Hi gang. Scroll down a bit to read only about the problem I am having now. Let me start out by saying I am a no computer expert, but I was trained by HP Home Computers and worked in tech support for 3 years. I also ran a small business repairing Windows based PC computers for about 2 months- then my lady-friend dumped me and the business was all set up in a room of her home, so that killed it off. I also majored in electronics and took basic electricity as early as 7th grade and continued down that path for one year past my Senor year in High School (Skill Center) I repair computers on the side for cash too. My troubleshooting normally leads to software and serious virus related corruption of the hard drives. I said all of that in case people think I am making an obvious mistake. I am running AVAST! free, and it has been the very best AV I have used in many years. It has detected stuff other AVs did not. It even talks in English. OK, I just wanted the members to know what works best for me and without the AV I would not have the warning here. The Problem: Alright here is the thing. About 5 times tonight while surfing this site and once yesterday my AV has flagged a Trojan Horse with the source being back tracked to a url with Google within the domain. All times my browser was only opened to this site. I deeply suspect it might be a script ruining via an advertisement ruining on this site, but I have yet to be able to find it. My AV alerts me mostly when I am looking at the Writing Forum List- As when one clicks to look at the over all forums. So far I can not find how this site is in any way linked to Google, and the AV keeps going off when viewing this site BUT the url it lists for the virus source is one I can not find here- the ads have other urls. However, even domain sources can be spoofed these days. It could even be a banner ad, the the URLs do not match that of the virus. I know this AV pretty well and I do not believe I have seen it give a false alarm yet. However it makes little sense how a Trojan horse could be hiding on a site, most often that kind of virus deals with Java Script... I am running FireFox, so it may not impact IE the same way. Mods, I do not mean to yell fire in a crowded room. If I can pinpoint the source I will pass it on. It may or may not be serious, I just don't have enough info to venture to guess. But there is something about this site and my computer that sets off a Trojan Horse warning. I'll try and troubleshoot it on my end. It may be all my fault. Anybody else have this happen while surfing here? It happens to me normally the moment I click on a link here to see the over all listed forums. My best guess is it MAY be an infective advertisement trying to upload. I hope I'm wrong. Me
It is very unlikely you picked it up here. We have a pretty strict policy about offsite links and other risky content, and protection from malware is a major reason why we enforce that policy as strictly as we do. We have had some spammers invade via private message, and if you receive any such messages, you are requested to report them and to NOT click on any links or images conained in the message. Most likely, you have picked up a piece of malware with multiple components, each of which is capable of restoring the other parts if deleted. If a good antivirus program cannot remove it, consider taking it to a reputable computer service location for comprehensive cleanup. It also may be embedded in a piece of software you have installed from an unreliable source.
What you're probably experiencing is a false alarm generated by google-analytics.com. Google Analytics is a popular service some website/forum hosts run in order to get demographics and other information on visitors to their websites. The information is offered to advertisers. I don't know what the deal is with it insisting it's an evil trojan of doom, but one option is to go to the AV's forums, direct people to this website, and ask them what they think. A whole lot of websites use google-analytics, if that's what it's saying is the culprit. Given that, if this is the only one site anywhere giving you that error, some more investigation is in order indeed. Though on the record it's probably nothing. I've been to the index page a bazillion times since I joined and my computer is Fort Knox. I just ran scans with multiple programs this morning for an unrelated potential problem (while on the index even) and nothing got picked up. So dunno.
Hey I just wanted to chime in and say that I'm running Avira as my virus guard and several times while browsing posts on this forum I've been getting a "Install missing plugins" warning. If you install the plugin Avira tags it instantly as a Trojan Horse. I forget the name, but if it happens again I'll PM you Cogito.
Please don't. This site does not require ANY plug-ins, so any plug-in request is coming from other software already present on your computer. The only external content is the google ads stream. We have no real control over the ad content, and we do not specifically endorse the advertisers. Googleanalytics does not deliver user-lever statistics back to advertisers. It is part of the ad-stream delivery that selects ads based on site content and accumulated traffic. The ONLY user information delivered back to advertisers takes place when you click on one of their ads.
You know what? In my gut I really want to believe you have nailed it. BUT, based on what Cogito has advised.... well, lets just say he made his case too. I wish I wrote the URL of the so-called Trojan Horse location down. All I am sure of is it claimed the problem started at www.Google.com(plus the rest of the url). I do not recall having other tabs open....I think most of the tech members here will agree that whatever is triggering this (I agree) possible a FALSE alarm is most unlikely to truly be a Trojan Horse virus, it would be a Script trying to find a weakness in the operating system/browser etc... A Trojan Horse is a virus that installs whenever we install an *.exe program (in most cases that I am aware of) that we have no clue contains an infected virus. (I know many here know this, I just said it for anyone that is unaware). So... Yes, I should of realized it could of been a false alarm. Nevertheless it's interesting to read about what GOOGLE is up to these days, AND that another member running Avira has seen trouble. I need more information on this alert before I can attempt to trace the problem. But my computer is NOT impacted by any type of damaging male ware payload that I can find yet, I guess because Avast! has a type of shield that prevents the male-ware/worm/whatever from getting past it's doors. I must learn more about how Google is involved in this stuff. Otherwise all is fine here for now. I have not had an alert since last night on this site. And, I agree it's difficult to know if this site was in anyway connected, or if I just happen to be at the same place clicking the exact link at the exact same time for a total of FIVE times on this site last night when the alarm went off each time. (hmm.. Did that sound right?) I don't know.... It would happen when I clicked the upper left writing forums link and the new page would start to load. Who knows. I guess there is no need to panic anyway, I'm running Vista 64 which I HATE. All known Windows security updates are installed and I use a third party firewall and a "BAD IP" blocker to prevent computers within known ranges to connect, that is if their IP is not spoofed- this prevents a lot of of these types of problems for me normally. I also run a Windows Registry shield which normally stops unwanted programs from monkeying with the Windows settings. ME
jammer... i'm on this site every single day, for about an hour, and have never experienced that, so it must be your own system... i was recently turned on to avira and find it to be the best protection i've had yet... you should get it... best of all, it's free...
