Does the forum have a virus or do I?

[Bob Moran]

I suddenly am seeing words highlighted in sentences in the messages as links and when I click on them they go to various kinds of commercials. For example, the word "chat" in the PowWow subject line goes to a singles web site. Wasssup???

Wow, I see that two words in my post are shown as links!

[Bjorn]

It must be you.  

[Stumpkiller]

Not  sure  what you  mean?    It must be  your  machine.     :D

Somebody slapped some malware on you that is keysearching your screen.  Pull up your task manager and see what's running that you don't recognize.

[KentuckyTJ]

Your computer has been infected with maleware. Here is a page to help you delete them.

 http://www.pcworld.com/article/243818/how_to_remove_malware_from_your_windows_pc.html

[Bowwild]

Yep, I had one of those a few years ago.  I fixed it and then went exclusively to Apple.

[Paul_R]

I've often wondered if this awful compulsion to buy archery gear is a symptom of a virus i picked up here on the forum.

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by Bowwild:
Yep, I had one of those a few years ago.  I fixed it and then went exclusively to Apple.

Agree Roy. I got fed up with PC's and their issues years ago. Have a macbook pro and a apple desktop. No more issues. The desktop has been running for 7 years now and I can't ever remember turning it off. Pay now (for the mac) or pay later. Problem with the pay later is all the headaches that are associated with that avenue.

[Charlie Lamb]

That happened to me just the other day. It was my computer and not TradGang.

[SAVIOUR68]

Have 2 operating systems on my laptop ,Windows and Linuex Mint. Any web surfing is done on Linuex OS and has been working great for over a year without issues such as virus/malware. Linuex is 10 times faster with out the hassle. My Windows was like a virus and malware magnet and got tired of the hassle and expense to keep it going.

[RedStag5728]

Not meaning to advertise for a certain program, but I would recommend installing an anti-spyware program onto your machine, there are plenty of free versions out there, I use (again not trying to advertise) super anti spyware. Just be sure that if you install any anti spyware or anti virus program you keep it updated as well as run regular scans of your computer. I recommend at least once a week.

I have never had any issues with my computer and, living in the stone age I have a Windows XP desktop and Windows Vista lap top.


Good luck

[Bob Moran]

I have McAfee and just added Malware's Anti-Malware program. ran both and they found nothing. I just uninstalled Google Chrome (my wife's AOL hasn't been affected) and reinstalled it. Thought I was good - (the word "chat" on PowWow wasn't double underlined) until I logged in - then Pow! it was back.

[RedStag5728]

McAfee is good I use Avast free anti-virus. I don't know much about McAfee but Avast allows you to run a boot scan before the virus boots up and affects your system.

Other than that it's the only thing I can think of rather than bringing your computer to a technician.    

Besides the forum, is there anything else you've noticed on your computer or the internet in which your computer shows any unusual activity?

[Sidmand]

I do programming and computer security work for a living and have seen 2 different scenarios - might be malware, might a script on the website that is highlighting advertising keywords.  Either one is a pain and slows down your browser.  Malware can be scanned for and fixed, the latter is something that you just have to deal with unless you make some big changes to how you use the Internet.

The guys up top that are on Linux and/or Mac OS have the right idea, those operating systems are harder to crack or infect with malware.  Not that it can't happen, just that they aren't as big of a target as good ole Windows.  

There is one pretty good way to stop all that from slowing you down and infecting you, you can disable Javascript and plugins in your browser.  That will stop most of the issues, but it will also drastically affect the way things look and act, sometimes making certain websites not work at all.  One of those situations where you have to pick your poison.