If you have downloaded a few or maybe a lot of videos then on your regular computer played all the videos “EXCEPT” the one (it could be 700 mb or less) that displays a 15 second black background screen with text explaining that you must download the 3wPlayer in order to view this particular video but due to time constraints or some other reason decided NOT to download the 3wPlayer BUT kept the video(s) anyway. Then one day…
You buy the WD TV Live player and do what I did in the following.
I picked up a 2.5" 40 gig drive that had about 15 or 20 videos on. I hda it in in an aluminum case that has two usb connectors coming from it. If the USB port its properly powered version 2 you simply use one connector and you can hook it up to the WD live. I’m not sure if it is recommended but my last wish is to strain and damage my WD TV Live so I use an external powered 4 port USB hub that I rely on for extra options in this case I prefer to let the hub power the 2.5" drive. Im sorry if Im complicating this story instead of getting to the main point.
I was bored last night so I decided to go through (inspect parts) of each and every movie on the drive via my WD TV Live. I’m not into rap,at least what I call heavy rap just as Im not into heavy metal but I like rock. Anyway I watched about 10 movies (parts of them) and then I got to one called Snoop Dogg’s Hustlaz Diary of a Pimp - Srxy girls.AVI Video that was 700 mb long (so it said) I knew Id see a lot of money and gold but I saw more than that . Lets say it kept my attention and it wasn’t music or gold. OK after that point I stopped playing and I didnt feel as if anything was wrong.
I took a bathroom break. When I returned I decided to watch the next movie in line. Keep in mind that I had seen parts of this movie several yimes called: Superbad.CAM.iPod.Optimized.MP4
Oh NO whats going on??? All the sudden the screen turns black and tells me that I must download the 3wPlayer in order to watch the movie. I said to myself BULL Ive seen this movie on this exact setup using the WD TV live and had no problems prior so why was it stopping me from playing the video now??? Not to mention I had no way to install any sort of player into the WD TV Live so I knew something was very wrong. I had a Dlink Media player that got a virus that changed all my ID3 tags. They would have a different number every time you scrolled up or down again this was a DLINK not A WD TV LIVE. If I learned anything through my computer years it is to stop as soon as you think something is fishy and check it out via the net to see if anyone else has a similar problem.
I went to my ffavorite search engines and was shocked how many results about 3wPlayer returned with notice that “3wPlayer contained adware, trojans, spyware” and the list grew the more I read. Even Wiki has info on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3wPlayer
Keep in mind that I cant remember ever downloading the 3wPlayer (doesnt mean my roomate might not have but I never saw it on my computers).
I have no idea how it all happened other than the way I recall above but somehow one of more of these files had the ability (but only after I launched the SnoopDog.MP4 file) to alter all of the 20 files except for Snoop Dog that I ALREADY PLAYED AND WATCHED A COUPLE MOVIES A FEW TIMES BEFORE! but somehow that darned files as it played I assume went and altered all the other movies so that the end result was that perfectly playing videos no longer played. NOT ONE OF THEM. All they would say when launched was to show the standard 15 second video with a black background and red text set more on the right stating "You must first download and install the 3wPlayer in order to watch this video (or words to that effect). I was ticked. Here was a nice movie collection and It was or appears to be snoop dog video. I never was crazy about rap NOW I HATE IT. No just kidding, Im not placing the rap on rap. Maybe the techs on this board and or fellow members can give me an idea of the safe way to proceed.
I found a file called 3wdecoder.exe thats said to work and make the filles readable. In fact I read that the actual video is simply shifted way off the screen and the text that shows is simply a section of the true screen. It may be why the screen is so generic looking…
I havent used it yet for I want toi wait for any replies but I found a program called
DomPlayer 3wPlayer Fix at .goitexpert.com/general/domplayer-3wplayer-fix/
But I’m half way affraid to try software from a site that I know nothing of. Can you imagine if there were severeal sites that simply reinstalled the troan or malware or worse. I have no idea if my WD TV Live is messed up or if the damage is limited to only my files. And maybe all I need is a reboot and maybe my WD TV Live will drop whatever has made all the changes to my files. I sure hope there is no way for a virus or whatever it would be called could get into my WD TV Live. I remember I had a IP camera and there was some type of harmful software going from router to router and other hardware that had router like feaatures. My IP camera could becontrolled via web remote and or local all I can tell you is I never got a name nor found a diagnosis I think the camera used a linux based software but or something called vworks and all I can tell you is it slowed down my video card. I could download at fast speeds but display of a web page took forever and the computer ran terrible slow. I redid it all not knowing what went wrong and stupid me all was working great and I waited until the end to hook my security system up and BINGO then came the dramatic slowdown I found the culprit the hard way and never used that camera again.
Please don’t use the links Ive provided until tech support or someone better versed in computers than me says its ok.
I’m asking for help and at the samw time trying to provide it for those that know more than me.
I 'm thinking about copying these 20 gigs of infected files to a usb thumb drive and running the 3dPlayer remover to see if I can regain my videos.
Oh yes I forgot to add that I have herd that there are many files out there with names of current releases that turn out to be an old move a different movie or in some cases 700 megs of a blank movie. Can you imagine having a slow connection and downloading 700 megs just to see nothing. There are some rude crude people in this world. What pleasure they can take from life by adding misery to others is beyond my comprehension.
Hope my data helps anyone who gets this infection at the time I wrote this I did a search and nothing returned so maybe we can nik it before it niks us.
Good luck fellow movie watchers.
Coley
