You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Facebook forced me to download their anti-malware, and my own antivirus gets knocked out”.
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Facebook forced me to download their anti-malware, and my own antivirus gets knocked out”.
They are twats. I’m not downloading anything from them but their info page shows a not now button that doesn’t exist when you try to find it. Like you I keep my PC top condition from malware etc and I run McAfee too. Will try your cookie suggestion and report back. I can hoever get into my account from my mobile so shall sent them a message and see what reply I get.
I hope my cookie suggestion works, Angela. One woman on Twitter reported that it worked for her, while another I Tweeted about this issue downloaded a new browser to get around it. When your access is restored though, you won’t be able to post links—that’s one feature that Facebook takes away, on every platform, but I believe we have to wait that one out. One thing four of us have in common is that we are relatively heavy users, which backs up my earlier theory that we have reached some limit on Facebook’s databasing techniques, and these errors are being flung out widely to those who hit that limit. It sounds crazy, I know, but I’ve seen this before on another website.
Jack Yan Sir Thanks for Your valuable input :) (y) I didn’t know any other way around that time 2 log into Facebook without being forced to download their anti-malware so I downloaded it then did the scan as they’ve instructed
but here’s where things started getting very strange I did the full scan
Send the report n
Result:- “0” malware found
As in their word
“F-Secure Online Scanner is finished and didn’t find any malware. These scans help keep Facebook secure, so thanks for your patience.
Remember, to protect your computer from malware, only download and run programs from sources you trust.”
So yes YOU are absolutely right (y) ,I I don’t have much knowledge about viruses n malware but I did a bit research n later I found out that
It’s Facebook who has sent a type of malware often disguised as Trojan
Here it’s Trojan:HTML.Kilim AQ which is a high level risk notorious Trojan horse which has the capability to affect HTML files to make both computer and web browser perform weirdly. :)
:v It’s just a matter of time when Facebook will decide 2 take down this post of mine
it is certain to happen but I do not know when it will happen as I’ve used all possible hashtags to search.
Now I’m deleting my Fb post heading SHAME ON YOU #Facebook !!!!!!
Because I’m afraid they’ll file file lawsuit against me
That explains why I can’t use the Fecesbook interface to comment on any fora–I refused to download their software.
Quite honestly, their presentation had me convinced it was malware trying to hijack my system.
Michael, hopefully the deletion of cookies will get you back into the website. The anti-malware program is, in fact, malware—even today I continue to have trouble with my real antivirus program because of the ongoing damage from their software.
I run CCleaner.exe all the fraking time. This removes all stuff sites and even FB tries to hide in temp folders or in %appdata% folders. This will clear all cookies too.
I run layered AS/AM and AV. I don’t trust Kap or McAffee.
I’ve run into this using TOR on FB and GOOGLE before too. Slice programs loading from various sites and eventually I assume it’d form a full on anti-malware/malware program that would disable everything I had. Done piecemeal it tries to hide itself. The no-scripts default of TOR let me look at the code that alerted and copy the sites and add them to my block list manually.
I think FB is trying to do what Windows did with WIN 10 and since Windows got away with it, they are pushing to own systems as fast as possible to be able to get that data too, for free.
Thank you for the heads-up, Brodder. I run CCleaner as well and I’m going to check out doing something like your antivirus. FB and Google are everywhere so it wouldn’t surprise me that they can do those piecemeal programs. Years ago I uncovered, and proved, how Google was changing its own opt-out cookies, and it was doing so when you hit other Google properties, e.g. YouTube. You would opt out of their ad targeting, but it would opt you back in—who checks that setting daily, right? And we know Google hacked Iphones a few years ago as well. These guys will try it on because they know the maxima they will be fined by the US are far less than what they make—after all, they’re not foreign like Volkswagen.
Hello. Having those same difficulties. Think it is like an invisible(to most)war in technologies more particularly over the control of global www networks/internet/intranet technologies for the masses of consumers. Has been turned into a sort of playground. Facebook is a business … program (in the old fashioned sense that normal individuals might not understand)
wow interesting post – the clean-up and removal of cookies still didn’t work…I realized after reading your post in detail that it was FB preventing me from posting a link that takes the reader AWAY from FB. How sneaky to post that I have “possible malware” instead of just indicating that they don’t accept links that take people outside of FB! posting a FB link on the SAME topic – thus keeping the reader inside FB – removed the problem.
How sneaky of them!
Hi Lorraine, I’m beginning to hear that the cookie method has stopped working for some people, probably because Facebook doesn’t want us circumventing their forced downloads. What they do during their “scan” is anyone’s guess, but since there’s plenty of evidence to show that malware is not what triggers it, we can definitely call them out for lying to us to some degree. I believe that posting links eventually comes right in three to four days from the initial false accusation, as I haven’t heard anything to the contrary yet.
