Anybody had virus problems with Handbrake?

[RyanP]

I installed Handbrake (a DVD conversion tool) from a link I got off of some forum. I downloaded the file and scanned it first, and when that came up clean, I installed it. Unfortunately around the time I installed/ran it, a bunch of emails were sent from my Hotmail account (through Outlook, I presume). It appears all of these sent emails were replies to existing emails in my Inbox, and all had a dat file attached. I did not initiate any of these emails. Has anybody else experienced a similar problem? Thanks,
Ryan

 

[PhatKid]

I've been using Handbrake for a while and never experienced anything like that. But I'm on a Mac. Are you using Outlook on a PC? Whatever the issue, that's hella sucky.

 

[jjvaldez]

ive been using Handbrake for a really long time and have never had a virus problem....

 

[gcvt]

Absolutely no problems here.

 

[RyanP]

Thanks for the responses. Glad to hear the software works for you guys because it does seem handy. I am using Outlook on a PC. Do you guys have the link to the official handbrake site? I think this is the site I used:

handbrake.m0k.org/

Thanks again,
Ryan

 

[AOML]

I installed Handbrake (a DVD conversion tool) from a link I got off of some forum. I downloaded the file and scanned it first, and when that came up clean, I installed it. Unfortunately around the time I installed/ran it, a bunch of emails were sent from my Hotmail account (through Outlook, I presume). It appears all of these sent emails were replies to existing emails in my Inbox, and all had a dat file attached. I did not initiate any of these emails. Has anybody else experienced a similar problem? Thanks,
Ryan

Yes, I have! Uninstall it! I'm doing the same right now...

 

[iphonewarrior]

Yes, I have! Uninstall it! I'm doing the same right now...

Just an FYI - you've replied to a five year old thread

 

[AOML]

Thanks John, I was aware of that. I wanted anyone who saw this question to know that there was at least one person who experienced the same thing, and to uninstall the software immediately. It actually does contain a virus. I wish I had done my research before downloading the software. The software works, but the part about it hacking your mail is correct. First thing I noticed this morning.

 

[iphonewarrior]

Thanks John, I was aware of that. I wanted anyone who saw this question to know that there was at least one person who experienced the same thing, and to uninstall the software immediately. It actually does contain a virus. I wish I had done my research before downloading the software. The software works, but the part about it hacking your mail is correct. First thing I noticed this morning.

Can I just say that I've been using Handbrake for years and I've not had one problem with it whatsoever.

 

[Europa]

Thanks John, I was aware of that. I wanted anyone who saw this question to know that there was at least one person who experienced the same thing, and to uninstall the software immediately. It actually does contain a virus. I wish I had done my research before downloading the software. The software works, but the part about it hacking your mail is correct. First thing I noticed this morning.

Handbrake is a safe, trusted program that does not contain malware. If the malware was related to the installation of this program, it had nothing to do with Handbrake itself. You might have downloaded the software from a non-trustworthy, malicious source that took advantage of the program's popularity and bundled it with malware.

As with all software, be sure to only download it from official, trusted websites. If malware was installed on your computer, uninstalling the program it was bundled with wouldn't remove it anyway. You would need to run a removal tool. It can be difficult to pinpoint how and when the computer was infected, but I recommend installing an antivirus program, and keeping it up to date, to prevent future occurrences. It's also very important to keep Adobe Flash and Java updated. Not even the best antivirus programs available can protect your system if these aren't up to date.

 

[patrickj]

Handbrake is a safe, trusted program that does not contain malware. If the malware was related to the installation of this program, it had nothing to do with Handbrake itself. You might have downloaded the software from a non-trustworthy, malicious source that took advantage of the program's popularity and bundled it with malware.

As with all software, be sure to only download it from official, trusted websites. If malware was installed on your computer, uninstalling the program it was bundled with wouldn't remove it anyway. You would need to run a removal tool. It can be difficult to pinpoint how and when the computer was infected, but I recommend installing an antivirus program, and keeping it up to date, to prevent future occurrences. It's also very important to keep Adobe Flash and Java updated. Not even the best antivirus programs available can protect your system if these aren't up to date.

Exactly.

Like others above, I've used Handbrake for years on various different laptops, and downloaded it several times from reputable sources and never had even a hint of an issue.

 

[iphonewarrior]

For example, here is a reputable source for handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php