# Sax on the Web Forum and alleged virus alert



## Harri Rautiainen (Jan 24, 2003)

The latest from the original poster:


> ...and Miles (MY-LOW-SX90R) has run virus scans on his photos & came up okay.
> i've gone back to his ad & had no issues.
> very strange. I may have had another browser open, but i was actively viewing on sotw @ the time the virus struck.
> ain't technology grand?
> ...


I read the the thread in question, so did everyone else and no-one else got any viruses. After all neither did the original whistle blower.

It is wise and prudent to be alert on mal-ware. It is recommended that you up-load images as SOTW attachments rather than linking to external sites. If you have problems with your attachment quota, let the forum admins know.

Thanks,


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## Mal 2 (Mar 1, 2008)

Harri Rautiainen said:


> The latest from the original poster:
> 
> I read the the thread in question, so did everyone else and no-one else got any viruses. After all neither did the original whistle blower.
> 
> ...


I do not generally attach images because (1) I have my own dedicated web space, and (2) the last time you upgraded, all the attachments disappeared. They still haven't come back, and I believe you have given up.


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## jazzbluescat (Feb 2, 2003)

I'm cool.


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## Grumps (Feb 3, 2003)

Harri, I hope you didn't take offense at the way I reported the problem on the site. It wasn't meant as an accusation, just a problem I had experienced with the site, as did others. The title of the thread could have been more artful, but that's the way McAfee had reported it to me and it caught me by surprise.


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## Pete Thomas (Sep 12, 2004)

Mal 2 said:


> the last time you upgraded, all the attachments disappeared. They still haven't come back, and I believe you have given up.


Are you sure that the settings haven't changed. ie do you have "Show Images" enabled in your forum settings?


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## Mal 2 (Mar 1, 2008)

Pete Thomas said:


> Are you sure that the settings haven't changed. ie do you have "Show Images" enabled in your forum settings?


Yes. I can see attachments that were added after the upgrade, but all those that were attached to posts from prior to the upgrade have nothing in the "Attached Files" box. Posts with embedded externally hosted files still work, from before or after the upgrade, so long as the file in question is still hosted where the link points to.


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## Grumps (Feb 3, 2003)

I didn't get the warning trying to look at an extension, but when I tried to respond to a poll.


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## Harri Rautiainen (Jan 24, 2003)

Grumps said:


> I didn't get the warning trying to look at an extension, but when I tried to respond to a poll.


Are you sure that you did not have another browser window open at the same time?
There have been a lot of confusion in the virus prevention situation recently (e.g. McAfee mess). I am trying to get to the top of the situation right now. Still I do not see how forum's poll template could transmit Trojans.

What confuses me is that of thousands of users only a few report Trojan warnings and there are no actual reports of virus contamination. This seems to be dependent on a user's browser and the virus protection software used.

Yet, a lingering confusion in these matters is a reason enough to be concerned. There have been several maintenance releases to this forum's foundation sw since converting to version 4.0. Because of the bad experiences of the latest conversion I have been putting on the maintenance releases. Perhaps I have to bite the bullet and try to eliminate possible holes if there exists any by updating to the latest?


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## Grumps (Feb 3, 2003)

Harri Rautiainen said:


> Are you sure that you did not have another browser window open at the same time?


 No, just the one with the forum open. McAfee highlighted the IE browser with SOTW open in red, warned me not to come to the site and declared it "unsafe". The log shows that the file ("Generic Downloader.o") was "repaired (removed)". I figured it was a bug and maybe something tripped McAfee when the poll was trying to count my vote and in response I just deleted all my browsing history and came back. Though I didn't try to answer any poll since, I haven't gotten any other warnings.


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## Harri Rautiainen (Jan 24, 2003)

alex01 wrote elsewhere on the net (boldings are mine):


> 07-03-2009
> i should have thought about trying that earlier - yes my business computer
> has *mcafee* installed and it reports blocking a script then reporting it as a
> trojan: *generic downloader.o* in the log.
> ...


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## JohnM (Jan 21, 2008)

Just to give my experience, I use Firefox and Sophos anti-virus software. I got the Trojan alert three times before, two being in the same day within a few hours of each other. All I did was log in and click on "New Posts" with it coming to the page and then the alert would occur. No other browsers or windows were open and once I did a full scan, I came up with nothing. Nothing has happened since I posted on the previous thread regarding this.


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## Harri Rautiainen (Jan 24, 2003)

Lovano1239 said:


> Just to give my experience, I use Firefox and Sophos anti-virus software. I got the Trojan alert three times before, two being in the same day within a few hours of each other. All I did was log in and click on "New Posts" with it coming to the page and then the alert would occur. No other browsers or windows were open and once I did a full scan, I came up with nothing. Nothing has happened since I posted on the previous thread regarding this.


From Norton's test (*Norton Safe Web*):
http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=http://saxontheweb.net&x=0&y=0

From *Google Safe Browsing*:
Diagnostic page for forum.saxontheweb.net


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