kaq.pagerte.net

[aa_cohen]

kaq.pagerte.net, which is reported as a virus on some groups on the Web, frequently pops up a page asking me to install an update to Adobe Flash - although it is clearly illegitimate.

MalwareBytes does not detect it. Does anyone know how it can be removed?

Thanks.

[daledoc1]

Hello and welcome, aa_cohen:

Please follow the recommendations in this pinned topic: Available Assistance For Possibly Infected Computers.

A qualified helper will guide you through the cleanup process.

Thanks,

daledoc1

[David H. Lipman]

kaq.pagerte.net is not a "virus". It is the name of a web site.

Web sites in themselves are not malware. Malware exists as malicious disk files that can be exhibited as exploit code, viruses and trojans. Web sites may host malicious content such as exploit code, viruses and trojans. However you can not call a site on the Internet a virus. You can state that a site on the Internet is acting maliciously or is malicious.

[daledoc1]

kaq.pagerte.net is not a "virus". It is the name of a web site.

Excellent point!

Thanks for the semantic clarification, DHL!

(That's what I get for forum posting while not yet fully caffeinated...)

[David H. Lipman]

Interestingly, there can be a blur or on this subject. One can have a website named; www.mysite.com and at the same time there can be an executable file named; www.mysite.com.

In the case of a file it would be an example of a double-extension where the file has two "." (dots) in the name with the extension .COM . On the web, .com signifies a a top-level Domain being company. On a computer .com signifies a COMpiled program for CP/M and DOS operating systems and later versions of Windows inherit this file type as an executable file. Malicious actors use this confusion between the name of a web site and a disk file to get you infected. One can easily rename MALICIOUS_FILE.EXE to MALICIOUS.FILE.COM and often we see the ransomware trojans distributed using this methodology (ploy).

EDIT:

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COM_file