I just experienced this malware situation. Received the message “Your computer needs to be cleaned. Download the Kapersky S/W”.
Before this message and prior from logging off FB, I had sent a private message with a link.
After attempting to log on to FB again, received the malware message.
I ran a quick scan with my Norton virus s/w and then deleted all my cookies. Windows 7 Pro using Firefox.
Able to log back on to FB.
Thanks for all the valuable information posted here.
Hi J. R., I am glad you managed to get back in. It seems many people are getting caught by this, either through posting links or through using Facebook’s own plug-ins (e.g. messaging or commenting). It reminds me of that time Google flagged all YouTube links as malware and removed them from its own index. The trouble with Facebook is it has allowed this to go on for years, whereas Google remedied its problem immediately.
Hi Jack, I received this same message but with ESET- I was inside FB and suddenly got kicked out and couldnt log back in because they were forcing me to download ESET and clear some “Malware” they state I have in my machine. I ran Malware bytes which found nothing and also ran AVAST which found a PUP file and deleted it. I also use my FB as a business platform and I am afraid I wont be able to log back in or post any other biz links. I will try to get back in and post here any news Thanks for this post. It has been very helpful Jack.
Hi Shelly, I don’t think the PUP would have caused Facebook to have kicked you out, because if Malwarebytes hadn’t found it, there’s no way something on the internet would unless it had somehow scanned your entire hard drive while you were online (which sounds very creepy). It really is Faceboook playing silly buggers and lying to users. Have you tried deleting your Facebook cookies? You should be able to re-enter after doing that.
Thanks Jack.
I ran CC Cleaner and I could login after that, but now they wont allow me to poat or share any links whatsoever, and I use my FB page mainly as a biz platform :/
Good move. Ccleaner is great, I really rate that program highly.
Because of Facebook’s faulty databases (or so I suspect), link sharing will be faulty for about three days, and from experience it seems no one works there at weekends! What I did to get around this was to get the link and post it with spaces, e.g. www. website. com. You might need to draft the post in Notepad first, then paste it in. Then I’d edit the post afterwards so the link became clickable again. There will be no site preview, but it’s better than nothing. However, I heard from some users that Facebook is now blocking this workaround but it could still be worth trying.
Your second option (and I had to do this, as I also use Facebook mostly for business) is to create a new Facebook account and have it join all the pages and groups you administer (assuming that’s what you mean by business platform). Now you have access to your old account back, you make that new account an admin. As Facebook kicks me off every now and then because its site is so buggy, it was useful having that back-door method for my pages and groups.
Thanks so much for your suggestions. Yes, I think they already know about the first option, as well as they also block url shorteners. I was also thinking about your second option. What do you suggest another personal profile(although will be using it for business, a business page or a Group? I mainly get my referrals from sharing my links with them, when thry ask.
In my case, my new personal profile has only seven friends—mainly co-admins with me on some groups—so I don’t use it for sharing anything. It’s just a way for me to get to my pages and groups when Facebook fails (and it fails a lot these days), so I can continue sharing. If you are using your existing personal profile for business, then it looks like my way won’t work.
I suppose one option is for your existing profile and your new one to become friends, and you post from your new one on to your old wall, and hope that some of your contacts see those links? It’s not very efficient but it may be better than nothing.
Great suggestion Jack! I think I will go with it. I have a business page, but I find I get more referrals through my personal one as lately I am becoming friends with them and the business side of the relationship is appearing later. Its working much better one on one than through the impersonal style that the biz page has. Maybe I can also choose which of my existing friends I would invite to my new page and which will remain only in the old one, as they already know whats happening through a post I made last night.
Thank you so much for your help.
P.S Which are yur FB Groups?
I was tagged in a video link on facebook on 7th April – which was a virus – took my computer to my ‘tech’ guy who has insisted my computer is clean and in fact I knew I do my best to be vigilant – but every time I went into facebook it spread and in fact a different ‘video’ began to circulate – now they say I have a virus and have advised me to Kaspersky Malware – so I thought I’d google this and find all the different comments on here – which has answered so many questions for me. I’m annoyed that if they do this to people, why, do they like to have ‘fun’ with people. Not sure how to ‘fix’ this or even now if I want to. Advice would be welcome.
Yes, that sounds like a really good workaround, Shelly. I run a group for the German TV series Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei. There are several but mine’s the biggest. I also have work pages for Lucire and Autocade. Then there a few I just participate in for fun.
Hi Maureen, I’m not sure because there is video-related malware out there. I would run a proper malware program but not anything Facebook recommends. If you head to Bleeping Computer, there are very good experts there who will help you with malware cases.
Many thanks Jack Yan – this seems to be going round many people over the past few weeks.
