What is Carrara Cafe? I get a malware message from Bitdefender.

Erik HeyninckErik Heyninck Posts: 158
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Hi all, Can anyone tell me something about Carrara Cafe? I found this site on the internet, but when I clicked on the link, I got a message from my virussoft (bitdefender) that this would be a malware site. Which I of course don't like to visit.

Perhaps the site is ok now but has been infected with malware, I don't know...?

thanks.

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Comments

  • EddyMI3DEddyMI3D Posts: 365
    edited December 1969

    Hi Erik,

    I use Avira Internet Suite and do not have any alert with Carrara Café

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    It shouldn't be a malware site unless it was infected somehow. It was started by, and maintained by members of this forum as a showcase for Carrara. Many Carrara users think it doesn't get the respect and development from DAZ that we would like to see. The purpose of the site is to raise awareness for Carrara and to promote and showcae it's potential. There are tutorials, articles, links to resources, as well as some that are hosted at the Cafe.

    Several members of the Carrara community contribute to the site and some develop it. Holly Wetcircuit has done an outstanding job.

    While I've been typing this, it occurred to me that the Cafe allows small file uploads from users in the Freepository forum. The idea being if you have a small Carrara file you have created and wish to share, be it a model, shader, light rig, etc. you can upload it there, It must be in a zip file. Perhaps your software sees these uploads as threats? I guess another possibility is that someone uploaded an infected file accidentally. I would hate to think of someone intentionally doing that, but there is that potential I suppose.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    It's most likely a false positive...checked it against several other sources, including Google's page scanner and comes back clean, everywhere.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited March 2014

    I have Avast, paid for version, with security cranked up high, and the Cafe site reads as green on all counts on Avast online security extension.

    Not an alert on anything

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • IamArtistXIamArtistX Posts: 119
    edited December 1969

    shows clean here using Malwarebytes 2.0 and Eset NOD 7

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited December 1969

    Hi all, Can anyone tell me something about Carrara Cafe? I found this site on the internet, but when I clicked on the link, I got a message from my virussoft (bitdefender) that this would be a malware site. Which I of course don't like to visit.

    Perhaps the site is ok now but has been infected with malware, I don't know...?

    thanks.

    I also get the same warning since I changed to bitdefender when my Eset ran out last December

    so I don't go there just in case!

  • IamArtistXIamArtistX Posts: 119
    edited December 1969

    Well with some many others saying the site is clean and using different programs, I would have to say that BD is at fault, does it tell you what page or link/item it is warning you about, might make informing the Cafe owners about it easier to find, it could be a link or something not hosted by them

  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Oh wow, thanks for everyone checking.... If you can narrow down the warning to a specific file or page I can definitely look into it. We are just a wordpress "blog" but with a lot of plugins running to get the social features and downloads. If it turns out to be one of those I can look for an alternative.

    I'm away from my computer for a short vacay, but I'll be back next week. I am maybe not the most IT or security savvy, but please let me know if it has been an issue for anyone else. THANKS!

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited December 1969

    This is the warning I get in my browser..

    I switched to Bitdefender as it's the highest ranking AV/IS on the market for 2014..

    but agree it could be false positive... but I won't take the risk while it does. ;-)

    bitdefender_cafe.jpg
    1243 x 541 - 60K
  • IamArtistXIamArtistX Posts: 119
    edited December 1969

    I still say its BD's fault, you should email them and ask them to check, I have had to do that with Eset a few times, I have up to date Eset and Malwarebytes running, and that is the most un-informative message the BD people could have made

  • de3ande3an Posts: 915
    edited December 1969

    Probably not related to the warning message, but the Carrara Cafe Forum section now has a header that reads:
    "You have activated a Bronze+ WP Symposium feature, but you have not entered your Activation Code. Get one on the Membership page on the WP Symposium website."

    I'm thinking that this message is intended for the site administrator. Or am I wrong?

  • Erik HeyninckErik Heyninck Posts: 158
    edited March 2014

    Thanks all.

    Virus scanners can be a 'life-savers' but also quite a bit of anuisance.

    I also run MalwareBytes, and I decided to visit the cafe. Nothing happened. No warnings, no messages...

    And I tend to trust MB more than BD when it comes to malware.

    I haven't visited anything except for one video tutorial, but I'll visit again & become a member. I don't think there's a real problem, but if I meet anything I'll add it here.

    Thanks also for explaining the history and purpose of the cafe. Looks like a good idea. Although, generally speaking, I am not complaining about DAZ software. Yet, being new to Carrara, you guys will know much more than me.

    thanks all!

    Post edited by Erik Heyninck on
  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited March 2014

    Stezza said:

    but agree it could be false positive... but I won't take the risk while it does. ;-)



    Well, that's about as informative as an NSA starchamber - and as it seems to be a false positive there is probably nothing I can do to "fix" it anyway... I'm sure we will miss you. ;)

    De3an, yeah, I know about it. DAZ was kind enough to pay for a plugin for us, but the plugin developers have conveniently lost that info and DAZ shouldn't need to track down a year-old email... I'll have to re-buy it when I get home to get that message to go away.... Other than nagging and public shaming, it seems harmless. LOL

    Post edited by wetcircuit on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    Yet, being new to Carrara, you guys will know much more than me.

    thanks all!

