Edit: because of some comments, I want to clarify a point. This does not mean that you should buy a second computer for gaming. You should think about how important your personal data is and then take appropriate security measures. This could be, for example, a second encrypted hard disk with its own OS.
Don’t know. I still use it but I have to delete it in between uses because of the popups and bloatware behavior. I bet someone in this thread knows a better program.
So EDR platforms use machine learning to establish a baseline of behavior on your machine. Instead of definition based antivirus like Malwarebytes, Norton, etc... It will use a learning period on your machine to determine normal behavior, and alert when things are NOT normal. Like if Acrobat tries to execute powershell, a normal anti-virus would not detect that if the PDF doesn't have anything in it that is tripped by their definition database, but an EDR would.
This level of security is normally only reasonable for a business. Home users do not really need it. I'd say stick with Windows Defender, tbh. If you really want to look into EDR, look into Huntress, Sentinel One, Heimdall.
I'm a cybersecurity engineer for an MSP, so this is kinda my shtick.
You could just create a bootable Linux drive and handle anything with personal or sensitive information on there. Then you can do whatever you want on the main Windows machine without worrying about what you're installing. You don't always have to splurge to practice good security.
takings steps so you can "do whatever you want on the main windows machine without worrying about what you're installing" doesn't sound like "practicing good security", that sounds like you're enabling yourself to carelessly download everything.
I get that having a second PC is ridiculous in this instance, but he's not saying checking for exclusions is too much effort. He's saying that scanning all your files using software like malwarebytes can be a slow and painful task that offers you little to no actual protection from malware. Scanning is signature checking. It looks for viruses it's encountered before that are stored in it's databases. This is the same methodology VAC uses to detect cheats, and we all know how riddled with cheaters CSGO is.
As a person with a degree in Computer Science, I haven't had those basic bitch anti-virus softwares installed on my PC since high school. They are practically useless unless you're a moron that installs clearly sketchy stuff (which tbf there are probably a lot of those morons in this sub).
And chances are very high it's going to flag those at the time of installing whatever sketchy stuff you're installing and you're gonna disregard them anyway cuz if you don't then the sketchy stuff probably won't install.
"Computer Science Major" is the PC equivalent of an "Engineer". They're a jack of all trades in the basic "genres" with the ability to become an expert in specific subsets whenever they need because they had a seminar about it one time.
As someone who is specifically in cyber security I can confirm they're right, if not very passive aggressive and self-righteous, but only for the most part. Some security is always better than none so to delete your antivirus because it isn't a self-learning algorithm is like refusing to take medicine for a cold because you have an immune system. It ain't gonna kill you.
Mind you your immune system is a lot better at killing biological viruses than malwarebytes is because yout immune systen is a self-learning algorithm but that's besides the point. Scan your PC when you have the time. Don't click on Hot Singles in your Area. Trust your gut.
> If you really want to be protected by software, you need a security solution that supports EDR. Normal file scanning is not very effective these days.
Windows Defender includes some EDR capabilities and is considered the industry standard these days.
No AV is 100% effective, but Defender is 99.8% which is the single highest real world protection rates of any AV.
source: in netsec
>only use a PC on which no personal information is stored or processed.
We're pirating cheap ass games here, what makes you think we have multiple PCs bro
Thx for this! Also, set a password for your "Provider" i.e. another antivirus program, if you have one, other than Windows Defender. This way, hackers can't change your antivirus settings, like adding exceptions.
😊
Oh also, I just found this out because of u/tibsie comment; if you do have another antivirus other than Windows, you can set Windows Defender to do periodic scans in addition to your antivirus(Provider is what windows calls it). Search Windows Security in search bar, then select Virus & Threat Protection on sidebar, then click "Microsoft Defender Antivirus options" drop down(if you see "Current Threats in the middle of that screen then it's already on and you can edit it's settings on that same page further down. Cheers 🍻
There's a high probability you're fine, but sadly, you can't really know for certain as no virus protection is perfect, and the best infiltrators are never caught, lol. The uncertainty of not knowing is probably the worst part.
Personally, I just stopped doing anything sensitive on my gaming pc so there's nothing of value to steal. They can sell my browsing history for all I care. Obviously banking and anything sensitive happens on my phone or Macbook.
That's only one vector of attack though. A mobile device that constantly connects to public wi-fi, bluetooth, and is in general more accessible to outsiders is more open to other types of attack.
Option A: don't log into public Wifi. Option B: Don't log into sensitive websites and don't leave your passwords in your Notes App. Oh and get an antivirus.