You’re welcome—I hope you get yours sorted. Facebook began putting people through this a few years ago, but it certainly has reached fever pitch these last few months. I find people nearly daily on Twitter who have been affected.
This now is happening to me. Interestingly I can still post to Facebook if I do so from Twitter, or some other app. But if I try to share something from another person’s page, or add a new post to my page **while in Facebook** then, nope! I get the message that I have malware, etc. etc.
I use Mac and have OS 10.5 Yosemite. I have cleared all cookies but it hasn’t changed anything. I also have checked and re-checked for virus/malware, and this continues to happen to me no matter what computer or device I log in from. (obviously it isn’t a malware issue).
I’m almost pissed off enough to just quit Facebook, but like many of you who have already posted a comment, I am an administrator for work on another Facebook page, so that currently prevents me from just quitting them.
BTW, I too, am a heavy poster… Anyway, thanks so much for this blog and all the comments.
Hi Brenda: with Mac, the cookie-clearing won’t prevent the warnings coming up, but then you won’t get the forced download, either (at least I didn’t on my Mac). I was on El Capitán at the time. I use Windows for most of my work but I remember that eventually (after about three days) the malware warnings on the Mac went away. You’re right, it’s definitely not a malware issue, just Facebook being liars. (If someone else logs in via your “infected” Mac, they’ll have no problems.) The more I hear from others affected, the more I’m convinced Facebook has a serious databasing issue, as most of us seem to be heavy users. But because they need to keep the share price up, they go around shifting the blame on us, until they fix it (but as it’s been happening since 2014, I doubt that they will; just that more and more people are affected now).
What I would look at for the time being is to create a new account and friend yourself. Maybe put on your new account, ‘This is just a back-door account because Facebook will not let me use my existing one properly, and I will not be accepting friend requests here,’ so you don’t get a whole bunch of friend requests or messages telling you that someone has cloned you (I learned the hard way on this, too). Then make your new account admin on all your pages and groups. At least you can still carry on with your work in the interim. For any private messaging, you can continue using your old account, although link-sharing might be compromised there, too.
I am so distressed. I’ve ran a security scan, it stated that everything was fine. I’ve tried incognito mode, going to facebook from links, and cleared all cookies, yet I still cannot access facebook without receiving the message that I need to download Kaspersky! It is extremely annoying and I do not know what to do. I am using Windows 7 on a Dell 2014 laptop, by the way.
Just after I log in to my facebook account, I get a screen that says my computer needs to be cleaned of malware and invites me to download their software to solve the problem. There is no escape from this insistent pop-up. I cannot go forward to my facebook home page. This is very annoying because there are computer games that I play only from the facebook home page. I do not know how to deal with this new phenomenon. It happens only in the context of logging on to facebook. I do not know how to lodge a complaint to facebook because this sort of thing does not come under any of the facebook help categories. Does anyone have a how-to suggestion?
May, I began receiving news that Facebook had blocked the cookie-clearing method, which suggests to me they are identifying you via other means—which is very distressing. Two people who were similarly stumped wound up changing browsers just for Facebook. If you’re using Internet Explorer, then try Firefox. If you’re using Firefox, try Internet Explorer or Chrome, etc.
Richard, my earlier advice would have been to clear your cookies, but in the last week, it appears Facebook has blocked this method. I’ve had two people tell me that they wound up using another browser just for Facebook. It might be the only way for now.
Facebook will never reply to us even if we lodge a complaint. The company only budges when it knows it’s under threat. I’d reckon if financial journalists got hold of this news, then Facebook might start replying to us over this dodgy malware scan.
Thank you for the suggestion- it was effective and simple, though I do not particularly favor other browsers besides Chrome. Let me know if there is a way I can continue using facebook on Google Chrome as well.
May, I believe that these glitches are down to Facebook’s databases reaching some sort of limit, though they will never admit it because of their share price. I’d give things about three days, then try to use Chrome again and see what happens. One would hope that Facebook would repair its databases in that period, and I hear from others that their accounts are completely back to normal after three days. (During that period, you may be unable to share links, regardless of browser or computer—which is more evidence that the error is Facebook’s and not yours.)
Just thought I’d let you know what I’ve tried. Sent 2 links (legit, no virus attached links) via private message, April 27th) and all of a sudden cannot log on to facebook. I cleared cookies, cache, recent history, et al. Still wouldn’t work. Used other browsers (firefox, opera, ie), still not working. Although it apparently only affects me on my computer. I can go on other computers and log in, no problem; as well as, others can log on to their facebook profiles on my computer. I even created a new account (on my computer) so I could send them a message with details (not getting my hopes up about receiving a reply).
This has happened to me and I can also get on with the second account. I have to ask since I suspect why I was restricted.
