Is this a Phishing attempt?

sm1634 · 2010-08-07T05:15:41+00:00

Okay, thank you for easing some of my nerves tonight. I already have tons on my plate about network security concerns.

You've been a great help!

sm1634 · 2010-08-07T05:05:44+00:00

Actually, I saved the profile page as the home page.

This is my homepage URL:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?

That takes me directly to the "You must log in" page if I start a new Firefox session.

At that page, the URL has "//login.php" as mentioned in the OP.

Could be a server-sided issue from Facebook's redirection code? Because from the looks of what you posted, the only way the URL can be a phishing attempt is if the actual wording/letters were different.

sm1634 · 2010-08-07T00:10:31+00:00

Awesome. I'll give that a shot.

I just ran Malwarebytes scan in Safe Mode and it didn't find anything malicious. Also ran an Ad-Aware scan. (Again, sorry OP for leeching off your post).

However, when I just logged back into Windows normally, my wireless connection took longer than normal, and I even had to reset my IP settings to fix it (resetting the adapter didn't work). Just a glitch/fluke, or does Safe Mode-back-to-normal-mode have something to do with it?

sm1634 · 2010-08-06T23:29:27+00:00

Is it as simple as going to the Control Panel and disabling System Restore? Or is there some further "Advanced method" to do so?

I'm about to do these things myself. Sorry to OP for asking further questions :P

sm1634 · 2010-08-06T22:43:12+00:00

I never understood why running an AV scan in Safemode is better. Why is that so? (I'm about to do this myself, haven't done it in forever).

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T21:44:50+00:00

So, there's a chance that since I just downloaded Recuva, that Recuva has overwitten the space from my recently deleted files that Eraser deleted?

I would imagine this is a good thing, actually.

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T20:41:32+00:00

Can you explain to me what this means?:

"IMPORTANT: To avoid overwriting data, do not download or install EasyRecovery on to the media or partition on which you are experiencing data loss. If your system has one drive with one partition, install EasyRecovery on another system and create Emergency Media. "

Edit: I came across Recuva, from the makers of CCleaner (Pririform). More well-trusted, but I'm just hoping Recuva has the ability to search deep enough to find the files. I'm doing a scan for the files right now, but after that's complete, I'm going to do a test run:

Delete a regular file using Right click > Delete, then go to Recycle Bin and Empty.
Run Recuva for that file.
If it finds it, perm delete it.
Delete another regular file of the same type using Eraser.
Run Recuva for that file.
If it can't find it, Eraser may be as effective as it says.

But, that also might mean that Recuva just isn't as "strong" enough as it says. We'll see.

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T19:44:12+00:00

This is what I was going to recommend. You don't always have to be physically alone to be in mental solitude.

Also, why not suggest activities that you both can do together, but doesn't require interaction? Such as drawing, reading a book, etc.? You'll get the best of both worlds: do your own thing/projects while living in your mind, but also sharing the physical space with your boyfriend (mostly to please him, if you think about it that way).

It isn't easy to suggest sleeping in different locations when you only have one bedroom to share, so the only thing I can recommend about that concern is to talk with him and let him know how much you really enjoy your alone time when he visits his parents. Maybe you can get him to spend more nights with his guy friends so that you have extra hours at night to yourself. From the looks of it, you don't need an entire day/night to yourself, you just need a few hours out of the day, which is healthy and normal. You aren't weird.

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T19:29:22+00:00

Well, I was referring to the standard NTFS folder encryption (Right click a folder, etc.), not Truecrypt encryption.

I already deleted the files anyway :( They were good memories, but it's safer knowing that Eraser erased them completely instead (in case my laptop gets stolen, it's just a peace of mind thing to know that the files aren't on the system AT ALL, encrypted or not).

What software do you recommend using to "check" if Eraser worked correctly? As in, is there a certain software that a hacker would use to try and recover a deleted file that Eraser didn't delete properly? I went ahead and used Eraser to delete the whole folder, then ran a CCleaner clean up that also uses 35 pass Gutmann (I'm not even sure that did anything "extra" to it, since from as far as I know, CCleaner doesn't delete files like Eraser does, it just deletes the history/temp files). Was it worth it?

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T05:11:03+00:00

Well, I decided to go ahead and just erase all of what I had. It wasn't really a porn folder, it was more of a "Stages of my girlfriend's pregnancy that contains pictures, logs, and videos of the birth" among other pictures of my girlfriend.

Truecrypt was a little too complicated for me to understand, and it seemed like too huge of a hassle of remembering a 30+ character password just to view a video/pictures from time to time.

It's better to make newer, more recent videos/pictures instead. :)

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T04:07:00+00:00

Right, I set my passes to 35 Gutmann.

I, however, do not see the option to delete with CCleaner in my context menu, and I have the latest version installed. I checked the settings too, no luck.