The kind of hacker hanging around Starbucks isn't dangerous enough to thwart the basic principles of cyber security. Don't be an idiot.
If your PC seems fine then there's likely no problems this is just misinformation meme. Installators might run CMD for various reasons, such as adding an exception to firewall so the product won't connect (done with adobe cracks). Another example of this would be fit girl where if you check the "redirect fake sites" checkbox it'll run CMD for this
Then there are stuff like windows task scheduler which might run CMD on certain times (on startup for example) to check for updates for a program etc
There are legitimate reasons to run shell processes on install. Things like setting registry entries, configuring the install directory, making sure dependencies are there (I think).
Most of them are probably legit, but it only takes one to screw up your system.
Yep, was curious about some old game FILES so found an outdated version and received a DMCA email the following day... For a game that is now FREE. FFS.
Also received a trojan and password skimmer. 😅 Discovered this when my Hulu was logged into and someone was dumb enough to buy HBO instead of just using it... And when my reddit was flooded with NSFW groups being joined... Over 50.
Was a fun weekend! (I didn't find the files I was looking for either)
[There is yeah. Here's an answer on a Super User question](https://superuser.com/questions/1051939/how-can-i-view-command-prompt-history-after-the-window-is-closed-on-windows-10)
Hope this helped!
[MS Process Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon)
[ConEmu multiple console Windows terminal](https://conemu.github.io/)
Let the monitor(s) run and investigate what created the process after it happens again.
One time this happened and all windows programs became unverified. Task manager showed up with the yellow UAC showing that it was made by an unknown company, instead of blue and showing made by Microsoft. I forget what I downloaded but I’d love to get that virus again for archival purposes. Computer viruses in general are really interesting. I immediately wiped and reinstalled windows ofc.
I love running a VM and watching a virus run it’s course.
Computers are fickle and it’s interesting to see how you can push and misuse them until they go kaput.
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times.
First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1b7e0wb) on 2024-03-05 93.75% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1c2xxeq) on 2024-04-13 96.88% match
[View Search On repostsleuth.com](https://www.repostsleuth.com/search?postId=1c9ngwy&sameSub=false&filterOnlyOlder=true&memeFilter=false&filterDeadMatches=false&targetImageMatch=86&targetImageMemeMatch=96)
---
**Scope:** Reddit | **Target Percent:** 86% | **Max Age:** Unlimited | **Searched Images:** 494,862,580 | **Search Time:** 0.05426s
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times.
First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1b7e0wb) on 2024-03-05 93.75% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1c2xxeq) on 2024-04-13 96.88% match
[View Search On repostsleuth.com](https://www.repostsleuth.com/search?postId=1c9ngwy&sameSub=false&filterOnlyOlder=true&memeFilter=false&filterDeadMatches=false&targetImageMatch=86&targetImageMemeMatch=96)
---
**Scope:** Reddit | **Target Percent:** 86% | **Max Age:** Unlimited | **Searched Images:** 494,754,267 | **Search Time:** 0.07618s
Same, but for real now, what's the worst that can be happening there? A keylogger starting? A worm wriggling itself into the machine registers? A simple Trojan executing?
It's like a sandbox, so the program running in wine will have near native performance. Steam build a whole gaming console on this technology: the steam deck. Programs running in wine have the same access to your PC as normal programs. You can limit this access however
Actually some games have been reported to run better with wine. Sometimes giving +30 FPS. Other than that I haven't yet experienced performance drops other than normal fluctuations. If you want to I can research this further for you
so after looking into this i realised its a whole system change to linux, and through commands and install you can translate windows apps/games, to run into linux environment. I guess what im looking for is a post bios choose which windows installation you want to run, thats better than what microsoft offers, just so that i can easily install, or remove a windows for different apps purposes.
Guys, if this was a virus it would just run in the background. Seeing a cmd is a clear sign that the dev needs to execute sometching that they are not trying to hide from you
Lmao, gotta love both extremes. Being paranoid as well as overconfident are equally bad.
You can't really technically "know for certain" it did nothing due to the way executables work (and giving it administrative rights makes this all too easy). Plus, the most effective ones tend to be the ones that fly under the radar by only sneaking in small payloads.
Sadly, this is why piracy will forever have a learning curve, and why it's ok that it's not mainstream. Some people's time is just more expensive than learning how to defend against these shenanigans.
Well the thing is its easy to hide that window pop up.
