TV Tropes gives your computer viruses!

[Ih8pkmn]

I am not joking here.TV Tropes has recently tried to attack my computer several times within the past two or three days. A few of the things it's tried to give me include, if AVG is to be believed, at least 6 blackhole viruses and over 20 trojans.

So, please, if you feel the need to feed your TV Tropes addiction, don't. And if someone knows a way to report the problem to the people who run TV Tropes, please do. I am not going back on that web site for a looooooooong time.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Can't say I've had the same problem. Back to the 120+ tabs I have opened.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Huh

Well, now I have another reason to avoid the place. Other than getting enough sleep to get up in the morning that is.

 

[smearyllama]

Huh. That's strange.
Well, I guess I'll run a virus scan.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I have looked and found nobody else that has made that claim or has any kind of proof that TVTropes is a spam site, and they are visited by 2 MILLION people daily.

Can you please give evidence?

Not that I use TVtropes for every waking second of free time or anything... >_>

 

[Radeonx]

Huh. I've never had that issue.

 

[Mirror Cage]

Haven't seen any myself. And I've been using 'Tropes since long before my last virus scan.

 

[DeadFOAM]

I have never had a problem with the site on any of my computers. I usually have a couple tabs open from the site at most hours of the day.

 

[omicron1]

It's probably an ad/external attack routed through TVTropes. They aren't the cause of it.

 

[Sparrow]

A TV Tropes thread without a link to TV Tropes? Shameful. Happy viruses, everyone! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage]

 

[Cid Silverwing]

TV Tropes does NOT have viruses. I run avast and I'm just fine.

And this right here.

It's probably an ad/external attack routed through TVTropes. They aren't the cause of it.

Is the only logical explanation, if it didn't come from any other website you were visiting at the time.

 

[I_PET_DOGS]

AVG shouldn't really be trusted. Also, use AdBlock.

 

[lacktheknack]

A TV Tropes thread without a link to TV Tropes? Shameful. Happy viruses, everyone! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage]

<link=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheVirus>You almost did it right.

OT: That's not how the internet works.

A giant site with a famous reputation and millions of users will not start handing out free viruses, end of. See the other posts for what actually happened.

 

[Something Amyss]

A TV Tropes thread without a link to TV Tropes? Shameful. Happy viruses, everyone! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*clicks*

*exits site*

Hmmm...It's not as hard as people make it out to be.

 

[BGH122]

AVG shouldn't really be trusted. Also, use REDACTED.

We're not allowed to mention that program on this site. I suggest you censor the original post, because mods get all sorts of banhammery when they see that. Apparently, the ArsTechnia solution of rationally talking the problem out with users and asking them to support the sites they enjoy wasn't appealing to this site's creators.

OP:

I suspect that it's an advert, as others have stated. Some adverts attempt to exploit vulnerabilities with the way a site permits them to load content in order to act as a trojan loader, or just mess around with your browser (like tracking cookies etc).

Thankfully, I find TV Tropes painfully dull - it reads, to me, like it was written in its entirety by twenty-something who thinks s/he is much more intelligent than s/he actually is - so I have no need to visit that site. I think the much more worrying threat present on TV Tropes is suffering through the hideously unfunny dreck that its users thought comical. Its sole achievement is somehow managing to be less amusing than uncyclopedia.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

And yet it's still worth it...

 

[Queen Michael]

And yet it's still worth it...

My sentiments exactly. I love that site more than I love most other things I like.

 

[Liberator XIII]

Yeah, your problem is with AVG. I got it yesterday after my Norton subscription ran out, and it immediately piped up saying it'd found 59 viruses. After looking at the locations, it turns out that it in fact found Dwarf Fortress (4 different versions) and several DFHack programs, all of which were identified as trojans. Strangely, it identified some DFHack programs - the map cleaner, weather changer etc were all tagged along with one instance of the ramp remover - however, the other deramper, along with the liquid spawners and others, were not. So AVG misidentifies a lot of things, and is often inconsistent even with (I think) identical programs. And no they were not infected, I'd used them a few weeks before and Norton had scanned twice since then.