Virus in Challenge Me thread

[MagicRabbit]

Hey, there's a thread in Challenge Me titled "this makes me ill!!! respond" and when I clicked on the first page, my antivirus program (avast!) popped up and said it stopped a virus from loading.

[pinky]

thank you, i posted on the mods forum alerting the admins

[Jomomma]

We found the thread and did some poking. Was there a specific post that seemed to be the problem?
Thus far we are not finding any trouble.

[MagicRabbit]

Huh, I checked again a couple hours ago and it wasn't popping up anymore so I assumed you guys did something. Somebody did edit my first post though. Sorry if it was a false alarm or something, it just seemed like I should mention it.

[Proximity]

Hi,

I believe what happened was that when Jo saw your post she moved it off the board while we investigated, because she was worried that people might just click the link, and obviously that would be bad. After we found the thread you were talking about, and checked through it, and didn't find any link, she put your post here back, but with the link removed (so that there's no chance that anyone will click it).

When I looked through the Challenge Me thread that you referred to, I tried all of the links in the thread, and none of them were dodgy, and none of them matched the one you quoted. A couple of them failed to load, but that was it.

I'm not the most advanced tech person here, and I don't know a lot about viruses or mal-ware or anything like that, but I'm wondering if the link you saw could have something to do with your computer or your browser? I don't want to scare you or anything, and maybe others can give better advice, but if I were you I'd run all your anti-virus stuff, and have it do a check on your computer just to be safe.

Still, if you can remember which post on the thread the link was from, I'm happy to double or triple-check just to make sure. Even if it's a false alarm, we still appreciate you letting us know, because things like this are important, and definitely something we take seriously

prox.
[blah blah blah]

[kiwi33]

I have checked all of the links too, with the same experience as Prox. Maybe it was a false positive (all AV software does that sometimes)? Even so, I think that a full system scan would be prudent.

[Eisa]

I have a different antivirus program than MagicRabbit, and if I click on the first link, it does the same thing, saying that it has the potential to harm my computer. And that's never happened on BUS before lol.

Edit: more information. I went back for a screencap and this time it went to the "danger to harm your computer" bit just by clicking on the thread title.

Here's a screencap. And heh, I have lots of tabs.

[snowangel_03]

I don't have any problems with the thread. Tried the first link and all I got was a 404 page not found. I run avast! as well, so it's interesting...

[Proximity]

Hi guys,

Several of the admins and mods have looked at the link, and not had any problems with it, it lead to a yahoo article that was no longer there, basically a 404. However, just because none of us had a problem with it doesn't mean that there isn't one. Especially since more than one person has gotten this same thing from the link, and to be as secure as possible, I have removed the link from the thread.
I don't think this will be a great loss to the thread as the link wasn't going to an article anymore anyhow, but I will be letting the person who started the thread know that I've edited their post.

I would be curious to hear whether you have the same results if you click onto the thread now?
I don't know if this will make the problem go away, but I think it should be a step in the right direction. Like I said before, I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it's 'safe' to read the thread etc.

prox.
[blah blah blah]

[Eisa]

Hmm. That's interesting. The thread mostly loads, and then it goes to the same page as in my screencap. But I suppose that might be because my computer/antivirus remembers what it was, and I'm on the same browsing session? So I might have to try again later, and see if it does the same thing. It does seem to be just that thread, as I clicked on some others in Challenge Me, and didn't have any problems.

[MagicRabbit]

I believe what happened was that when Jo saw your post she moved it off the board while we investigated, because she was worried that people might just click the link, and obviously that would be bad. After we found the thread you were talking about, and checked through it, and didn't find any link, she put your post here back, but with the link removed (so that there's no chance that anyone will click it).

Ah, that's what I guessed happened. I wasn't sure if I should post the link or not.

Good lord Eisa, you do have a lot of tabs! That was the same website that my program warned me about, though like I said, it stopped this morning. It's the first time that's happened to me on BUS too. The posts on that first page were all from like five years ago, so that might have something to do with all the weirdness.

[Eisa]

Yeah, I know, MagicRabbit.

'Tis interesting. This is now a new browsing session, AND my computer's been turned off and then back on...and if I click on the first page, it does the same thing. BUT...if I click on the second page, it's fine. So...maybe it has something to do with the age of the thread plus the expired link doing something? I have no idea, but I find it very interesting.

[han]

hi eisa
as you had a problem with the thread when the link was still there, it might be that your computer has cached the page and so still shows you the warning even now the link is gone?
if you try pressing CTRL and F5 that can force the page to reload from the server, but i'm not sure it will clear the error if its the antivirus stuff that has cached it...
han x

[Eisa]

Hmm, that might be it! No idea how to fix the antivirus cache, though. I guess it doesn't matter too much, as it's only one page, but...hmm.

[swirlish]

Clear your cookies too! I'm not really sure how you do that, but that's what people always tell me when something gets "stuck". Options, preferences or something?

*helpful*

Mia

[kiwi33]

Clearing cookies in Firefox 3.6.3; Tools--->Options--->Privacy--->remove individual cookies link.

Clearing cookies in IE7; Tools ---> Delete Browsing History

Clearing cookies in IE8; Safety--->Delete Browsing History.