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Question

Whatsapp on Windows 10 PC

Mar 6, 2017 3:01AM PST

I'm beginning to suspect a virus or worse here - help appreciated.
Running Win10 64bit on my HP Pavilion desktop PC .
I have the PC version of Whatsapp installed, and syncing to my LG G4 phone running Android. Has worked perfectly for a good while, but although the Android copy continues to operate normally, about a week ago, (on boot-up of my machine), the PC copy started opening a largish window saying Whatsapp was downloading an update which could take a few minutes and it would then close the app and restart it. I humoured it but after maybe ten minutes or more it eventually gave a message saying it could not download and gave a link to perform the download manually.
Screenshot available, but the above "Insert image" button only allows a URL to be entered, not a hard-disc location. I did enter this: (IHappy > Documents > Computer Problems > Whatsapp > Can't Update but it didn't like it.
I finally gave up and used Control Panel -> Uninstall or Change a Program to uninstall Whatsapp completely. It duly reported that the uninstall was successful. (Again screenshot available of Uninstall window showing no Whatsapp resident).
However, the first screenshot mentioned above of the manual update link was taken just now, even though I uninstalled Whatsapp yesterday and the computer has been powered off overnight.
Am I right in suspecting a virus?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
To show a screeshot
Mar 6, 2017 3:44AM PST

You need to use Dropbox or another image sharing program, I do it like this >
http://s1365.photobucket.com/user/itsdigger/media/2013-12-27_11-16-32_zps3ce931d6.jpg.html?sort=2&o=10

I don't know about that virus though.
You said this happened a week ago ?
There were a lot of sites having troubles last week , read this article for a reference ( it might be the reason the update didn't work ) >
https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/ahhhh-the-internet-is-partially-broken/

I would install Whatsapp again to see if it's working now

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To show a screenshot
Mar 6, 2017 8:41AM PST

Hi itsdigger,
Thanks very much for you kind reply. I really appreciate your suggestion, and I do indeed have and use Dropbox on both my computer and on my phone.

Nevertheless -
I'm a simple guy, so here's a simple question: What's with this URL nonsense to upload a file? Since when have file's had URLs? Why can't this site, (and likewise another help forum I've since come across), let you simply (!!) browse/navigate to a folder on your hard-disc to source a file?

To have to take the scenic route and first copy a file from it's hard-disc location into Dropbox or whatever before you can upload it seems to me like a classic case of taking something that ain't broken and then fixing it by making it more long-winded than it needs to be!

Just speculating, could it be designed to give greater security, perhaps?

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Two things.
Mar 6, 2017 8:47AM PST

1. CNET Forums don't host images. If they did, then there could be claims about copyright and more. So nope, no hosting of images.

2. As to the URL, to show an image in a post, the source SHALL be HTTPS. The reasons are indeed security. If you feel this is taking things too far, blame it on the folk that hack and such.

Today I use imgur when I want to show something in this forum. It's a bit tedious to get the URL then add the https but it works so that's what I do.
Example:

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Two things
Mar 6, 2017 10:55AM PST

Hi R. Proffitt,
Again, thank you for responding, I DO appreciate it.
May I just check on the exact meaning of "host", please, as I could be misunderstanding you. To mean, to "host" means that the owner or publisher of the website displays whatever he/she is hosting on their webpage(s). However, it has just dawned on my (tonight!) rather slow brain-cells that you are explaining that as this forum requires a URL for an image, (screenshot or otherwise), they are thereby NOT adding potentially copyright-infringing items directly to their webpages but instead merely providing a means, (ie. the link), for them to be viewed from elsewhere! I take it that I am correct? It's a subtle but legally important distinction that had escaped me earlier Wink

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Sounds like you understand this.
Mar 6, 2017 12:35PM PST

Some get upset about the not hosting it here and demand a forum with an upload to the forum feature. For many reasons I doubt we'll ever see this.

