# Stupid question about Twitter.com

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 19, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345 "2009-06-19T23:04:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/1 "2009-06-19T23:04:37Z")

</div>

I’ve never really used twitter before, but I thought I had accessed it a couple of weeks ago. Now when I try to go to twitter, it tries to download some sort of file. Do I have to download something before I can get on twitter?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/2 "2009-06-19T23:34:59Z")

</div>

I didn’t. Sounds like possible malware.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/3 "2009-06-19T23:36:03Z")

</div>

I didn’t either.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/4 "2009-06-20T00:05:46Z")

</div>

Perhaps IE 8 doesn’t like twitter? I can access it fine through Firefox…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/5 "2009-06-20T03:17:06Z")

</div>

I don’t recall downloading anything. I am still trying to figure out the difference between people following me (subscribing to my updates) and following me (their tweets posted after mine) so I am not a Twitter expert.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-twitter-com/500345/6 "2009-06-20T11:42:50Z")

</div>

Just been on it with IE and not got any d/l popups. What exactly is it asking you to download? IE can tend to be more prone to browser hijacks than Firefox, you should run the usual array of malware scanners (Spybot S&D, Malwarebytes AntiMalware, Superantispyware, AVG 8.5) just to make sure.