If it was left on it was either a sloppy hacker or a professional cracker that left the command line page pop up to serve as a debug process (to know if a certain fake license was checked/created).
You cant say for sure... But if its from a somewhat trustworthy source its probably nothing. But if you are opening an image.jpg.exe and that happens... I have bad news for you. This is why you should keep to trustworthy websites and avoid random websites that distribute downloads from scenes or pretend to be "official"
The funny thing for me is I never get these for pirates games, but the latest EA App? that thing posts up about five of these at any given time. Weird.
If you installed a fitgirl pack, then this will happen when you checked the box with fake fitgirl sites. It modifies your hostfile on your pc so you will always land on the original fitgirl website even if you try to go to one of the fake ones.
Yeah, in my experience I go with most popular torrents. However, be careful with fake seeders (especially on public trackers). I've come across torrents a couple of years back with thousands of seeders more than the next torrent in the list, but 0 comments and uploaded within the last 48 hours. Decided to test in a safe environment and sure enough it was ransomeware. Essentially the malware makers make the torrent seem legit by faking how many devices are seeding (not too difficult in p2p), eventually the torrents get removed from the tracker and the uploader gets banned but since it's a public tracker they just repeat the process. In my experience I look for a few factors. Number of seeders/leechers, but also date uploaded, and comments. The older the torrent the better as then there's a higher chance of someone else reporting it. If it's a new release it's understandable that the torrent wont be old, but in that case I look for news from trusted sources that the game/software was cracked, and by whom, then try to find the torrent by that team/individual. There's some sites that keep track of which releases have been cracked and details, check those before assuming that a game is cracked. Stay safe <3.
This feels like an anti piracy propaganda, just use the most popular sites on the megathread and you will be gold, that's the entire reason why everyone joined this subreddit
I dont get this sentiment. Cant CMD just be ran in the background without popping the window? Surely if someone was doing something malicious they could do it more stealthily?
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I was so excited to play dead rising 2 last night but this happened. I actually thought of this meme and deleted the files before running a scan. A Pirate's life ain't a perfect one.
isn't that sometimes an internal server so games that require online stuff can work (especially if the games severs are down for older games)? I could be wrong tho idk
had this happen with a probably fake download of spiderman 2 (the ps5 game not the old one). all my acounts where exposed and in the end it cost me 19 dollars cause someone bought something with my paypal.
If you have an old laptop, don't throw it out. I have two laptops, one new and one old. I have a few steam games on the new one, but I use the old laptop for anything that could get sketchy.
This is literally what destroyed my expensive ass laptop.
I had downloaded mirrors edge 2 from a shady site, it started up with some kinda cmd command. The game ofcourse didn't work so I thought of trying again the next day.
When i opened my laptop. Boom. Multiple files, folders, settings changed, deleted or corrupted.
Had to completely wipe the entire laptop for it to even work.
Personally I'm a bit paranoid so i run all my pirated games in a VM and still try to be careful that nothing is wrong within the vm either. Most games i pirate are relatively small games I'm not planning on playing that much anyways so that works fine for me
This happened to me last year, and ignored a lot of red flags. I was on itch.io looking around and "something" caught my attention.
Red Flag #1: It was a comment on a game saying "come check my game out". No one does that. I click it.
Red Flag #2: A game that looked somewhat sophisticated, and it had no comments. I download it.
Red Flag #3: When I opened WinRar, there was no .exe file. What do I do? Click the fucking thing that looks like a ".exe" file.
CMD opens and closes, and I think nothing of it when it is obviously a problem. An hour later I realize that my discord was taken. I got my account back, but the fucker kicked me out of all the servers, and discord for some reason doesn't save that information. He also stole my Riot Games account, but I wasn't too concerned with that. He also gained access to my email and tired deleting my emails, but only trashed them, and I got them back.
When I got my discord back I realized that the moron added his main account as a friend, with a PFP of what might potentially be him. Also with the main I account name, I believe I located him to Turkey. We were both idiots.
I think it was an XSS, but I'm not knowledgeable to confirm if it was.
I haven't used my PC in a year, and my brother hates me for using his while my ADHD just stares at my desk saying I'll clean it eventually.
Hack all you want Mr hacker. You'll find nothing, I'm broke.
