Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - my message was linked against my will.

i posted a response to a thread and in the text, i used the word "shot". after it was posted i noticed that the last three letter (hot) were linked to a dating website!? how did this happen, and is there any was to prevent this? here is the link to the post:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=459833#post459833

if you hover the pointer over the word shot for a second it becomes underlined and is an active link.

any ideas?

Didn't do anything for me, maybe it just YOUR computer. Sounds like a virus or a trojan to me.

L8R

Doesn't happen for me, either. Maybe you should run a virus checker, if you have one, or spyware removal tool (spybot or adaware).

Didn't do anything for me, maybe it just YOUR computer. Sounds like a virus or a trojan to me.

L8R

hummm, maybe your right. i'm using my PC at work and a few nights ago i was bombarded with popups and a strange search bar installed itself, my start up page was changed, etc... the virus scan indicated some harmfull files, but i believe those were cleaned up successfully. now i'm curious... i'm going to try another PC here and see if it does anything there. is this a common feature of a trojan file?

all too common, download adaware.

all too common, download adaware.
http://www.lavasoft.nl/

Ad-aware standard is freeware - follow the links to download the full install from download.com.

http://www.lavasoft.nl/

Ad-aware standard is freeware - follow the links to download the full install from download.com.


thanks guys - i ran spybot and found 150 bad files to remove. i'll also run ad-aware as well for extra coverage.

it's annoying, but also sort of humourous: as i'm reading people's posts, there are links for everything. for example, if someone's message has the word "weight" in it, that will link to a dieting\drug supplement website! it's pretty crazy, other users in our office have reported viruses lately as well, so it appears to be a company wide issue.

2 other tools to check out:
1. CWShredder (Easy to use! Free!)
2. Hijack This
Hijack This is best used if YOU KNOW what to remove from your registry. If you do not know what this means, best not to use it until you do a little research. Use "Google Groups" for tips/pointers regarding Hijack This BEFORE using it. It can be fatal to your system if you mess with your registry without proper guidance.

Ad-aware
Spybot search & destroy
Spyware Blaster

Also consdier removing microsofts java virtual machine, and use Suns java instead. It will not only secure your machine better, but it will also bring your computer in line with MS no longer considering it a valid technology...they even inisist you start using Sun's version (which, by historical fact is the real java...)

all three of those will give you far more protection than you could ever imagine...make sure to get teh pay ad-aware so you can get active protection...add in a virus scanner, and your practically bulletproof.