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Google blocking access to TUG

When I first came to TUG this morning I had two windows pop up from my avast anti virus, each telling me that it had blocked malware that was attempting to enter my computer.

I don't have time today to investigate further but it appears there may still be a problem.

I had just signed out of Craig's list and gmail at the time but when I came to TUG both notices appeared.

I mention it here because of the warnings others have gotten recently.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
 
csxjohn said:
When I first came to TUG this morning I had two windows pop up from my avast anti virus, each telling me that it had blocked malware that was attempting to enter my computer.

QUOTE]

I also have avast anti virus and received the same warnings yesterday and that they blocked the virus. Just got on this morning with no problems.:shrug::crash:
Click to expand...
 
we have identified "something" that shouldnt be on the site...and are working to correct it.

as its been explained to me (as its well above my head)...it doesnt actually trigger for every visit...just at random...thus making it extremely difficult to detect and diagnose for our techs.

It does however sound like most antivirus clients are blocking it when triggered...so if you are going to browse TUG, please ensure you do so with a modern and updated antivirus client actively protecting your computer and browser until we get this removed and sorted out.
 
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I ran into the problem of logging into the BBS yesterday. I clicked though the warning once to try to report it, but the thread I started didn't show up.

Today I had a bunch of reply's of invalid addresses. It might just be coincidence, but apparently something tried to send e-mail to everyone on my contact list. I use Google Mail, and Google detected some irregular activity and disabled my account until I changed the password. Sending e-mail has been disabled for 24 hours. The error is due to having sent more than 500 e-mails.

I am running a full scan on my computer to see if I can find anything, but so far Avast hasn't flagged anything.

The Google block of this forum is the only unusual activity in the last couple of days. Otherwise I haven't been to any strange sites or received any software that I would suspect of having introduced a virus to my machine.

I can't find any e-mails either in the Sent Items folder of my e-mail client (Entourage 2008 on a Mac) or in the sent items of Google Mail using a web browser to connect to my Google Mail account. I am not entirely sure how to track down how my account was somehow hacked. The e-mail was a link to some web site, and was sent to people in my contacts list, so it is not just someone using my e-mail address.
 
I still get the message in Firefox today - 12/27
 
its definately still being listed on that badwarebusters website....just no longer in google.
 
TUGBrian said:
its definately still being listed on that badwarebusters website....just no longer in google.
Click to expand...

I'm still getting Google warnings - happens intermittently, consistent with what you noted previously. Even though the site comes up clean the first time in a session, if I come back later in the same session I'm apt to get the warning.
 
well the "google" warning is the badware site...they work with chrome and firefox to block malicious sites.

going into google webmaster tools...it says they have verified the site is clean...so *shrug
 
I got the same warning few days ago through IE as well as Firefox. I ignored the warning and went to TUG anyways. Now, my computer is shut down with 240 infected files and the XP defender pops up and wants me to activate their fulll blown version to clean my computer. When I click on activate, it goes nowhere, since I am at a resort and I need to be able to open a browswer and sign in for the internet access. XP defender will not let me open a browser to be able to sign up for the internet and since there is no internet access on that computer, the activate for XP defender does not work either. So, my computer has no internet access. I am using my daughter's MAC now. I was planning to use skype on my computer to call internationally during this trip, but I can not do that now. Pretty upset with this stuff!!!
 
I certainly apologize if it was TUG that caused the infection. It still baffles me as I have a separate computer...running all 3 browsers...and ZERO virus protection that i use for testing purposes (its a virtual machine)...and it has no impact running the forum on any browser.

on top of that, LW has been going over our server all day every day since reported and they cannot find anything!


I am familiar with those "defender" fake virus download software thingys...try to boot your machine in safe mode to get it running normally...you should be able to download a virus scanner to clean it off your machine.

I prefer malwarebytes antimalware personally.
 
I have been away from my PC since this brouhaha erupted, and mentioned that I couldn't replicate it on my iPad after Google cleared the site.

Now I'm home, Malwarebytes downloaded an update before I even started a browser. I did a full scan of the drive, and it found nothing. Zip. Nada.

No one wants to hear of someone who frequents some of the same online haunts we do getting infected. We have to remember there are other places and activities that are not as scrupulously monitored as TUG.

Thanks, Brian, for what you and the TUG team do behind the scenes.

Jim
 
There does not appear to be any active infections taking place but the warning(s) are troublesome. I would advise keeping your quality anti-virus and anti-malware programs as current as possible just in case something is lurking waiting for the un or under protected client to visit to strike.

What a frustrating thing to have to deal with! Thanks to all that are doing the grunt work to figure it out.
 
sjuhawk_jd said:
I got the same warning few days ago through IE as well as Firefox. I ignored the warning and went to TUG anyways. Now, my computer is shut down with 240 infected files and the XP defender pops up and wants me to activate their fulll blown version to clean my computer. When I click on activate, it goes nowhere, since I am at a resort and I need to be able to open a browswer and sign in for the internet access. XP defender will not let me open a browser to be able to sign up for the internet and since there is no internet access on that computer, the activate for XP defender does not work either. So, my computer has no internet access. I am using my daughter's MAC now. I was planning to use skype on my computer to call internationally during this trip, but I can not do that now. Pretty upset with this stuff!!!
Click to expand...

Your problem is not TUG; your problem is that you downloaded XP Defender from somewhere else (almost certainly not TUG). XP Defender is a fake virus detection and removal program. The infection messages it produces are completely phony; the sole purpose of XP Defender is to scare people into thinking their computers are infected and pay to download their phony cleanup utility.

From your message it would appear that they sucked you in. Your computer is most certainly infected; it's infected with XP Defender and that is what you need to remove.

Google "XP Defender" and you will see lots of sites that will show you how to get it off your machine.
 
is anyone still getting the warnings within chrome or firefox?

I show even the stopbadware site has removed the flag.
 
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Just got another with Firefox. :(
 
TUGBrian said:
is anyone still getting the warnings within chrome or firefox?
Click to expand...

If I type in tugbbs.com, I get the attack warning. If I open a new tab and go to a previous BBS page, I get in fine. I suspect there's a cookie somewhere. Or some setting that's bringing up old news.
 
Yes my Foxfire continues to warn me re coming here :(
 
geez...i wish things would simply be consistent one way or the other...this is ridiculous.
 
McAfee Site advisor still shows the www. site as dangerous, when searching for tug bbs on google using chrome browser. But, no such marking for the ISP listing instead, so that's how I'm getting here, not knowing whether it makes any difference. At least I think that's what it is - starts with 69. and ends with .4. Does it make a diff? Do you want the complete URL?
 
Laurie, why not clear your cookies, do a hard reboot, and see if that clears up the warnings so you can enter the site as you usually do. Might not help, but it's worth a shot. From what others' experiences have been, it seems that most are generated from within your computer and NOT from TUG BBS.
 
I pretty much do that daily (clear everything), and nothing has changed.

I'm not totally blocked - just shows site as dangerous and allows me to proceed if I want to live dangerously. So something has been tagged as problematic by McAfee SiteAdvisor, and not untagged.

I'll report back if/when that goes away - but wondered about the URL that must go directly to the server, or one of them, assuming that's what an ISP in the URL means.

Or maybe McAfee is still on the lam. :)
 
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