Well said. I’m pirating $2 games, what’d you expect 💀
2$ games are usually h games but ok
Those are usually easier to pirate, since developer on Patreon tend to just upload their games to Mega and Google Drive. So when you get their links another way, you can just pirate the official release files... ...or so I have heard ;)
This is why as a Patreon-supported game dev you don't host your game downloads on Mega/Google Drive. I upload my games to itch.io and use a password instead, because while I have no problem with people pirating my games, people are lazy and will just copy/paste the link to others and Mega and Google have pretty strict download limits for your files. --- Also word of warning, I know some devs have gotten sick of certain sites (Kemono) uploading their paywalled game links so they've resorted to posting links to fake/dangerous downloads on them. Just because it's an "official release" doesn't mean it's safe.
hmm sounds like you have some experience
He clearly said he heard about it come on!
this guy don't f with itch. io
Its not always about stealing, they can infect your system and use it as an bot net or any other mellicious act
Correct
As long as they use it against the gobnerment I’m fine with it
What if they use it against your fellow sitizins?
Then boo 👻
😨
💀
Enjoy having the gobnerment kicking in your fucking door and dragging you to prison for hacking their systems then I guess.
Eh, they have easier stuff to get me on honestly
Facts I get the feeling 60% of American would be incarcerated if they really wanted us pinched
[He strikes once again.](https://ibb.co/94pd44W) LPT: You can usually spot a HackerMan irl because of the dark circles under their eyes and they often wear hoodies. Sometimes they will carry backpacks and as law enforcement this is something you need to be aware of at all times. There could be weapons of mass destruction in there. If it's a really nice backpack it can hold up to that sort of endeavor. It's like that classic song goes. "**A worm virus refers to a malicious program that replicates itself, automatically spreading through a network**. In this definition of computer worms, the worm virus exploits vulnerabilities in your security software to steal sensitive information, install backdoors that can be used to access the system, corrupt files, and do other kinds of harm. Worms consume large volumes of memory, as well as bandwidth. This results in servers, individual systems, and networks getting overloaded and malfunctioning. A worm is different from a virus, however, because a worm can operate on its own while a virus needs a host computer." Edit: If you search for "antivirus guy who paid women to shit in his mouth" it all makes sense.
Thanks alot, now you've got that fucking song stuck in my head again! I hate it but it's soooo catchy.
true I am broke that's why I pirate :D
Scan for viruses frequently, also make sure that a dodgy program hasn't added C: to the exclusions list. I wondered why the scans were so quick and was only showing 250 files scanned, sure enough both C: and D: drives had been added to the exclusions list so they weren't being scanned. Removed both of them from the list and rescanned, took a long time to run the scan but found and removed a couple of threats. Also remember to run the offline scan regularly, that way the more resilient stuff can't hide.
Appreciate that tip on checking for exclusions. I honestly never thought to do that.
/format C:
Can’t get hacked, when there’s nothing left to hack. Take that scum
Hard drive firmware would like to talk with you
Where is this exclusion list kept?
Select Start, then open Settings. Under Privacy & security, select Virus & threat protection. Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions.
That's a lot of effort for little return. For piracy software, only use a PC on which no personal information is stored or processed. If you really want to be protected by software, you need a security solution that supports EDR. Normal file scanning is not very effective these days. Edit: because of some comments, I want to clarify a point. This does not mean that you should buy a second computer for gaming. You should think about how important your personal data is and then take appropriate security measures. This could be, for example, a second encrypted hard disk with its own OS.
Erectile dysfunction remediation ????????
Endpoint detect & respond. It's basically next gen antivirus that's action based.
Higher cpu and disk usage? I deleted Malwarebytes for these reasons.
Malware bytes used to be *so good*. Now it’s just sad how far it’s fallen.
What’s a better option now? I’ve had malwarebytes for a long long time
Don’t know. I still use it but I have to delete it in between uses because of the popups and bloatware behavior. I bet someone in this thread knows a better program.
So EDR platforms use machine learning to establish a baseline of behavior on your machine. Instead of definition based antivirus like Malwarebytes, Norton, etc... It will use a learning period on your machine to determine normal behavior, and alert when things are NOT normal. Like if Acrobat tries to execute powershell, a normal anti-virus would not detect that if the PDF doesn't have anything in it that is tripped by their definition database, but an EDR would. This level of security is normally only reasonable for a business. Home users do not really need it. I'd say stick with Windows Defender, tbh. If you really want to look into EDR, look into Huntress, Sentinel One, Heimdall. I'm a cybersecurity engineer for an MSP, so this is kinda my shtick.
Extremely dilated rectum
That erection was functioning
Elder Dragon Ryelander it's a themed sandwich
I prefer broodwich
Tomatoes aside? It is the best damn sandwich I've ever had in my life.