    That's what it's there for... to gather, learn, share, and grow together. I have to suggest to check out, in addition to the cool Cafe itself, the C3DE magazine! Carrara 3D Expo is a magazine dedicated to Carrara, and it Rocks!!!
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited December 1969

    Stezza said:

    but agree it could be false positive... but I won't take the risk while it does. ;-)



    Well, that's about as informative as an NSA starchamber - and as it seems to be a false positive there is probably nothing I can do to "fix" it anyway... I'm sure we will miss you. ;)

    with a sarcastic reply like that I have no need to visit your site now anyways... Internet Security or no Internet Security..

    Goodbye ;-)

  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited March 2014

    Stezza said:
    Stezza said:

    but agree it could be false positive... but I won't take the risk while it does. ;-)



    Well, that's about as informative as an NSA starchamber - and as it seems to be a false positive there is probably nothing I can do to "fix" it anyway... I'm sure we will miss you. ;)

    with a sarcastic reply like that I have no need to visit your site now anyways... Internet Security or no Internet Security..

    Goodbye ;-)
    LOL your for-profit "security" software probably has a disclaimer that setting security to maximum may produce false positives....

    Cafe is a non-profit community site with no advertisers, written by and for Carrara users. We SHARE. Everyone here has told you the site is safe and offered the results of their own security software, but you stated clearly you would not be coming around anyway - even though you have no idea what the supposed "threat" might be. *shrug*

    No one is going to chase you. You get out of a community exactly what you put into it. I wasn't being sarcastic at all, I'm sure we *will* miss you (what should I say?). Especially since you are cutting yourself off against the advice of everyone here, and apparently for no real reason. That's unfortunate, but nothing I or anyone else can say has changed your mind and you are not offering any info I can pursue to appease you or your software which you have already admitted is probably giving you a false positive....

    :) I'm going with Okham's Razor on this one. When one person reports a problem, and everyone else is saying they aren't seeing it, that's probably a unique issue for that user. If you can uncover more information about this "bug" you alone are experiencing, I will certainly try to look into it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Everyone's responses here were very helpful, that's what a community is for. Community WIN!

    Post edited by wetcircuit on
  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584
    edited December 1969

    Is it just me, or does anyone else find Carrara Cafe incredibly slow? (I mean like 2 *minutes* to bring up, say, the tutorials page) I know it's only wordpress & all, but I've never seen a wordpress site quite that slow before...

    (It doesn't make a difference whether I'm home or in a cafe, Safari or Chrome...)

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited December 1969

    I contacted Bitdefender last week and they responded back yesterday..

    Thank you for choosing Bitdefender.

    We have sent the data to our laboratories.
    We'll analyze it and, if a false positive is found, detection will be removed in the next 72 business hours.

    Thank you for reporting this! Please don't hesitate to contact us, should you need any assistance in the future.

    Have a wonderful day!

    @Erik Heyninck

    you should be able to get onto carraracafe.com now without the warning.... I can.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    Very cool. Thanks for the update, Stezza! ;)

  • Erik HeyninckErik Heyninck Posts: 158
    edited December 1969

    I have, since I googled this problem and saw that only BitDefender shows this problem, found the best solution: I simply deactivated BD's malware protection. I do have MalwareBytes for that.

    Seen this, and then also the nag screen that want me to connect with their site and the fact that it has irreplacably deleted some files on my eHDD's that it considered viruses (small proggies my stepson wrote) I can only say it was my worst acquisition ever, and I wonder why I let myself be guided by publicity and got it for three years.

    BD is like a bodyguard who prevents you from breathing because the air might be poisoned.

    I hate it.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311
    edited December 1969

    I use McAfee Total Protection, (not free) :) AV / Firewall / Defrag etc...
    it works and updates itself daily, ...sometimes several times.

  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Stezza said:
    I contacted Bitdefender last week and they responded back yesterday..

    Thank you for choosing Bitdefender.

    We have sent the data to our laboratories.
    We'll analyze it and, if a false positive is found, detection will be removed in the next 72 business hours.

    Thank you for reporting this! Please don't hesitate to contact us, should you need any assistance in the future.

    Have a wonderful day!

    @Erik Heyninck

    you should be able to get onto carraracafe.com now without the warning.... I can.

    Thank you, Stezza (if you haven't blocked me :) )... Was there info on why or what Cafe was triggering? :/ I guess it was a "register with us and we will see" kind of thing...?

    It's ongoing to try to improve aspects of the site (speed included) but I assume the slowness is the server (location) - as it seems to be inconsistent.... We are a graphics-heavy site, with a ton of links and redirects on the front page, but I have been looking into some better cache solutions that might help - and if anyone is familiar with Wordpress we could use another volunteer on the backstage areas...

