# If you get hit by malware on the SDMB

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 15, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319 "2011-12-15T18:24:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/1 "2011-12-15T18:24:16Z")

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If you believe you have been victimized by malware while visiting the SDMB, please post a report to About This Message Board so we can investigate. For best results, malware reports should include the following:

1. Tell us specifically what happened, not just “I got hit by malware.” For example: (a) my antivirus software notified me it had blocked an attack and gave me the following report (and then post the report); (b) I got a popup saying [whatever]; © my system locked up and the screen turned blue, etc. It’s especially helpful for us to know the name of the suspected item of malware.

2. Time/date of occurrence, your geographic location, and browser/operating system you are using.

3. Whether you were looking at an SDMB page or a column archive page. These are hosted on different servers and see different ads.

4. If possible, provide a screen shot of the page you were on when the incident occurred. With WinXP this can be done with Alt-PrintScreen and with Win7 you can use the Snipping Tool. If you can’t do this, please describe any ads or popups that were visible.

If you get hit more than once, are at least moderately tech savvy, spend a lot of time on our site, and are willing to run bug tracker software in the background, we’d be grateful if you did so - this has proven to be an effective way to identify the source of rogue software. Let me know if interested.

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