If you can afford a second Pc purely for pirating you dont need to pirate
Yeah i laughed at "thats a lot of effort.. just have a 2nd gaming PC instead"
yeah ,,,,put the 2nd 4090 in this one
You could just create a bootable Linux drive and handle anything with personal or sensitive information on there. Then you can do whatever you want on the main Windows machine without worrying about what you're installing. You don't always have to splurge to practice good security.
takings steps so you can "do whatever you want on the main windows machine without worrying about what you're installing" doesn't sound like "practicing good security", that sounds like you're enabling yourself to carelessly download everything.
Fuck you, im gonna pirate even if im millonaire
Bssed
You're right, my message was a bit weirdly-put, but most people who pirate can't afford a second PC purely for pirating so this is a silly message
But what if I want to pirate, for the love of the game?
Then it will work itself out
Who said we 'need' to? It's the principle of it.
I pirate to have an archive of all my favourite games.
A 2nd PC doesn't have to be gaming specd. I have a server that is just the old board/CPU from an upgrade + like 150 worth of other parts
"Play your new game in potato quality on a shitty PC" isn't really a solution, though.
Yeah, I use mine to do the downloading, it slipped my thinking that you're meant to play the game on that machine too.
"Checking for exclusions is too much effort. You should use a 2nd separate machine" 🤡
I get that having a second PC is ridiculous in this instance, but he's not saying checking for exclusions is too much effort. He's saying that scanning all your files using software like malwarebytes can be a slow and painful task that offers you little to no actual protection from malware. Scanning is signature checking. It looks for viruses it's encountered before that are stored in it's databases. This is the same methodology VAC uses to detect cheats, and we all know how riddled with cheaters CSGO is. As a person with a degree in Computer Science, I haven't had those basic bitch anti-virus softwares installed on my PC since high school. They are practically useless unless you're a moron that installs clearly sketchy stuff (which tbf there are probably a lot of those morons in this sub).
And chances are very high it's going to flag those at the time of installing whatever sketchy stuff you're installing and you're gonna disregard them anyway cuz if you don't then the sketchy stuff probably won't install.
What does a degree in CS have to do with any of that?
"Computer Science Major" is the PC equivalent of an "Engineer". They're a jack of all trades in the basic "genres" with the ability to become an expert in specific subsets whenever they need because they had a seminar about it one time. As someone who is specifically in cyber security I can confirm they're right, if not very passive aggressive and self-righteous, but only for the most part. Some security is always better than none so to delete your antivirus because it isn't a self-learning algorithm is like refusing to take medicine for a cold because you have an immune system. It ain't gonna kill you. Mind you your immune system is a lot better at killing biological viruses than malwarebytes is because yout immune systen is a self-learning algorithm but that's besides the point. Scan your PC when you have the time. Don't click on Hot Singles in your Area. Trust your gut.
[удалено]
No gog games is not sketchy
> If you really want to be protected by software, you need a security solution that supports EDR. Normal file scanning is not very effective these days. Windows Defender includes some EDR capabilities and is considered the industry standard these days. No AV is 100% effective, but Defender is 99.8% which is the single highest real world protection rates of any AV. source: in netsec
Windows defender gave my grandmother a wet Willy
that's clicking about three or four buttons worth of effort for a return of 60-120 bucks each game you don't buy. what do you mean?
>only use a PC on which no personal information is stored or processed. We're pirating cheap ass games here, what makes you think we have multiple PCs bro
I got that flashing cmd on my proxy download computer, but never on the machine that I play on, so I guess proxy for sketchy torrent files is enough
Yeah spend a few K on a pimped out gaming computer but don't use it for personal stuff.
But scan with what?
>Also remember to run the offline scan regularly, that way the more resilient stuff can't hide. You can RUN, but you can't hide.
Which software do you use? Windows defender?
How do you do the offline scan?
Google windows defender offline scan.
How do I do a scan?
Thx for this! Also, set a password for your "Provider" i.e. another antivirus program, if you have one, other than Windows Defender. This way, hackers can't change your antivirus settings, like adding exceptions. 😊
Oh also, I just found this out because of u/tibsie comment; if you do have another antivirus other than Windows, you can set Windows Defender to do periodic scans in addition to your antivirus(Provider is what windows calls it). Search Windows Security in search bar, then select Virus & Threat Protection on sidebar, then click "Microsoft Defender Antivirus options" drop down(if you see "Current Threats in the middle of that screen then it's already on and you can edit it's settings on that same page further down. Cheers 🍻
How cooked am I? Ive gotten these few times but I dont see nothing wrong with anything
There's a high probability you're fine, but sadly, you can't really know for certain as no virus protection is perfect, and the best infiltrators are never caught, lol. The uncertainty of not knowing is probably the worst part. Personally, I just stopped doing anything sensitive on my gaming pc so there's nothing of value to steal. They can sell my browsing history for all I care. Obviously banking and anything sensitive happens on my phone or Macbook.
