More than likely it is from all of the annoying animated ads in Adobe shockwave flash format. I can't stand them. Nothing worse than trying to read a thread and having 5 ads per page flashing in your face.

If you use Internet Explorer 8 you can block the flash ads. Then the ads can only show in the old way as a simple image.

If you use a website that needs to use flash that you want to see you can give the website permission to display it.

All you have to do is open up the add-on manger from the tools menu and select All Add-ons from the drop down menu at left side of the Manager Dialog.

Select toolbar and extensions from the left hand pane, and look for the Shockwave Flash Object in the list and double click it.

From the More Information dialog, click on the Remove All Sites button to revoke access to the player. Close all the open dialogs. From now onwards, when ever you land on site with an embedded Flash movie (or add), youâÂÂd see a yellow notification bar asking you if you want to run the player.

I hope you will get your computer fixed soon so you can post again. Somehow, somewhere, you clicked on something that put the Trojan in you computer.

If possible see about doing a system restore far enough back to where you are certain you had no problems. These things are very nasty and they shut off your security when you boot up.

-Babka

Thanks Frank and Babka--I've copied and saved your comments! It's not that I CAN'T post or read the messages, it's that if I can prove I got my problem from here I WON'T be posting here or visiting GW again! So sad, because this is a FANTASTIC site, no matter which forum you visit and I will feel the loss! It's a matter of principle for me! I feel a trust has been betrayed, *IF* it's true!!

WHATEVER--daughters' Malwarebytes sent out an alert from this site! If it's because of an advertising sponsor, they should be up on it and not allow that to be coming from their site, meaning GW!! They
have a responsibility to us, to keep their site secure, I firmly believe! I'm crushed--I've been such a fan and supporter of GW all along, and I can't help but feel let down!

I just updated Malwarebytes on my computer, ran a Full Scan, and got zero issues at all, and I'm on GW all day every day.

Somehow I don't think it's GW that's the problem, but.....

Susan

My virus program some times reports ads with java script as false positives for a virus. You could turn off the java script to test it.

Janice,I use Malwarebytes all the time,and I have had no problems with the system. I did scans on both computers this week and detected no viruses. I hope that helps,because we would hate to lose you here,also. Phil

Why not just use NoScript when viewing the forums? It blocks all of those things - free extension of Firefox. I've noticed that it is always blocking the following from my PC at Gardenweb:

intellitxt.com
nbcudigitaladops.com
and even 'gardenweb.com' seems to want to allow scripts!

Excellent preventative.

Here's what our daughter is getting blocked by Malwarebytes!
IP-BLOCK 208.87.149.250 (Type: outgoing)

She has even used my sign-in to see if it's because she is not logged in and still it comes up. She did have one time she came back that it DID NOT come up as a block and then the next time, the same thing was blocked. Makes us think it is an ad. She feels it may not be something GW is aware of. If you google that IP address you will find some interesting stuff, even on the Malwarebytes forums!

She and I have the paid version (rather than the free one) which is a higher level of security actively blocking things rather than finding them after the fact!! Make sure updates are checked frequently, especially if you have the free version! She has hers full-scan on a schedule. I do mine manually, as well, when things seem to be slowing down!

I am going to run my whole security system again right now. I have EsetNod32, Superantispyware, Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware as well as Fixio! I run them one at a time, one after another then I run them again before I feel I've done my job. It is VERY time consuming. It may be, that my Malwarebytes has already dealt with what is popping up for her. BUT, I feel I have SOMETHING from somewhere that needs finding. I hope I can restore but I'm fearful of losing important things! And, how do I know if I've gone back far enough in restoring? I hate when things go bad with computers! GRRRR

The ad might contain the Trojan. Several years ago I had that once happening when on CNN accidentally clicking on a Lending Tree ad next to the scroll bar. My computer then crashed. I went to a computer store to get completely new software loaded. Luckily I periodically save my Documents on a separate hard drive. I am also using Firefox, McAfee, Spy Sweeper and Webmail (RoadRunner) now and no longer have problems.
Make sure that you do not give a computer guy the password for your personal files. That spyware and malware might have downloaded files on your computer which are illegal, and he is required by laws to report you then.
Bernd

It isn't typically recommended that you have multiple anti-virus apps running at the same time. They can be in conflict with each other and contribute to your problems.
Cj

Hey Cindy! I don't run them at the same time, only one at a time and sometimes not even the same day, but sometimes I do but concurrently! I've made sure they don't conflict one another, being on my computer!

I JUST found out, that I had not registered my upgraded Malwarebytes Anti-virus program so I've been running on the free one, for about a month. I just registered it and am about to run it again this time doing the deeper purging--hopefully! Sigh!

