# Problems with links in posts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 14, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765 "2016-05-14T17:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/1 "2016-05-14T17:09:25Z")
I realize this could be something with my computer but when I click on a link in a post instead of going to the website in the link I am just getting a seperate window that takes me back to the start of that thread. Why is this happening? When I hover over the link it shows me the correct address but doesn’t go there. Is there a setting on my computer or browser that has changed? I would want to mention this does not happen if I go to Wikipedia and click a link in an article. AND it doesn’t happen when I go to the Giraffe Boards and click on a link in a thread. If it was my computer I would think I would get the same result from the Giraffe. Anyone know why this is happening? (And if this is in the wrong forum please move it to the proper one. Thanks and sorry for the hassle.) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/2 "2016-05-14T22:10:02Z")
My guess would be that viglink is borked again. Try adding [viglink.com](http://viglink.com) to your spam or adblock filter. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/3 "2016-05-16T01:44:49Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > My guess would be that viglink is borked again. Try adding [viglink.com](http://viglink.com) to your spam or adblock filter. Either I did it wrong or it didn’t work. Any other suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/4 "2016-05-16T02:47:30Z")
Do a thorough scan with malwarebytes. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/5 "2016-05-16T10:49:00Z")
Viglink has been periodically doing this to me, then if I follow the link fifteen minutes later it works as intended. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/6 "2016-05-16T14:40:51Z")
Viglink is the only thing I know of on the SDMB side of things that messes with links. If it’s not viglink, it’s most likely something on your end, but then if it were something on your end I’d expect it to affect more than just the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/7 "2016-05-17T01:44:49Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Do a thorough scan with malwarebytes. Looks like this did the trick. Thanks for the suggestion! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/8 "2016-05-17T01:47:11Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Viglink is the only thing I know of on the SDMB side of things that messes with links. If it’s not viglink, it’s most likely something on your end, but then if it were something on your end I’d expect it to affect more than just the SDMB. Yep, I assumed it would affect more than just links in threads if it was on my end but it wasn’t doing that. Oddly, the link to viglink in your previous post _did_ work properly before I ran malwarbytes. You would have thought it would have been a loop too but nope. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/9 "2016-05-17T10:18:38Z")
There’s no link in my post. The fact that you are seeing one tells me that you either don’t have viglink blocked properly or you’ve got something else (malware) forming links on your computer. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/10 "2016-05-17T15:05:30Z")
Ok, that’s good to know. I made an adjustment to AdBlock and the link went away. But there are still some links in posts on the SDMB that don’t work. Clicking on them opens a new tab that shows the correct address, then it changes to one starting with api.viglink and then the tab just says about:blank and nothing is on the page. And again, this is only on the SDMB. I can follow links on other message boards and in some posts here, just not all of them. I can also go to the Straight Dope page and follow links in Cecil’s articles that lead to other websites or to article in the archive. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problems-with-links-in-posts/754765/11 "2016-05-17T16:28:42Z")
I just switched browsers to Internet Explorer and everything works just fine. In Chrome and Firefox the links still don’t work. I’ve added [viglink.com](http://viglink.com) to AdBlock and it makes the active link I saw go away but doesn’t solve the problem in other threads. I’ve also run Malwarbytes and that hasn’t solved the problem. But, like I said, using IE makes everything work fine.