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Two things - Again!
Mar 6, 2017 11:01AM PST

Apologies for the slight bombardment of message from me!
Am I correct in thinking that the facility I have provided on one of my websites for family and friends to upload photos, (or other file-types for that matter), directly from their hard-discs, could, (in principle at least, if not too likely in practice - given that they are family and friends), equally expose me to copyright claims if I were to add their photos to my existing ones on my site? What an awful thought!

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Re: pics
Mar 6, 2017 11:58AM PST

That depends on your "terms of usage". If those are that you become the owner of whatever they upload, or that you may use it for whatever you want, and they agreed to that, there's no problem. It's their choice then to upload it or not.

But if you promised you respected their privacy and wouldn't touch their pictures nor use them in any way, you have a legal problem if you do.

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Re: pics
Mar 7, 2017 12:36PM PST

Hi Kees_B,
My websites are just "little-old-me" personal websites, it would never occur to me to have "terms of usage". I have not promised anything to anybody, merely provided a means for them to send photos, etc to me via uploading to my site.

I do hope I don't have to get so paranoid about copyright or any other stuff that surely is of more concern to commercial site publishers that I end up being to frightened to publish anything! What about these folk who share all manner of stuff on Facebook etc? Even though Facebook is not in their ownership, are they too nevertheless at risk of copyright infringement too, perhaps?

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Facebook
Mar 7, 2017 12:41PM PST

Takes down infringing content either by notice or by automation.

Here at CNET Forums we don't have that automation and all volunteer moderators. Which means it's good news that the images are not hosted here.

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Whatsapp on Windows 10 PC
Mar 6, 2017 8:50AM PST

Hi again itsdigger,
Going back to my original issue, forgive the repetition, but here's what I said at the end:

"However, the first screenshot mentioned above of the manual update link was taken just now, even though I uninstalled Whatsapp yesterday and the computer has been powered off overnight.
Am I right in suspecting a virus?"

The point is, not only have I had a problem with Whatsapp trying to update, but there's the separate problem, (even more, strong concern about a virus), concerning the fact that this Whatsapp auto-update window is still running on my PC and tried again this morning, even though I completely uninstalled Whatsapp yesterday, and my PC was powered off last night and then on again this morning. That is worrying, and makes me quite reluctant to reinstall Whatsapp today to see if it behaves correctly. I need to be reassured that this issue is not an attack on my machine, which I'm sure you can understand.

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Share where you got Whatsapp for the PC.
Mar 6, 2017 8:54AM PST

There are rogue versions out there and finding the real Whatsapp can be rough as the rouges try to get higher on a google search.

As to cleaning up the current Whatsapp I use tools like HIJACKTHIS and AUTORUNS to dive into what a Windows PC is doing then I can remove what I think it is.

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Share where you got Whatsapp for the pc
Mar 7, 2017 12:56PM PST

Hi R. Proffitt,
Unfortunately I cannot recall where I got Whatsapp for Windows from, but thank you for the warning about rogue versions.
A little background on me: I am a retired primary school teacher who has been teaching and using computers for well over 30 years. I build websites, use spreadsheets, use word processing and desktop publishing programs, and also Draw programs. I class myself as a highly-experienced and very proficient computer USER. My use of capitals there however is to emphasise that I know little to nothing of such things as computer programming nor of how to interfere with a computer's innards - and I have even less interest than that of wanting to learn. As with my car - I very happily drive the machine but leave building and mending them to others.
My reason for that slight digression to explain why, after I having just downloaded and run your suggestion of HiJackThis, I have already given up on it after it responded with a message saying "For some reason your system denied write access to the Hosts file. If any hijacked domains are in this file, HjackThis may NOT be able to fix this. If that happens, you need to edit the file yourself. To do this . . . ." Nope, not me! I can't swim in deep waters like that! I'd be sure to bu **** it up completely Wink

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For many reasons
Mar 7, 2017 1:03PM PST

We don't read Hijackthis logs but if you want I can look it over.

It's proper for write access be denied to the Hosts file. I guess as a programmer I see why but here's the deal.

