
Quote: Originally Posted by
bigg123
...Can you get a drive by download auto-execution by just browsing to a malicious web site?
I think it depends on your browser, how it is set up, how Windows is set up, whether Windows Update is updated as to security updates, whether you have real-time protection set up with your security program, and how good and up-to-date it is.
To limit the discussion to browsers, for example, scripting is usually left on because nearly all websites use it. And scripting can be taken advantage of by a malicious web site.
At the very least you should run an antivirus program like MSE and also have Malewarebytes available. I recently encountered a drive by of "HDD Rescue" which MSE did not stop or warn about and did not even recognize as a problem after it installed itself. But a scan with Malewarebytes (in safe mode) found 29 bad files and registry entries which it removed and fixed the problem.