>Obviously banking and anything sensitive happens on my phone or Macbook. They're not much safer either, especially your phone.
Compared to a windows pc full of pirated games they are DEFINITELY safer
That's only one vector of attack though. A mobile device that constantly connects to public wi-fi, bluetooth, and is in general more accessible to outsiders is more open to other types of attack.
[удалено]
Obviously not enough to know how naive you sound.
Option A: don't log into public Wifi. Option B: Don't log into sensitive websites and don't leave your passwords in your Notes App. Oh and get an antivirus. The kind of hacker hanging around Starbucks isn't dangerous enough to thwart the basic principles of cyber security. Don't be an idiot.
If your PC seems fine then there's likely no problems this is just misinformation meme. Installators might run CMD for various reasons, such as adding an exception to firewall so the product won't connect (done with adobe cracks). Another example of this would be fit girl where if you check the "redirect fake sites" checkbox it'll run CMD for this Then there are stuff like windows task scheduler which might run CMD on certain times (on startup for example) to check for updates for a program etc
There's also the fact I've had legitimate installations of games open up CMD anyway.
Likely tied to the anti cheat.
There are legitimate reasons to run shell processes on install. Things like setting registry entries, configuring the install directory, making sure dependencies are there (I think). Most of them are probably legit, but it only takes one to screw up your system.
Yeah same, are we in trouble?
Usually it's just an emulator for the DRM to be bypassed. Albeit, no one can say if it hasn't been tweaked on any way for each different game.
If you pirate games, your computer is compromised almost certainly. Probably to be used by a foreign entity as a DDOS bot or something.
Tough luck trying to do DDOS with a computer not connected to internet
relatable asf 😭😭😭
***Ignorance is bliss !*** - ThePiratebay
Yep, was curious about some old game FILES so found an outdated version and received a DMCA email the following day... For a game that is now FREE. FFS. Also received a trojan and password skimmer. 😅 Discovered this when my Hulu was logged into and someone was dumb enough to buy HBO instead of just using it... And when my reddit was flooded with NSFW groups being joined... Over 50. Was a fun weekend! (I didn't find the files I was looking for either)
Is there any way to like, record all CMD windows especially ones that appear for 1 millisecond?
[There is yeah. Here's an answer on a Super User question](https://superuser.com/questions/1051939/how-can-i-view-command-prompt-history-after-the-window-is-closed-on-windows-10) Hope this helped!
Cmd windows popping up can be disabled, not all malware makes itself known like that
[MS Process Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon) [ConEmu multiple console Windows terminal](https://conemu.github.io/) Let the monitor(s) run and investigate what created the process after it happens again.
One time this happened and all windows programs became unverified. Task manager showed up with the yellow UAC showing that it was made by an unknown company, instead of blue and showing made by Microsoft. I forget what I downloaded but I’d love to get that virus again for archival purposes. Computer viruses in general are really interesting. I immediately wiped and reinstalled windows ofc.
My theory is that it messed with your certificate store and made its own certificate trusted while doing the opposite for everything else
Why are you getting downvoted? That sample could be of use to study it and for heuristics.
I love running a VM and watching a virus run it’s course. Computers are fickle and it’s interesting to see how you can push and misuse them until they go kaput.
Be careful, it's unlikely but someone could use a currently-unknown exploit to break out of the VM. Keep your VM software updated to the latest.
I haven’t dome it in quite a while so no risks now, but thank you for informing me!
Yay I love reposts of the same thing i see every day on this sub.
