Guild Wars 2

I downloaded the WinAuth malware (no better word for it) when it was released. I was in and out of the game several times and no problem… until I restarted my PC.

At this point it refused to let me log in and I had to contact support to get the broken junk deactivated.

Now I get bugged every 3-5 times I log in to redownload the garbage.

Please, PLEASE give me the option to give a firm ‘no’ and stop hassling me with it. I will NOT redownload this broken ‘security’ feature!

Sounds like you have some sort of virus on your computer. Since it is clearly working quite well for others.

I suggest you scan your computer and get rid off all the viruses and then try again.

And no, they shouldn’t and probably won’t remove the encouragement to use available account-security.

Oh that’s what WinAuth was. Saw it in one of my files and couldn’t remember what it was but ignored it since it wasn’t harming anything. IDK, after using it I haven’t seen it do anything since or cause any problems.

lordkrall.7241:

Sounds like you have some sort of virus on your computer. Since it is clearly working quite well for others.

I suggest you scan your computer and get rid off all the viruses and then try again.

And no, they shouldn’t and probably won’t remove the encouragement to use available account-security.

Ironic, as it turned up in my AVG as a potential threat.

There are hundreds of authenticator apps you could use. Google’s authenticator is an open standard and it’s really not even that difficult to make one yourself.

Here’s a sample, make one yourself: https://jsfiddle.net/agsptqqv/

That answers it right there. I ditched AVG years ago because it was screwing up a lot of games. Still does.

GuzziHero.2467:

lordkrall.7241:

Sounds like you have some sort of virus on your computer. Since it is clearly working quite well for others.

I suggest you scan your computer and get rid off all the viruses and then try again.

And no, they shouldn’t and probably won’t remove the encouragement to use available account-security.

Ironic, as it turned up in my AVG as a potential threat.

that would mean that you should deffo check out if your connection with internets are going the way you think its going – because my AVG said nothing about that thing :P
(and assuming that no matter PC AVG will use same definitions it means that while I got clear copy of feature – someone could temper with your on the way between you and ANet (a man-in-the-middle kind of hacker atack)

OneYenShort.3189:

That answers it right there. I ditched AVG years ago because it was screwing up a lot of games. Still does.

you had to either use weird AVG or played weird games – I’m using it for years now and I haven’t encountered any issue with any game – while some other antivir softwares I checked out earlier could totally crash most of online games by blocking them by default without any way to tell them not to before it was too late…. (and then when trying to run game again it already forgot that it was told to NOT block that game and circle closes… the only way to play a game was to turn off the anivirus before launching the game….)

AVG is HORRIBLE now. It used to be great, a long time ago. Don’t use it anymore. Window’s defender is actually more than adequate these days (again this didn’t use to be the case.)

Didn’t you post this story, repeatedly, in the main SMS thread?

I mean, I suppose some might find the story somewhat interesting, but did it need its own thread?

GuzziHero.2467:

I downloaded the WinAuth malware (no better word for it) when it was released. I was in and out of the game several times and no problem… until I restarted my PC.

At this point it refused to let me log in and I had to contact support to get the broken junk deactivated.

You need to download WinAuth from the official website. Getting it from some other place is going to cause problems. It is not malware and the current executable does not scan with any threats (including AVG 10.0.1405 – make sure your scanner is also up to date).

Restarting your PC wouldn’t cause a problem unless you hadn’t actually save the authenticator key. You are problem to enter a password and save it. In any case you should also write down the secret key as your own personal backup.

I see alot of people using AVG in this thread…
Once upon a time AVG reasonably ok. Especially for a free Anti Virus. About 3-5 years ago though AVG itself acts like a virus and gives little to no protection and kittens up games now days. I had even used a paid version and it was still acting very odd for a antivirus. I ended up trying to uninstall it and it was requiring me to download another program to uninstall it. It took me a few days to fully get that kitten off my computer. I have since switched to Vipre and have had 0 issues and 0 viruses for 3 years.

WinAuth works fine for me, no malware.

But if you dont want to try it again, there are plenty of other authenticators.

Google Authenticator for Android or IOS is probably the best.
There are also various Chrome extensions for running it on windows, probably the same for Firefox.

GuzziHero.2467:

lordkrall.7241:

Sounds like you have some sort of virus on your computer. Since it is clearly working quite well for others.

