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 Post subject: Watching videos safely
 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:02 pm 
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welcoming committee

Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:32 pm
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Location: Rochester, New York
I get videos from friends and friends of friends. I have not opened any for fear of virus, spyware, malware, etc. Is there a way to safely watch videos in case they are compromised?


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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:28 pm 
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am
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Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
I assume videos sent as a file attachment. Depends somewhat on your security setup but, especially, from friends of friends I would not open and I'd only open from friends if you are sure of their security and common sense. Just by the attachment name you could probably search for the video yourself.

Now, if you are talking about links to such places as You Tube you are most likely OK. Still only click a link if you recognize the destination site as being mostly safe such as You Tube.

The bottom line is to open nothing unless you are totally sure of the file or link.

If you want to get extreme I suppose that you could set up a virtual machine running Linux and view the items through the virtual machine.

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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:03 pm 
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welcoming committee
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Location: Dunedin, Alba.
jaylach wrote:
Now, if you are talking about links to such places as You Tube you are most likely OK. Still only click a link if you recognize the destination site as being mostly safe such as You Tube.

The only thing i'd add to what Jay said is to make sure your browser (and email client) have their Status Bar's enabled, :

Using your browser’s status bar:
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internet-tips/using-your-browsers-status-bar/1/

While a Browser Status Bar is important it is agruably even more important in an Email client because most phishing attacks come via Email, think of all those spam emails you've had that appear to come from your bank and you'll know what i'm talking about.

e.g. If you know for a fact you bank with The Bank of Jay and the url for Bank of Jay is boj.com, hovering the mouse over a spoofed boj.com link in an email or a link in a browser might show helloimnnigerianandimgoingtostealallyourmoney.com.... would you click on it?

That said a lot will come down to how much you trust the friend that sent the file, personally if it came unannounced i'd contact them to make sure they intended to send me the file, even if they did i'd still scan it with my anti-virus software and MBAM before i opened/clicked on it.

Friends of friends i'd be very wary of opening anything from.


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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:21 pm 
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welcoming committee

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Location: Rochester, New York
I am going to just delete them. I don't want to pay a computer tech to remove a possible virus. Thanks for the advice!


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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:27 pm 
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vic479h wrote:
I am going to just delete them. I don't want to pay a computer tech to remove a possible virus. Thanks for the advice!

That is the safest route.

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 Post Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 7:55 pm 
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vic479h wrote:
I am going to just delete them. I don't want to pay a computer tech to remove a possible virus. Thanks for the advice!

Likely a very wise move, not least because you always have the option to contact the friend and ask "did you just send send me a link?".


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