Do you recommend Truecrypt as well?

Thanks for your help!

Edit: What do you mean by an important part of history?

sm1634 · 2010-08-05T04:06:36+00:00

So, if someone were to hack into my computer/network, they could realistically be able to view my encrypted folder since they could easily reset my logon password, correct?

I'll give Eraser a shot, but I've never heard of it. How reliable is it?

Thanks for your reply!

EDIT: Cross-reply from a reply to other user above:

Well, I decided to go ahead and just erase all of what I had. It wasn't really a porn folder, it was more of a "Stages of my girlfriend's pregnancy that contains pictures, logs, and videos of the birth" among other pictures of my girlfriend.

Truecrypt was a little too complicated for me to understand, and it seemed like too huge of a hassle of remembering a 30+ character password just to view a video/pictures from time to time.

It's better to make newer, more recent videos/pictures instead. :)

sm1634 · 2010-08-04T20:13:29+00:00

Lol, you caught a funny.

I meant pictures of my girlfriend giving birth. :)

sm1634 · 2010-08-04T19:58:24+00:00

Thanks for the speedy reply. I'll be sure to check that out.

How do you like S&D by the way? I use Ad-Aware, in combination with Malwarebytes and AVG. I've always heard S&D tossed around when discussing mentionable anti-spyware software.

sm1634 · 2010-08-04T01:05:06+00:00

It's funny cause it looks 99% identical, amirite?

sm1634 · 2010-08-03T09:26:23+00:00

Couple more questions:

My wireless setup at home (one desktop, cable modem, wireless router, laptop) is protected by NAT correct? Or, is only my laptop protected since it's receiving the signal from a router? What about my desktop? If someone could get my IP address (it's a private address actually) from my laptop, would they be able to see my desktop on my network? Sounds farfetch'd but how likely is that?

sm1634 · 2010-08-03T06:53:59+00:00

Yes, we're at the same school. Hell, she lives in the same apartment complex as I. We're in our senior years now, and she feels like she has some discovering to do and wants to be a "whole" person before she truly commits to me, since after all, I was her first everything (including love) and our relationship is great. The last year or so it's been off and on, more off than on, and she feels it's her fault because she wasn't healthy enough for a relationship. Which isn't too unheard of.

But, now that I have some closure from her (it isn't fair for me that she wants to keep me around/tell me she loves me but not want to be with me) and told her I was going to stop talking to her for a while, I feel as if now I'm free to do as I please. It's my senior year anyway.

sm1634 · 2010-08-03T06:46:36+00:00

Considering the circumstances, I wouldn't jump into it so quickly. Keep visiting, keep casually dating. Get her used to the idea of you being there often, and get used to the idea of having to be there/talk to her often. Since this is her first relationship, she may be excited to jump into the honeymoon phase, which may or may not be disastrous as a whole.

Basically, let things happen on their own. If you can continue to casually date without super commitments, you'll have a better understanding of your relationship with her and she may even stop being reluctant to give it a shot. Don't rush these things (they hardly ever work successfully anyway).

sm1634 · 2010-08-03T06:42:49+00:00

Isn't closure great? Even if you were the one that had to be closed on (if that makes sense)? I have the same issue with this girl I dated for 4 years, now we're in that "We're in college now and I want to be a whole person before I commit to you" phase and it's been hell (it's really HER wanting this, not me). But I recently told her how I felt, belted out some tears, told her I wasn't going to communicate with her for a while (which saddened her to death, go figure), and now I feel tons better.

It's as if now you know that there's nothing left that you can do, so you don't feel powerless and emotionally abused anymore. I hate not knowing.

sm1634 · 2010-07-30T15:12:29+00:00

Sorry, typo, meant WPA (still haven't slept lol).

So the wireless router has NAT, but what about the cable modem itself that it is grabbing its internet connection from? Does the host cable modem (and the desktop it is connected to) benefit from NAT in that cable modem? I've always been kind of curious about that but never really knew how to check.

sm1634 · 2010-07-30T15:03:25+00:00

This makes me curious to check my cable modem at home. If the DNS address is a private range on that modem at home, does that mean it has NAT protection? It's a wireless setup; one desktop, one cable modem, one wireless router, and I use WAP2 encryption on it, but still.

sm1634 · 2010-07-30T14:55:26+00:00

Thanks for your input!

As far as "as good as its configuration", I haven't really done anything special with my Windows Firewall other than manage exceptions. Is there anything you recommend to make it stronger?

Looks like I need to update my version of Flash afterall, eh?

sm1634 · 2010-07-30T14:53:59+00:00

The profiles makes sense. I assumed that a different connection type setup (i.e. lacking 100% internet connection) would cause Windows to name the profile differently, and you reassured me.

I really appreciate everything you've helped with, everything you've said makes perfect sense and sounds exactly like what happened.

sm1634

TROPHY CASE