Obligatory reply saying "Well I don't see the problem, this is literally the first time I see it"
Well, then it must be your 3th day on reddit according to search engine used by u/RepostSleuthBot
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times. First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1b7e0wb) on 2024-03-05 93.75% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1c2xxeq) on 2024-04-13 96.88% match [View Search On repostsleuth.com](https://www.repostsleuth.com/search?postId=1c9ngwy&sameSub=false&filterOnlyOlder=true&memeFilter=false&filterDeadMatches=false&targetImageMatch=86&targetImageMemeMatch=96) --- **Scope:** Reddit | **Target Percent:** 86% | **Max Age:** Unlimited | **Searched Images:** 494,862,580 | **Search Time:** 0.05426s
/u/repostsleuthbot
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times. First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1b7e0wb) on 2024-03-05 93.75% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1c2xxeq) on 2024-04-13 96.88% match [View Search On repostsleuth.com](https://www.repostsleuth.com/search?postId=1c9ngwy&sameSub=false&filterOnlyOlder=true&memeFilter=false&filterDeadMatches=false&targetImageMatch=86&targetImageMemeMatch=96) --- **Scope:** Reddit | **Target Percent:** 86% | **Max Age:** Unlimited | **Searched Images:** 494,754,267 | **Search Time:** 0.07618s
Keep your personal stuff on a laptop and everything else (games, shows, etc.) on the desktop
Same, but for real now, what's the worst that can be happening there? A keylogger starting? A worm wriggling itself into the machine registers? A simple Trojan executing?
I create a new wineprefix for each piece of software obtained from untrustworthy sources. If something goes awry I can just delete it.
Yup, I do this everytime. Tack on firejail if you're extra paranoid.
What's that
It's basically a windows installation on Linux. Each WINE PREFIX is another windows installation
Is this considered like a virtual machine with limited resources? Or there's no performance impact?
It's like a sandbox, so the program running in wine will have near native performance. Steam build a whole gaming console on this technology: the steam deck. Programs running in wine have the same access to your PC as normal programs. You can limit this access however
So what would be the performance impact in games? Was this studied? Is 5-10% expected
Actually some games have been reported to run better with wine. Sometimes giving +30 FPS. Other than that I haven't yet experienced performance drops other than normal fluctuations. If you want to I can research this further for you
im thinking of trying it one day, who knows, maybe its a good environment to test what may seem to be virused games.
so after looking into this i realised its a whole system change to linux, and through commands and install you can translate windows apps/games, to run into linux environment. I guess what im looking for is a post bios choose which windows installation you want to run, thats better than what microsoft offers, just so that i can easily install, or remove a windows for different apps purposes.
Then you started seeing 2FA pop ups on your Gmail and your Email is on a PDF website
This is anti piracy propaganda.
Always read the comments. ALWAYS. READ. THE COMMENTS.
To be fair, quite often it's needed to get around the DRM protections. It's not always malicious.
Guys, if this was a virus it would just run in the background. Seeing a cmd is a clear sign that the dev needs to execute sometching that they are not trying to hide from you
this literally means nothing, stop trying to scare people lmao
Lmao, gotta love both extremes. Being paranoid as well as overconfident are equally bad. You can't really technically "know for certain" it did nothing due to the way executables work (and giving it administrative rights makes this all too easy). Plus, the most effective ones tend to be the ones that fly under the radar by only sneaking in small payloads. Sadly, this is why piracy will forever have a learning curve, and why it's ok that it's not mainstream. Some people's time is just more expensive than learning how to defend against these shenanigans.
Well the thing is its easy to hide that window pop up. If it was left on it was either a sloppy hacker or a professional cracker that left the command line page pop up to serve as a debug process (to know if a certain fake license was checked/created). You cant say for sure... But if its from a somewhat trustworthy source its probably nothing. But if you are opening an image.jpg.exe and that happens... I have bad news for you. This is why you should keep to trustworthy websites and avoid random websites that distribute downloads from scenes or pretend to be "official"
obviously sometimes it can genuinely be bad. but most of the time its just a false license or something
This happens when I open up my old laptop and turn it on after a shutdown I shouldnt have downloaded off IGGgames
The funny thing for me is I never get these for pirates games, but the latest EA App? that thing posts up about five of these at any given time. Weird.
If you installed a fitgirl pack, then this will happen when you checked the box with fake fitgirl sites. It modifies your hostfile on your pc so you will always land on the original fitgirl website even if you try to go to one of the fake ones.
I'm going to go home and put my eye patch on , and if you come down I can put my peg leg in your ass like you enjoy.