I suggest you scan your computer and get rid off all the viruses and then try again.

And no, they shouldn’t and probably won’t remove the encouragement to use available account-security.

Ironic, as it turned up in my AVG as a potential threat.

Which means your AVG is out of date, which means there is a good chance you have virus/adware causing issues with Winauth. In other words it is your PC that is the issue, and not WinAuth at all. Up to date AVG does not give a false positive for WinAuth. And if you are up to date, it means you decided to download Winauth from somewhere else other than the official Winauth webpage. Either way, what ever the issue is, it is your own fault in someway.

SMS is different system than the WinAuth. SMS is just a simple text message that comes to your phone. No need to install anything. Switch to that.

2FA – Two-factor authorization, this is what ANet want players to use as a means around compromised e-mail. The two of the methods they support are:

SMS – Text Messaging, self explanatory needs your mobile number
Software Authenticator – WinAuth, Google Authenticator which you set up once with the 16 character “secret code” displayed in text and as a QR code to scan from your browser screen. After that as long as your system’s time is set by a time server, standard nowadays, it generates a constant stream of 6 digit codes every 30 seconds.

With the third is phoning you and giving you the code audibly which needs your home number.

Sure, if your system has already been rooted with a key logger, software authenticators on your PC is pointless since they’ll get your secret code when you set it up. But you already have a key logger installed, you have bigger problems than fretting over using an authenticator.

Why install software when you can simply opt to receive a SMS for free? I mean, if you’re young and don’t have a phone yet, fair enough, but otherwise?

ThreeFeetOfMagic.4529:

I see alot of people using AVG in this thread…
Once upon a time AVG reasonably ok. Especially for a free Anti Virus. About 3-5 years ago though AVG itself acts like a virus and gives little to no protection and kittens up games now days. I had even used a paid version and it was still acting very odd for a antivirus. I ended up trying to uninstall it and it was requiring me to download another program to uninstall it. It took me a few days to fully get that kitten off my computer. I have since switched to Vipre and have had 0 issues and 0 viruses for 3 years.

I’d say that at some point you managed to get some malware that succeeded in fooling you that its AVG – I’m using it for like 4-5 years now and nothing you listed here ever occured to me….

but then every year they release “new edition” and update to that one requires to uninstall old version ond only then install new one….

yeah, sms works great for me, the texts come instantly anyways

cafard.8953:

Why install software when you can simply opt to receive a SMS for free? I mean, if you’re young and don’t have a phone yet, fair enough, but otherwise?

There are a multitude of reasons why this may not be optimal.

Poor signal, charges for text messages, delayed text messages, Anet not accepting your mobile number for sms messaging, etc.

The phone app or winauth or browser extensions or various other authenticators really are free, while SMS technically is not.

GuzziHero.2467:

lordkrall.7241:

Sounds like you have some sort of virus on your computer. Since it is clearly working quite well for others.

I suggest you scan your computer and get rid off all the viruses and then try again.

And no, they shouldn’t and probably won’t remove the encouragement to use available account-security.

Ironic, as it turned up in my AVG as a potential threat.

Yeah sounds like your AVG is out of date, mine’s working perfectly and it’s the latest, but I have tweaked mine a tad for gaming.

I took the winauth option. Registered it, tied it to my game/computer. Havent had to use it since, I can log in like normal. Quite possibly the most unobtrusive verification process ive seen yet, and I hope more games make use of it.

*oh hes using AVG….theres your problem.

I’ll point out that as of the last few years antivirus scanners like AVG and Avast have had a large number of false positives due to modifications in program code. The worst I’ve seen is Drake Tax Software used by many tax preps being labeled as a Trojan and removed outright by these scanners. The end solution I found to these types of issues is 1) use Windows Security Essentials for Vista or 7, Windows Defender for 8 & 10. It is free and works well. If you want a backup, I suggest Malwarebytes Antimalware Free Edition and to scan your system every month or so with a custom scan – rootkit search enabled.

All in all, most AV programs on the market are quite useless compared to the current Windows protection available.

cafard.8953:

Why install software when you can simply opt to receive a SMS for free? I mean, if you’re young and don’t have a phone yet, fair enough, but otherwise?

People value their privacy. Not everyone give out their mobile number freely. Afraid this will result in telemarketing. Some people still pay per message.