YouTube lovers BEWARE! Fake YouTube pages used to spread viruses!!!

That's good. But some people don't know - we used to have people ALL THE TIME where I worked opening whatever attachment was sent to them and letting viruses enter our system. Even after IT sent out notices to NOT open anything. They still did it because they thought it couldn't happen. Week after week. They do exist, so I thought I'd share this.

I guess it depends on how good anything is at recognizing virus patterns and keeping up to date on the known new variants. Almost anything can be fooled at one time or another - that's why we also need to recognize some of the signs.

I fully agree with you there. Something I always do is to point the mouse at any link in an email then look at the status bar (which tells you where that link will actually take you). If it is different from what it says in the mail or looks suspicious - for example, if the link says "Check out this video on YouTube" (underlined and in blue) and the real link doesn't start with "http://www.youtube.com ..." then you know something is wrong! I have found the Firefox warning very useful indeed, though. It is much better to be forewarned and forearmed (both by being careful in the first place and by knowing about and using whatever tools are available) than to be slap-happy. The ice may look thick enough to walk on but one would never trust eyes alone and ice, even if it's safe, is still slippery!

I do the same thing - hold the cursor over the link and check the bottom to see where it's really pointing. I've also used ZoneAlarm, Spybot and AVG before and loved them! I have Linux Ubuntu and have nothing but the Firefox firewall now. It's pretty secure (unless it starts getting popular and they decide to target it, too.)

I suspect the original link will either be in an email or attached to a webpage or something. It will then take you to the "look alike" page that will claim you need to download additional software. I'm pretty sure going directly to YouTube won't bring this problem up.

You're welcome.

Ouch! Yeah, it was probably an .exe file in the link. I don't trust many things that come my way - I always check them out. Whether they're attachments or "informational" chain letters. Best to be safe than go off half-cocked or with bad info. Also, I can't afford to replace my computer or have anyone do work on it, so I HAVE to take care of it like it is my child!

What do you use on your other partition? I view them on Ubuntu (a Linux OS). I haven't had any problems with that.

You're welcome. Do share it with others. No one needs to be caught without warning. The only way to defeat these bullies is to not fall for their crap.

Forewarned is forearmed, they say. Just in case, you know.

No - I didn't even think to post it there. Probably just as good an idea as it is here, although I can't hit as many people at once as I can here.

Just always be careful when being asked to do something by a site that you've never been asked to do before. It's a good way to stay safe online.

Yeah - since YouTube never asks you to download anything (unless you don't have Flash, and that's a different kind of thing), it should be easy to know that it's not them. Plus, if you set your cursor over the link, you'll see that it ISN'T YouTube at all, but an .exe file, I think. I'm sure YouTube is working with other authorities to put a stop to this spoofing and phishing. They can't control criminals online any more than the police can in the streets.

I kind of thought they'd slowed down a bit the past few years - but where there's technology, there will be someone trying to undermine it. I know how popular YouTube is and thought I'd share what I found.

You're welcome.