Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Warning to openoffice product seekers for the following site.

Free Download Office™
New version in English for you
Free Download OpenOffice now
Openoffice.pro/free-download <which then forwards you to openoffice.pro/CA

Thanks to ADVAST for picking up on this threat
Whats worse is that this was a GoogleAD! Sponsored Links by GOOGLE ADSENCE!

Search term "openoffice" via google.com appears on the first page! via sponsored google ad!

Always download from www.openoffice.org the official site.

The name of the software is "OpenOffice.org" and it's also the domain where you get the latest release for all operating systems.
On the same site you find the license, the source code, release notes, product information, system requirements, manuals, links to extensions, templates, localization packages, spell check dictionalies, older versions, a software development kit and so much more.

As a Windows user you need an extra tool to verify what you downloaded. The tool is linked on openoffice.org as well ...
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html
http://download.openoffice.org/3.0.1/md5sums.html

It's an open source software developed, distributed and maintained on the internet. The internet is still a free place. It's up to you if you lookup the right thing by the right name and do the right thing with what you download.

Im not sure if openoffice runs any googleads via google adsence, but you would think google would offer some sort of protection on their
add networks to provide sole rights to ads featuring the term "openoffice" strictly for openoffice approved vendors only.

If there is a fake add promoting openoffice.org products which ends up infecting ones pc with a virus , i believe it is the responsibly of google
to insure adds running on google adsence are free from harmful ads.

Don't you have to be approved to run ads on google adsence?
And shouldn't ads that run on their network, Like "Openoffice Products or Microsoft Products" be verified that they are legit products by the vendors.

Again, there is no software named "OpenOffice" nor " Open Office". That name is claimed by a Dutch company. They don't do anything against scammers using the name. Scammers pay Google for page ranks. Simply train yourself to ignore all google-ads (and advertising in general).

We really need to be a little more careful: it is possible for a site other than OO.org to legitimately offer the software for download. As far as I can see, the download link on the site referred to in this thread (openoffice.pro/CA) actually points to the OO.org download site. The download did not ask for any registration or payment, and the file that I downloaded matches the md5sum posted on the OO.org download site, so it seems highly unlikely to me that the file actually contains any virus. It has been known that antivirus products can give false positive alerts.

The best policy is to get the software directly through the OO.org site, but raising a false alarm is not a good thing either, in that we now have (apparently) false information on a public forum.

acknak wrote:We really need to be a little more careful: it is possible for a site other than OO.org to legitimately offer the software for download. As far as I can see, the download link on the site referred to in this thread (openoffice.pro/CA) actually points to the OO.org download site. The download did not ask for any registration or payment, and the file that I downloaded matches the md5sum posted on the OO.org download site, so it seems highly unlikely to me that the file actually contains any virus. It has been known that antivirus products can give false positive alerts.

The best policy is to get the software directly through the OO.org site, but raising a false alarm is not a good thing either, in that we now have (apparently) false information on a public forum.

If you updated your Avast, you should obtain the same results.
Here after a google search, you are redirected to the URL show'n in the firefox browser, followed by the warning message from AVAST..
screen image below...

<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php? ... jy&thumb=5" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/98b ... 896b4g.jpg" border="0" alt="Unlimited Free Image and File Hosting at MediaFire"></a>

if the above image does not load, try refreshing that page, should display on the second if not third try, weird.

Your pic still doesn't show (it does only if you're the uploader sometimes IIRC). Please save as .png (or .jpg if still too big) and upload it here, it won't disappear in the future if the pic is removed from the file sharing web site. See: How to attach a document here.

Sorry, I don't mean to make a big deal out of this; it's certainly valid and worthwhile to raise a question if you find a site that you think may be malicious.

But just because a virus scanner says there's a problem does not mean that there is actually a problem. The scanner may report that something contains a virus when, in fact, it does not.

If the md5sum of the downloaded package is the same as the sum published by OO.org, you can be reasonably sure that you have the same exact bits that OO.org packaged, which had better be virus-free.

If you have a downloaded package that has a different md5sum, then it is not the same as what OO.org packaged and the virus scanner results carry more weight.

So I'm not questioning whether the scanner reports a virus or not; I believe you when you say that it does. But more important is the name, file size and md5sum of the package that you downloaded. The exact URL that you downloaded it from would also be helpful.

Warning to openoffice.org, Open Office users!

As of yesterday, my system has been compromised and I've sourced it back to Java and Open Office. As usual I updated my Java when prompted by the auto updater. Pretty sure the update was not a legit Java update and it was somehow made to look like a legit Java update provoked by Open Office.. not really sure. I had an application called softbin, running under openoffice which would try to use iexplorer, launching it and trying to connect. I don't use iexplorer... First thing it tried to disable my windows firwall. Tried to uninstall iexplorer and it would not let me delete, kept telling me an application was using the file, which was tracked back to softbin. I could not delete my connection wizard either, had to stop all processes related to these files before I could delete them... having some serious issues! Also had another Admin account appear.. all in the last day.