It's my PC so I want to know what state it's in and what it is doing. This is why I may take a Hijackthis log and go over line by line to be sure nothing bad or unknown has been installed. Same for the Autoruns.

-> Editing the Hosts file is accepted as something a PC owner should be able to do if needed.

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For many reasons
Mar 7, 2017 2:39PM PST

Hi again,
Editing the Hosts file is not something I dare play with. I've never heard of it, (in over 30 years as a user!!!), don't have the first idea what it's function is, and have no idea where it is either. I guarantee that if deleted something that looked suspicious to me it would be absolutely the very thing that must not ever on any account be deleted!

It's kind of you to offer to look at mine. I'm very happy to accept that offer, but notwithstanding my very long experience, I'll still need leading by the nose like a novice.

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Here's the deal with Hosts on Windows.
Mar 7, 2017 2:45PM PST

Windows can operate without a Hosts file. But when malware or other drops something in the file, we need to look at it and tell what doesn't belong.

The Hijackthis message was just to let you know that it won't be able to do this for us.

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I've been doing a little
Mar 6, 2017 3:59PM PST

lite reading on your issue of after uninstalling Whatsapp still updating Here

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sorry about that , I hit enter by mistake
Mar 6, 2017 4:03PM PST

Any way at the end of the article it says " If you’re getting any error while uninstalling the app, please use CCleaner (free) software to get rid of the app."
I wonder if CCleaner would clear this up also Confused

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A little reading
Mar 7, 2017 2:32PM PST

Hi itsdigger,
Thank you for the links to the various articles - and also thank you for taking the trouble to do the research on this - much appreciated.
Ok, back to my fight with Whatsapp: It's currently no better at all. To explain:
on 5th March I uninstalled Whatsapp using the normal Control Panel Uninstall Or Change Programs.
on 6th March, (after my computer having been powered off the previous night then on again in the morning), on boot-up I got the Whatsapp window opening with a message in the middle saying "Updating Whatsapp - Downloading an update to Whatsapp. This may take several minutes. Whatsapp will automatically update and restart when the download finishes." After a good while, the message changed and then read,"Problem Detected" Whatsapp needed to restart because of a problem." Next it tried again for a while, then gave up and displayed a third message, reading " Couldn't Update Automatically - To continue using Whatsapp, click Update and install the latest version." - it then offered a green button labelled UPDATE to click on. I didn't do that - because I had uninstalled Whatsapp properly the day before, (with Control Panel Uninstall duly reporting that the uninstall had been performed successfully). Instead I checked Control Panel Uninstall again. It's list did NOT contain Whatsapp - nor would I expect it to!
Ok, so today you suggested CC Cleaner - saying that perhaps CC would deal with Whatsapp. Fine, thank for that. I duly downloaded CC Cleaner - opting for the Pro version, 14 day trial option. I ran that. It ran correctly. It then gave me it's control panel to play with. That panel includes an uninstall tool. I clicked that to see if CC Cleaner had found Whatsapp hiding somewhere, (in a place that Control Panel Uninstall couldn't see, perhaps?). Nope. No sign of Whatsapp at all.

So, I am now still stuck with Whatsapp playing silly B*****s every time I power up my computer, and significantly slowing down the boot up process in the bargain. Argggggghhh!

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I downloaded Whatsapp , it is kinna sneaky
Mar 8, 2017 8:30AM PST

And it is a little sneaky ,
After the download from This Site  ,
a popup said " Download failed " .

I restarted Windows than found a Whatsapp shortcut on my desktop , I right clicked on it and it replied " no program could be found " or something similar to that .

I went into programs and features and Whatsapp didn't show up there.
I next opened Revo Uninstaller and it wasn't listed there either...

Next I opened File Explorer and typed in Whatsapp and the Icon appeared as a desktop shortcut only , so I scrolled down to the bottom and did the Advanced search and chose "This PC " to search in and found seven (7 ) files and deleted each one individually .