    And suggestions are always welcome. DAZ's forum archive is no longer working (afaict).... So that was a lot of Carrara knowledge and discussions that is now gone forever....

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    They have said that they will work on getting the archived site back on line, but haven't put a time scale on it.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Stezza said:
    I contacted Bitdefender last week and they responded back yesterday..

    Thank you for choosing Bitdefender.

    We have sent the data to our laboratories.
    We'll analyze it and, if a false positive is found, detection will be removed in the next 72 business hours.

    Thank you for reporting this! Please don't hesitate to contact us, should you need any assistance in the future.

    Have a wonderful day!

    @Erik Heyninck

    you should be able to get onto carraracafe.com now without the warning.... I can.


    Thank you, Stezza (if you haven't blocked me :) )... Was there info on why or what Cafe was triggering? :/ I guess it was a "register with us and we will see" kind of thing...?

    It's ongoing to try to improve aspects of the site (speed included) but I assume the slowness is the server (location) - as it seems to be inconsistent.... We are a graphics-heavy site, with a ton of links and redirects on the front page, but I have been looking into some better cache solutions that might help - and if anyone is familiar with Wordpress we could use another volunteer on the backstage areas...

    And suggestions are always welcome. DAZ's forum archive is no longer working (afaict).... So that was a lot of Carrara knowledge and discussions that is now gone forever....

    I know Garstor has said he'd be willing to help with some of the back-end stuff. He's a network guru.

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited December 1969

    Stezza said:
    I contacted Bitdefender last week and they responded back yesterday..

    Thank you for choosing Bitdefender.

    We have sent the data to our laboratories.
    We'll analyze it and, if a false positive is found, detection will be removed in the next 72 business hours.

    Thank you for reporting this! Please don't hesitate to contact us, should you need any assistance in the future.

    Have a wonderful day!

    @Erik Heyninck

    you should be able to get onto carraracafe.com now without the warning.... I can.


    Thank you, Stezza (if you haven't blocked me :) )... Was there info on why or what Cafe was triggering? :/ I guess it was a "register with us and we will see" kind of thing...?

    No, I haven't blocked you... the quoted message is all the correspondence I received from the Bitdefender people.

  • GarstorGarstor Posts: 1,411
    edited December 1969

    I know Garstor has said he'd be willing to help with some of the back-end stuff. He's a network guru.

    Not a network guru...a database guru...my skills with websites are limited. But yeah, I am willing to help out.

    The site is graphics-heavy, but backend caching can help with that. You still want to limit the size of your images there. A former employer of mine had a terrible website...they had a pretty promo image that was over 1 MB but resized on the webpage to be much smaller. They didn't realize that this still means that all their visitors have to download 1 MB...a slow load time is killer for any website.

    I know DAZ supports the Café. But where are the servers located? Are they actual boxes located at DAZ World HQ or are they located with some hosting service? If a service, then what sort of options are being paid for there? My own website loads slowly but that is mostly due to my service not keeping the pages cached...they won't for a low-volume site.

    Tools like Fiddler can "trace" the load time of a website so that you can figure out where the lag is located...is it on the backend running code or is it on the front-end rendering in a client's browser?

  • GarstorGarstor Posts: 1,411
    edited December 1969

    Tim_A said:
    Is it just me, or does anyone else find Carrara Cafe incredibly slow? (I mean like 2 *minutes* to bring up, say, the tutorials page) I know it's only wordpress & all, but I've never seen a wordpress site quite that slow before...

    (It doesn't make a difference whether I'm home or in a cafe, Safari or Chrome...)

    TWO MINUTES?!?!?!? Jeez...that is the kiss of death for any website. Something is seriously amiss there.

    If other people (especially other browsers) experience anything like this besides Tim_A then it the problem is most likely to be with the website.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    Garstor said:
    Tim_A said:
    Is it just me, or does anyone else find Carrara Cafe incredibly slow? (I mean like 2 *minutes* to bring up, say, the tutorials page) I know it's only wordpress & all, but I've never seen a wordpress site quite that slow before...

    (It doesn't make a difference whether I'm home or in a cafe, Safari or Chrome...)

    TWO MINUTES?!?!?!? Jeez...that is the kiss of death for any website. Something is seriously amiss there.

    If other people (especially other browsers) experience anything like this besides Tim_A then it the problem is most likely to be with the website.Oh... it's very slow for me too. Check it out for yourself: Visit Carrara Cafe
    I find it worth the wait, but I also find it odd that it's so slow.

  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Agree. I am about to pull out all unessentials and basically start from scratch. Forums and groups are being removed by the end of the week and they probably won't be back. Other extras will also be removed. Items that were posted in the user freepository will be moved to downloads

    There's only so much I can do cosmetically to the existing site. I'm not interested in trouble shooting it anymore.

  • GarstorGarstor Posts: 1,411
    edited December 1969

    There's only so much I can do cosmetically to the existing site. I'm not interested in trouble shooting it anymore.

    Unless you "own the box" there isn't a lot you can do honestly. Maybe the Café should be taken out of DAZ's hands and placed fully under the control of the passionate community?

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