Oh, Bernd--I missed your posting! My computer guy is my Son-inlaw! He's in for more than a law-suit if he does anything with my computer I don't want--he's missing out on some good cooking from time to time--think THANKSGIVING as the biggie and he just left the house with a handful of french fries! lol

I'm keeping the list of what you have running on your computer as a good recommendation--thank you, very much!

I do not want to make trouble for GW--I just want all of us to be aware of possibilities if you're having any problems with your computer you can't nail down!

As soon as I get my scan done, I'm heading for Firefox to download!

BTW, I did find I needed to disable SuperAdBlocker because it conflicted with one of my security programs!

O---kay! Having now a registered version of Malwarebytes running I have the same IP number being blocked, as my daughter reported having:

208.87.149.250
Port: 56089
Process: iexplore.exe

Seems to be from a pop-up ad! Many other ads are still coming up (don't have Firefox installed yet) and they are not being blocked as potential risks.

So, maybe some of you are using the free Malwarebytes instead of the purchased one--which our daughter and her husband highly recommend as well as the paid for version of Ad-aware Anti-spyware.

It's a mean internet world we're living in, sometimes, and we do have to protect our vehicle to enable one another, don't we?

We decided that many of the anti-spyware programs were just clogging up the computer. All I have is McAfee, IE9, Windows 7. I have pop-ups blocked and I accept 1st party cookies, but block 3rd party cookies.

I've been on Garden Web since the late 90's, and haven't had a problem with them.

If your problem came from a pop-up ad, it might be that instead of aiming for that "X" to close the box, you clicked on it and it did its dirty deed on you then.

Good luck sleuthing. It sounds as if you are trying everything possible, so SOMETHING should work. The ultimate end here is to have you happily posting here once again.

-Babka

The best way to close any window without having to touch it is to hold the Ctrl key and press F4. That will close whatever window is active on top.

Thank you Babka! You might be right! You never know, sometimes those things are so clever. I've had to close down my computer several times to get rid of something that seemingly pops up out of nowhere after googling and clicking on a result! No matter what you click, it won't go away! Groan!!

I think I'm doing all I can do, but I will be trying to run the SuperAntiSpyware program I have that won't get completed without an error report!

I'll let things be, unless I find out this site is responsible for some bad things lurking in the recesses of my poor computer! I REALLY hope they're not!!!

Thank you, again, Babka for your reasurance! :^))

I haven't had any problems either. I run AVG, Adaware and another one occasionally.

bkay

Unfortunately malware, spyware, and viruses are getting a lot trickier these days, and you no longer have to actively click on something to get them - often you've already done the clicking by coming to the site that is hosting the malware and if there is a script running from one of these ads or a movie or sound bite it could be possible to pick up trouble without actually clicking on an ad. I'm not saying that is the case, but the way these GW ads interfere with displaying things or hijacking the browser window who knows what else they might be doing in the background.

We have a family website and somehow, a section of code was added to all of our pages and some of our family was unable to open the site since their mal-ware programs were picking up the trojan code.

So, not only do you not have to click, but as a website owner, you can unknowingly be infected!

The more I think about it, without an emotional or 'girlie' response, the more I CANNOT believe GW would be allowing malware knowingly! If they have a sponsor ad with it in it, I hope they will do all they can to dispense with it and those responsible for it!!

Cyber *intrusion* is a reality I'm afraid and most of us will encounter some level of it if we are actively using our computers.

The most we can do, is make sure our protection is always updated (I failed to do that on one) and that we take the next step from 'free' to a more advanced protection (I've done that) and be sure we have them properly registered when we go that next step (failed to do that with Malwarebytes, as I mentioned before). As I pointed out, Malwarebytes did not proactively 'block' the IP I detailed above until I not only had gone the next level, but registered it then BINGO--there it was!!!

You could also get a Mac :)

Steve

Ohhhh, you *Mac* people! Even with computers there are 'parties'! (big smile) In fact, I wish I did have one to do my photo-shop graphics, etc. on. I hear they are great for any artistic endeavor especially! I have a friend who just replaced her laptop with one and she loves it!

I use Firefox with the Adblocker Plus add-on, and I never have any problems.

Deanna

I do not remember what I did, but I use Firefox, and I do not see any ads on Garden Web. Possibly they had an option months ago.

Again, another vote for Firefox with Adblocker Plus.

I RARELY see an ad on Firefox anymore. And if I do, it's cuz it's a Flash ad and those aren't blocked.... at least, I do not block them, cuz if I block Flash for ads, I block it for other sites too.