Were any of you posting lots of political posts….specifically Bernie or Trump posts?
I also wonder IF it really is FB doing this. There isn’t a FB logo on the malware window….if it were FB, why wouldn’t it happen on the computer with different accounts?
Just curious….thanks!
Hi Dawn, thank you for giving us details of what happened to you. As others can log in using your computer, and your second account is fine, then it’s definitely related to what I encountered—and seems to confirm again that there is something screwy with Facebook’s databases. I imagine it would be worth giving your computer a malware scan in any case, just not Facebook’s, but your issue does sound related to the one I had. They’ll never reply unless they know they could get into trouble. I’d wait it out past the weekend and see how things are on Monday (since I really don’t think anyone works there at weekends!).
Hi Marie, it’s definitely Facebook doing it, as they have even bragged about doing it on their site officially, and the gullible tech press has covered it. It’s precisely because it’s Facebook doing it that it knows which account you are using to log in, because chances are there’s nothing wrong with your computer. If you look at the address bar for the block and for the so-called malware scanner, it’s a Facebook one, not one masquerading as Facebook.
I wouldn’t say my posts were any more political than the next person’s, and I’m not American.
Ok thanks Jack….but still why? I don’t post anymore than anyone else I know…less actually. But I do post a lot of political things lately. And I did have a *run in* when I didn’t use my legal name…..they won’t let me change my name anymore. That was recently….and now this. Something’s up.
I’m taking my computer today to get cleaned…needed it anyway. But if it were truly infected then their *message* should come up no matter what account….that’s why I think there is some other reason…
After it’s cleaned, I’ll try to contact Colin Stretch as he is the lawyer for FB from what I understand. They cannot not grant me access if I have a completely cleaned computer….you think? ;)
What do you think will happen?
This happened to me today. I had been prohibited from liking and friending for a month (no reason why) then today (when the month was up) I was told to download Kapersky or whatever it says. Then it said to download ANOTHER malware program. AND, for more info, I cleaned my computer using a couple of virus programs, tried ALL my browsers (Opera, Edge, Foxfire, Chrome), tried my husband’s computer and in every single case, same message. I CAN get on with my iPad and iPhone, but it isn’t the same.
Thank you, Marie—it’s interesting to know that you are not a heavy user. I saw something similar on another site (which has since closed down) many years ago, and that was because its databases had become corrupted. Facebook uses pretty much the same sort of databasing (at the core) as a lot of other sites, so they are not immune. My theory is that their databases are dying, although they will never admit to anything like that because their share price would collapse overnight. I am sure they have back-ups, but until those back-ups are properly restored (which seems to take three days), they limit our accounts. For now, they blame us, because this way it doesn’t look like their databases are damaged, and if media enquire, they can pretend it’s all our fault (which tends to be what all big Silicon Valley firms do until a big expert is affected and they begin covering their hind ends).
You are correct that if your computer was really infected, the message would always come up regardless of account, so it’s not your computer. Please keep me posted on what their lawyer says. I agree, if your computer is clean, then it really confirms that Facebook is lying and they have no solid reason for denying you access. Mind you, mine was clean, too …
Julie, it really sounds like their databases are defective. And thank you for recording what had happened to you. It seems those anti-malware programs are a crock (which explains why each time I ask their makers about them, they clam up), and that it’s nothing to do with your computer, but your account. The reason you can get on with Ipad and Iphone is that a mobile Facebook is served up (I think it’s m.facebook.com), which is a separate, simpler site.
Interestingly, and disturbingly, it has become apparent that FB is actually censoring political activists….
Many of my fellow Bernie supporters can no longer post links or tags….or like me cannot sign on without jumping through hoops.
In addition, apparently they are not letting some people communicate with each other. I know someone this is happening to when she got the same screen about malware. The tablet works fine to connect to the account, and friends can message her, just not one particular activist. :/
Interesting.
One reason why I know it’s all BS: while shitebook asked me to scan for one profile, suggesting that there was something on my Mac (like it’s my fault!), shitebook allowed me to log in with a different profile from the same Mac with no messages of malware whatsoever. Strange? Isn’t it? Why is that? What is shitebook up to?
This has just happened to me and I’m struggling to fix it. I cancelled the download, didn’t give permission for it to modify computer hard drive and it still installed! I can’t find it as I’m using an older version of Windows. If you could help I would be grateful.
And I think you are right about the censoring / outside plug ins link. I was trying to post a link to thunderclap and had tagged about 40 people in the post – it was about a local issue we are campaigning on. Then I got the malware message. I think they are trying to limit the effectiveness of these kinds of plug ins. I’ve never had any issues like this with FB and genuinely thought my account had been hacked at first. Now there’s a background programme working on my computer RIGHT NOW and I can’t find it or stop it. So angry about this.