Be Careful When Downloading Pirated Software

I agree to this thread. A nephew who had downloaded a pirated picture editor discovered a virus too late. His notebook seemed to be acting strange with the slow operation that he thought his storage was already full. And then the icon of the virus appeared on the screen. Some of his files were deleted and he was lucky to have it repaired by a software technician who said that the virus was attached to the photo editor. That's a neat lesson not to download free software unless the site is trusted.

 

There are certain file extensions that are impossible to be infected by a virus, but always make sure a file does not end in .exe even if it looks like an image or audio file. It is also a possibility to be infected by a .pdf file if you are using an outdated reader.

 

Some people have paid a heavy price for using pirated software. Some of these software malfunctions frequently and installing backups in not easy in the event of a crash. Tales abound of abnormal online phenomena like double transactions where a person using the faulty software sends a payment or a document twice to the same address and it might be too late to cancel since this period could have expired without realizing the anomaly.

 

I think one of the most important things to remember when installing pirated software is to read through the reviews. One of the mistakes a lot of people make is going to download a file which has been rarely downloaded by anyone else with absolutely no reviews, rather than downloading something that has been downloaded quite a lot and with extensive reviews which validate the file and the file owner. Also, anti-virus, don't forget the anti-virus.

 

I have encountered ransomeware through less - just through visiting a website, and the pop-up being a ransomware adware trick/redirect. They want you to pay money and when you turn your computer off only to put it back on again, the ransomware still appears to have a grip on your computer. You either have to wipe everything or pay them. Many pay only to find that the people running the scam aren't manning it anymore, so they give their money away and there is no fix for the actual computer.

 

Classic case of downloading a pirate file from a dubious torrent and get a nasty malware in return. That happens because your friend didn't check the size and the reputation of the source. For software apps, there are always some free alternatives, better than just pirate files.

 

Even when you check the reputation of those that have uploaded the torrent, you can still get spurned. I have a friend who thought it was safe to download pirated software, and he is pretty savvy when it comes to avoiding malware and such. When he clicked the executable file, he was subject to this ransomware scam. Some people lost a lot of money with this scam, because they need their files back, and then some will pay and not get their files back. It sucks.

 

Pirated software is almost always guaranteed to get a virus or some other kind of malware to your system. It is always better to try and find a legally free alternative to the software you are looking for if you don't want to spend money on it or cannot afford at the moment than to risk security of your system by downloading pirated copy of the software.

 

Wow, I never heard of someone downloading something and it encrypted all their files. That's crazy. The worst thing that happened to me was that all files in my laptop were able to open, but as soon as they finished opening, they would immediately close. So the virus loaded the files, then it would close it as if I was meaning to close them.

My while laptop was locked up, but I was able to get into the system files and mess with some stuff. I bricked it by the way because I started deleting system files that I thought had something to do with the virus,. If you are not a system programmer, and don't understand your OS then don't go messing around in those files especially if it gives you a message that say if you don't know what you're doing, don't go in there.

 

Nowadays, there is not much need to resorting to pirated software to save money. Let's take the operating system itself. If you don't want to pay for Windows, you can always use Linux which is legal and free. Plus the new distros have user interfaces which will make Windows users very much at home. If you are dependent on Microsoft Office to get your work done, you can save money by switching to OpenOffice or LibreOffice. Both perform all the functions of Microsoft Office, at no cost to you. They also open Microsoft Office files and can save to the Microsoft format.

So, if you want to save money on software, don't take the risk of using pirated software. Just ask Uncle Google about free alternatives. There are many good free alternatives available.

 

I only download torrent links if i know it's safe and legit by going through the comments first. Some torrents show a significant number of seeders/leechers but with zero comments, it's almost a guarantee that it's a virus, so i always try to avoid those.

 

Well so far so good here. I have a tiny handful of trusted sources and only specific files I'll download. Haven't had an issue yet, but even if I were to come across this issue, they can go ahead. I have nothing of importance on my computer lol.

 

Well I remember a couple of years back when this was all the craze, probably around the Napster days. I remember just everything having that illegal feeling to it and I really did feel guilty a lot of the time. Things have changes though, for the most part at least, and I think the appeal that it had faded too a little, but it is certainly still there. Thanks for sharing.

 

Yes, I do read the comments before I download any torrent files. If there's a virus involved, someone is sure to announce it loudly and clearly in the comments. At least that's what happens on the site I used before. Nowadays, I hardly visit that site anymore because everything I need I can get legally. Even movies, since I have one whole year's subscription of movie streaming together with my internet connection.

 

I have never trusted torrents and I personally think that I never will, it reminds me of a downloads software named "Ares", 90% of the files you downloaded from there, were infected, broken or basically not what you were looking for, that's why I do not like torrent downloads, you never know what's inside that you just downloaded, I would rather search on the internet for normal links and stuff like that instead of risking my PC with torrents, that's my opinion though.

 

Not all torrents are the same. The torrent site I used has a very active community of users. If they find a link which is infected by virus, they immediately point it out in the comments. Likewise for keys which don't work. Very often, together with their warning comments, they would offer another link which works.

 

You definitely have to tell me which software that is so I can take a look and see what's too good about it, it would be a really good contribution, thanks in advance.

 

I would if I could. However, the latest news is that the owner of the site has been arrested. His site was one of the most active sites. It was even bigger than Pirate Bay. For a long time, he evaded arrest by moving his servers all over the world. So end of my torrenting. Before that, another site I use regularly went offline by itself. There was one last message from the owner which said something like "All good things must come to an end. Thanks for the memories." I think that was just after Mega Dotcom was arrested. I think the owner of the site I was using just decided it's smarter to quit while the going is good and move on to other things.