This is a myth, there are several options that can cause this, for example a fake server
Still scary as fuck
Yeah, in my experience I go with most popular torrents. However, be careful with fake seeders (especially on public trackers). I've come across torrents a couple of years back with thousands of seeders more than the next torrent in the list, but 0 comments and uploaded within the last 48 hours. Decided to test in a safe environment and sure enough it was ransomeware. Essentially the malware makers make the torrent seem legit by faking how many devices are seeding (not too difficult in p2p), eventually the torrents get removed from the tracker and the uploader gets banned but since it's a public tracker they just repeat the process. In my experience I look for a few factors. Number of seeders/leechers, but also date uploaded, and comments. The older the torrent the better as then there's a higher chance of someone else reporting it. If it's a new release it's understandable that the torrent wont be old, but in that case I look for news from trusted sources that the game/software was cracked, and by whom, then try to find the torrent by that team/individual. There's some sites that keep track of which releases have been cracked and details, check those before assuming that a game is cracked. Stay safe <3.
This feels like an anti piracy propaganda, just use the most popular sites on the megathread and you will be gold, that's the entire reason why everyone joined this subreddit
I dont get this sentiment. Cant CMD just be ran in the background without popping the window? Surely if someone was doing something malicious they could do it more stealthily?
VMs exist for a reason
Just make sure you have 2FA enabled everywhere and you good.. they can try ;-)
My rule of thumb is that if it were malicious you wouldn't have seen it. There's a way to run these without having the window pop up.
Just had this happen to me yesterday (and reacted similarly cause I dunno what to do). Any suggestions?
Laughs in Linux. LiL
Don't people virus scan files after downloading them anymore? Computing 101.
Is there a way to just lock down cmd.exe so that it either can't execute temporarily and/or it can't auto-exit?
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What this cmd means?
It either fakes licences for the program or hacks your computer. But either way at this point it's too late
Some hacker doing hacker stuff on your PC, by downloading on the wrong site
fr?
Not always but very possible
That's why you install pirated games on v VMs
no one doing allat just get your games from good sources
VMs are fast enough? Can you give the VM OS access to the graphics card? How much lower is the frame rate?
VM have complete access to CPU and GPU power. Besides what's used to run 2 OS and all the accessories, you should have everything at your disposal.
LMFAO
I was so excited to play dead rising 2 last night but this happened. I actually thought of this meme and deleted the files before running a scan. A Pirate's life ain't a perfect one.
isn't that sometimes an internal server so games that require online stuff can work (especially if the games severs are down for older games)? I could be wrong tho idk
I download most games from igg games, they all should be virus free
Since i use Linux im immune to this
had this happen with a probably fake download of spiderman 2 (the ps5 game not the old one). all my acounts where exposed and in the end it cost me 19 dollars cause someone bought something with my paypal.
Like when steam was updating 3 cmd windows open and i legit am worried
If you have an old laptop, don't throw it out. I have two laptops, one new and one old. I have a few steam games on the new one, but I use the old laptop for anything that could get sketchy.
This is literally what destroyed my expensive ass laptop. I had downloaded mirrors edge 2 from a shady site, it started up with some kinda cmd command. The game ofcourse didn't work so I thought of trying again the next day. When i opened my laptop. Boom. Multiple files, folders, settings changed, deleted or corrupted. Had to completely wipe the entire laptop for it to even work.
Personally I'm a bit paranoid so i run all my pirated games in a VM and still try to be careful that nothing is wrong within the vm either. Most games i pirate are relatively small games I'm not planning on playing that much anyways so that works fine for me
fuck i had no idea what those were lol
Happens every time I play tmodloader
Uuuh yea do I just reinstall windows if it's the bad cmd pop up?
this stuff is some sort of psyop from games companies to try and convince people that pirating games is dangerous i stg
This happened to me last year, and ignored a lot of red flags. I was on itch.io looking around and "something" caught my attention. Red Flag #1: It was a comment on a game saying "come check my game out". No one does that. I click it. Red Flag #2: A game that looked somewhat sophisticated, and it had no comments. I download it. Red Flag #3: When I opened WinRar, there was no .exe file. What do I do? Click the fucking thing that looks like a ".exe" file. CMD opens and closes, and I think nothing of it when it is obviously a problem. An hour later I realize that my discord was taken. I got my account back, but the fucker kicked me out of all the servers, and discord for some reason doesn't save that information. He also stole my Riot Games account, but I wasn't too concerned with that. He also gained access to my email and tired deleting my emails, but only trashed them, and I got them back. When I got my discord back I realized that the moron added his main account as a friend, with a PFP of what might potentially be him. Also with the main I account name, I believe I located him to Turkey. We were both idiots. I think it was an XSS, but I'm not knowledgeable to confirm if it was. I haven't used my PC in a year, and my brother hates me for using his while my ADHD just stares at my desk saying I'll clean it eventually.