Possible corruption of screen by Gaston's Website?

D

Dave Krall CFII

Final Approach
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Dave Krall CFII SEL SES, Cmcl HELI
The anti-virus software trail ended at one of my historical website visits long ago to Gaston's website and we don't know why the trail would stop there.

I've got my SuperNerds on it right now but I don't even remember opening Gaston's actual website since like 1 1/2 years ago, just reading about it on threads here recently.

The corruption so far observed involves changing of screen colors and coarse texture, along with pulsating borders on menus for now... any ideas?
 
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tonycondon said:
huh?

www.gastons.com or
www.gastonsflyin.com ?

both look fine to me? is this some joke that i dont understand?
Click to expand...

Nope, no joke unfortunately.
My SuperNerds traced it back to Gaston's page and asked me what it was cause they had no clue about what Gastons was. The infected machine did NOT have McAfee, and all others I use, which remain unaffected, have McAfee.

They're trying to inspect more & fix right now.
 
tonycondon said:
ok dave...
Click to expand...

I've been on PoA with a few other computers each day over the weekend with no problems so far, and went right to the links you listed & opened them with this computer to see if there would be any problem, and have had none so far except as previously mentioned with the one machine.

I'll update here, ASAP.
 
Tarheel Pilot said:
Am I the only one lost?
Click to expand...

The computer that's affected is being checked right now, they said it may be the computer itself. I'll let know what they find. I know it may sound strange, but that's what they've reported to me so far.
 
Tarheel Pilot said:
Am I the only one lost?
Click to expand...

My translation, could be wrong:

A computer with no antivirus software installed had some graphics corruption, which the computer tech claimed came from the Gaston's website. Other PCs with AV software have not had an issue, and Dave has tried it on multiple PCs with no problem.

End translation.

Sounds to me like a corrupted graphics driver, but if the techs have reinstalled the graphics driver (and an AV as well) and there's still an issue, then I'd have to learn more about the issue :)

Oooh, another idea... take a screenshot of the corrupted screen.

Open the page where you've got the issues and press Alt+Prt Scr (Look where F12 and Scroll Lock are for the print screen button). Then go to Start and select Run, and type in mspaint. Click Edit, click paste, then click file, save as, name it whatever, change the Bitmap file type to JPEG, save it, and come and upload it :D That should give us a better idea of what you mean (And if it comes out clean on our end, then we've got an idea that it's a hardware issue instead of software)
 

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wbarnhill said:
My translation, could be wrong:

A computer with no antivirus software installed had some graphics corruption, which the computer tech claimed came from the Gaston's website. Other PCs with AV software have not had an issue, and Dave has tried it on multiple PCs with no problem.

End translation.

Sounds to me like a corrupted graphics driver, but if the techs have reinstalled the graphics driver (and an AV as well) and there's still an issue, then I'd have to learn more about the issue :)

Oooh, another idea... take a screenshot of the corrupted screen.

Open the page where you've got the issues and press Alt+Prt Scr (Look where F12 and Scroll Lock are for the print screen button). Then go to Start and select Run, and type in mspaint. Click Edit, click paste, then click file, save as, name it whatever, change the Bitmap file type to JPEG, save it, and come and upload it :D That should give us a better idea of what you mean (And if it comes out clean on our end, then we've got an idea that it's a hardware issue instead of software)
Click to expand...

Thank you William. That is indeed what I said, well, actually it had some anti virus stuff and the anti-virus trail trail just ended at the site with no conclusions as to why, which is being checked out now.

I have sent a copy of your suggestions to see what they think. I hope it is just that one computer's problem. I figured it is better to alert others first, as well as get learned suggestions like yours.
 
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I'll go a step further, Dave, if they are telling you that a website caused the problems you are having, they are hacks.

Simply tell them "Oh noes, the internets iz goig getcha me?"
 
SkyHog said:
I'll go a step further, Dave, if they are telling you that a website caused the problems you are having, they are hacks.

Simply tell them "Oh noes, the internets iz goig getcha me?"
Click to expand...

They might figure that a malicious activex control or something similar was downloaded from one of the sites. Not completely unheard of, but they should be able to eliminate those sites as culprits easily. Still curious as to the problem :D

Well Dave?
 
gibbons said:
Help me understand...

are they saying it was caused by the Gaston's resort web site (www.gastons.com)

or the Gaston's Fly In web site (www.gastonsflyin.com) ?
Click to expand...

The original (voice only) message said something like "traced to gastonsflyin.com", which was puzzling to me. They're checking out that particular computer to see what's up and should have something to say later today & I will report ASAP.
 
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wbarnhill said:
They might figure that a malicious activex control or something similar was downloaded from one of the sites. Not completely unheard of, but they should be able to eliminate those sites as culprits easily. Still curious as to the problem :D

Well Dave?
Click to expand...

William, Skyhog, They're checking out that particular machine right now & I will report ASAP I hear from them.
 
If they need anything from my end WRT whatever they're doing have them get in touch with me. If I can't help I'll put them in touch with the hosting company. I'll be shocked if that site had anything to do with your problem.
 
gibbons said:
If they need anything from my end WRT whatever they're doing have them get in touch with me. If I can't help I'll put them in touch with the hosting company. I'll be shocked if that site had anything to do with your problem.
Click to expand...

I would be surprised too and even more so, will be interested why the searching software would specifically mention that site.
 
I figured it out! The searching software saw that gastons is a fishing resort and said "Hey, phishing! Evil!" :D
 
Dave's SuperNerds sound like they have all of the powers of The Super Chicken.

You want near-Super invulnerability? Don't use Internet Explorer.
 
It looks like a coincidental driver problem on only the ~ 18 month old Toshiba Tecra M4 laptop at this point and nothing to do with any Gastons website! It is being tested more thoroughly now.

I may be a Super Chicken but, those SuperNerds are really smart. I wish I knew half as much as they do about the spirits inside the computer boxes.

Thanks Again, for all the constructive suggestions.

Here is the email I got from the techs and the history that pointed them in the direction it initially did:

[this was why I assumed it has something to do with the site, it may just be coincident that the driver was corrupted that moment

Here is where I found the info

C:\WINDOWS\Temp\History\Temporary Internet Files\ was http://www.gastons.com/
& C:\WINDOWS\Temp\History\History had an activex install
I unfortunately ran Mcafee's cleanup utility, thinking that would solve the problem so the log is cleared, else I would have sent the logs

Let me know if you open the file if its red and flickering
Thanks]
 
It looks like a monitor driver problem that just happened to occur while visiting the site, which had no problems of its own.
 
jesse said:
If so they are on crack.

Fresh out of the local community technical school walking around flashing their MCSE badge.
Click to expand...

And screaming "the sky is falling, the sky is falling..." every time a Microsoft security bulletin comes out.

Any tech of mine making such a claim to a customer before thoroughly testing the claim on a sacrificial PC would have been put on notice that his or her expertise was being questioned by the company. Sheesh.
 
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