# Is the SDMB carrying a virus or malware?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-carrying-a-virus-or-malware/626251>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [June 25, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-carrying-a-virus-or-malware/626251 "2012-06-25T15:16:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-carrying-a-virus-or-malware/626251/1 "2012-06-25T15:16:50Z")

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I just tried to move from one SDMB page to another, and I got “Internet Cannot Display the Web Page,” and, simultaneously, my Avast protection system popped up a mini-window saying, “Threat has been detected.” Do we have a virus problem?

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-carrying-a-virus-or-malware/626251/2 "2012-06-25T15:32:58Z")

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Not that we’re aware of … though you could be the first.

It’s also possible that Avast is picking up on one of the ad calls and interpreting it as malware, sometimes these products have false positives (yeah, I’m looking at you, Norton).

Please continue to monitor the situation. Do you remember what ads may have been showing on the page when you had this problem?

And certainly if any of you see something amiss, please let us know. Send me an email at [Tubadiva@straightdope.com](mailto:Tubadiva@straightdope.com) … and a screen shot if you can. Describe the problem in as much detail as possible, tell me what you saw, what you did, what happened, how you’re viewing the page (device, OS, browser). All are potential clues.

Sorry for this, it’s not our accepted way of doing business. Sometimes in spite of everyone’s best efforts rogue/hijacked ads creep in. Hope that’s not what’s happening in this case but let’s see what’s happening here.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-carrying-a-virus-or-malware/626251/3 "2012-06-25T16:57:19Z")

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> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> I just tried to move from one SDMB page to another, and I got “Internet Cannot Display the Web Page,” and, simultaneously, my Avast protection system popped up a mini-window saying, “Threat has been detected.” Do we have a virus problem?

You’re a Guest so I’m guessing that it was an advert that triggered it.