CAN I GET A VIRUS FROM A WMA?

i think those are the ones that send you to a website to get a licence so they play... if so, then yes- if the site the file sends you to has one of those malicious pictures on it and it gets into your cache

Absolutely. Not directly but indirectly, as the previous poster said. This is why I never download anything in Windows Media format, not .WMA, not .ASF, not .WMV. Microsoft, in their "infinite" wisdom, designed their DRM (Digital Rights Management) so that media files could request a license and direct you to a specific web-site. All a hacker has to do is setup a bogus web-site, then create WMV's etc which point to it.

as long as i DONT go to that website I cant get a virus?


Also how many searches can i conduct at the same time?
(consecutively)

thanks

if it "forces" me to that wesite and i just click the close box am i safe from virus?

How easy is to get a virus from mp3 ( can this be possible?) just asking ?

You can run as many simultaneous searches as you like, but you're limited by the Max Searches setting in Options. I think the default is 5 but I've changed mine to 8.

re WMVs, yes, the infected files will "force" you to the 'bad' web-site, and if it loads-up at all then you're in trouble; closing the window after-the-fact is too late. You're running the latest Windows Updates, right? And you're using Firefox www.mozilla.org as your default browser, right?

re MP3s, in theory you can get infected by them but it's more theoretical than anything. What I heard was that someone found a way to cause an MP3 to hack Winamp; all the people using Windows Media Player etc are immune. And, even with Winamp, all you have to do is make sure you're running the latest version and this hack won't work. Because it's so easy to avoid, I don't think anyone's really tried to spread viruses via MP3s.

When you say virii, do you mean all malware, or just the "virus" category?

Read this: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=29014 to see what I mean.

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Example Bogus Website (Be Careful!!)

Dear LW Users

Most people in this thread are concerned about getting viruses from various dodgy sites or downloading one embedded in a music or video file. However, I believe that a sure fire way of getting a virus, Trojan, secret installation, spyware or multiple combinations thereof is to surf the web with an unprotected PC, i.e. one without either anti-virus or firewall protection.

What most users do not know is that Windows and window applications communicate with the web the moment an internet connection is established. In addition, these communications open listening ports, over 65,000 of them, on your PC to the web. Each port is like an open backdoor with the lights on, beckoning to any passing stranger to come in, in this case any passing stranger is malware like the Sasser Worm.

Therefore, the only way to stay virus and or malware free is to insure that you have anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and anti-secret installation software installed on your PC. Anything less is asking for trouble.



UK Bob