I rebooted Windows and Everything Was Removed to the recycle bin and I emptied it .
I did another search " This PC " and nothing was found .

So there's my story with removing Whatsapp.
I dunno if this helps ,but that's what I did to get rid of it...

Hope this helps , let us know

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Download worked for me.
Mar 8, 2017 9:06AM PST

I think you should try another browser to download this. I can't guess what state your PC is in and worry that it is time for you to get on Bleepingcomputer.com to have them help you scan your PC for malware.

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I tried the download on Chrome
Mar 8, 2017 9:13AM PST

I don't think I have a malware problem as I keep my comps in running really tight and have no problems elsewhere , maybe it was a glitch but ,
I do regular scans with MB and Ccleaner and find only cookies and remove them.

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Digger, are you also GrimsbyResident?
Mar 8, 2017 9:19AM PST

Sorry but I missed if your download worked with another browser or not. I'm on the fence about Whatsapp due to state sponsored computer hacking. While I have it on the phone, the PC version for me is optional so I opted not to install, just test the download.

Post was last edited on March 8, 2017 9:37 AM PST

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LOL ! OK Bob
Mar 8, 2017 9:34AM PST

I get it Grin
I tried the download again on Chrome and it downloaded fine,
Tried it on FF and it downloaded without issues .
I believe the first try with Chrome was a glitch ...

Thanks for watching over us Bob

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Whatsapp - kinna sneaky
Mar 9, 2017 3:03AM PST

Hi itsdigger,
Thank you once more for your continued efforts to help me.
I did a search on my PC's C: drive. It produced 18 items, most of which were shown as a document icon and identified as either a shortcut or a Feedback Question. Three were shown as a Whatsapp icon, one of which said to be a PNG image, the other three identified as Application. Right clicking on any, one at a time, and clicking Delete was in every case either ignored or responded to with an error message saying "Item not found. This is no longer located in C:\ with that followed by "ProgramData\Alex\Whatsapp\ . . . or wherever.
I can't understand how a search is able to find and display items that don't exist in the location(s) that it is looking at.
You also said: ". . . so I scrolled down to the bottom and did the Advanced search . . . ". I can't find that either. I presume that you mean down to the bottom of the search window. I did that. At bottom right are two very tiny icons relating to display of thumbnails or item information. That's all I can see anywhere at the bottom of this window.
Any further comments would be appreciated.

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(NT) Sorry ,
Mar 9, 2017 5:42AM PST
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Sorry, I hit enter again
Mar 9, 2017 5:49AM PST

Sorry but, I gave you my best last effort ...... You should re-read this thread and follow
R.Proffitts instructions . The man knows of which he speaks .

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I do have to ask AGAIN though
Mar 9, 2017 8:58AM PST

What operating system this is ?
Are you using some Cracked OS ? Confused

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Scroll to the top.
Mar 9, 2017 9:04AM PST

It's Windows 10 from that. As to crack, for some reason the cracked OSes seem to be always Windows 7 at the shops.

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It was a Noob
Mar 9, 2017 9:09AM PST

question I guess Blush

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Two apologies!
Mar 17, 2017 3:25AM PDT

Hi All,
It's been just over a week since i last posted here. I've not been ignoring anyone, I've had family issues that needed to be dealt with, so apology number one for the delay.

Apology number two should perhaps actually be two and three! Number two is because the problems I had with Whatsapp have now been cured but I have failed to let you all know - not my usual style - family problems as I say.

Number three is because I can't even report how it was cured in order to perhaps help others with the same or similar problems. To explain, I use several different Serif Software programs and had cause to phone their technical help line regarding one of them. Whilst on the phone i referred to the Whatsapp issue just in case it was somehow connected. It wasn't, but nevertheless the guy quickly told me how to get rid of the Whatsapp odds and ends. This was successful but it was several days ago now and sadly I can't remember how it was done.
So, sincere apologies to all, and even more, very grateful thanks and appreciation to you all. Hope I will be welcome back if some other computer gremlin attacks me!
Best wishes,
Alex.