This is a pretty good one.. whatever it is, a full thorough archive deep virus scan last night did not pick up any virus, using Avast. Say I'm paranoid.. but creating a login for this site is giving someone?? lots of info about operating system.. OpenOffice version.. email.. passwords, (hope no one uses the same login/email passes for message forums) Should you be infected and not know it, you have essentially given someone some valuable compromising information, maybe the pass is not the same but they can compile your information with your email, and cross reference with any website you may have visited or registered to with the same email address.

For now I'm shutting down my java.. and open office, hoping the issues will be addressed. It's too bad so many web apps require java framework installed, but I don't ever want to go that deep into my system to remove apps.. exe's etc.. which launch on their own.. I'm sure this isn't over!!

ChaseEasy

I don't understand anything about what you've written. You run Windows but your profile shows Linux-other.

Why should the java update be non legit? What's the link with the forum login and so on?

Before claiming such alarms, you should get some information. Before you point to an official virus report, this is just nonsense.

Does this work?

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Open Office from openoffice.org 3 times in the last 2 days. Open Office works for about 2 hours, or until I close and reload it. I think this kicks off a queue to download from teh website and will immediately get me errors. Vipre Antivirus keep telling me that the files:

C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program\formi.dll
C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program\dnd.dll

Are known bad.

Vipre blocks attempts by C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe to access these known bad files. At this point, I have to reinstall Open Office, as the files are cleaned to disable the virus.

I have this post marked for replies, if anyone has any ideas.

Vipre is known to warn about false positives, see that query.

My wife accidentally tried to download Open Office from the above dodgy link today. To start off with she got lots of unwanted pop ups when on the internet. Now we can't even boot up her machine. The screen to enter her password comes up then it just goes blank with just the mouse cursor on the screen. Is there any hope? I can't even uninstall anything because nothing will open.

Google "blank screen after login" and see if you can find something that helps.

Does this also occur if you boot into Safe Mode. Enter Safe Mode by tapping F8 repeatedly when the machine first starts up.

Edwyn wrote:My wife accidentally tried to download Open Office from the above dodgy link today. To start off with she got lots of unwanted pop ups when on the internet. Now we can't even boot up her machine. .

I made another post here, but it appears to have been removed.
Sourceforge is no longer a trusted website to downlaod from.

Edwyn, What OS are you using ? Win XP, Vista, 7, 8 ?
If XP, vista or 7, boot into safe mode. It will ignore loading a bunch of drivers and startup software. Then you can remove the junk that might be installed.
To boot in safe mode. reboot the computer and as its turning on keep pressing the F8 a bunch of times. you should end up at a black and white menu. the top option is safe mode. Safe mode with network access will allow you to get to the internet.

Some tools that can help :
Revo Un Installer. (Revolutionary Un Installer) will remove software and all of the typical junk that the poorly designed un installers leave behind.
Windows Steady State - FREE for XP and Vista - locks the computer down and prevents accidental infections of junk
Faronics Deep Freeze, not free, but still worth it. does the same as deep freeze works on every Windows version.
if you need additional help let me know.

No one's posts have been removed. Your original post is here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=74964

I've explained what happened, here: viewtopic.php?p=339962#p339962

HawaiianHope.org wrote:Sourceforge is no longer a trusted website to downlaod from.

You seem to be assuming or implying that the problem has something to do with a download from SourceForge, but this topic is about a problem that occurred in 2009, long before SourceForge began hosting the downloads.

Bill
The original post was from 2009.
Edwin re-opened the topic on January 23rd of this year, days ago, and very clearly stated what happend.
yes i am assuming "the link" referres to sourceforge. If i am wrong, i apologize. but i have had a number of clients that vist sourceforge and now get their computers screwed up. (it happened to me once too not paying attention as source forge used to be the official quality "go to" place to get quality products) OO is on source forge to get it... so assuming he went to get it from source forge, i dont hesitate to think that something similar happened to his computer too. while OO is legit, the delivery mechanism is now questionable at best.

This can happen to any Windows user having scripting enabled without ad blocker when loading a web page with heavy payload of questionable content. I consider all kinds of advertisment as questionable content.
This is a user forum. Nobody here has any influence on hosting of OpenOffice.

Edwyn didn't mention SourceForge. "The link" is a reference to the link posted in 2009 which came from a Google Ad.

As far as SourceForge being unsafe for downloading AOO, I don't see it. In my experience, the AOO installer downloads from SourceForge are direct downloads of the AOO installer without any additional adware/malware/etc. There is no need for another direct link to download from anywhere else. I can only assume that problems are caused by clicking on a link to an unaffiliated site and downloading from there. The links can be in Internet search results or in an ad anywhere. Pay attention and don't click on the links to unaffiliated sites and the downloads of AOO should be clean. If you want to avoid the ads on SourceForge, go to the official Apache OpenOffice download page and click the download link there. You should be redirected to the download page on SourceForge where your download should begin in a few seconds.

In my experience, after selecting the version of AOO that I wish from the main site at http://www.orenoffice.org/download/index.html there is no need to click on anything[/url] to get the appropriate download.
Admittedly sometimes there is a delay, probably no more than 5-10 seconds, but it's not that long of a wait in comparison to the time required to remove an infected download.