I was shocked and REALLY ticked off when this happened to me because it appeared to be a legitimate scan going in with my McAfee! When I realized what was actually going on I had a hard time closing the window....I had to go in and close my browser with my task manager.

I wish that there was a way that this advertiser could be reported for hijacking my computer. But to whom do we report it?

I'm still really angry about this one.

The bad rating from mcafee is (from what I've heard) because their server got hacked a few months ago, and some bad links snuck in. Shame on them for that, by all means, but after that was fixed all I've seen are advertisements from google ads. Was your experience from clicking one of those ads? In that case, google will be interested in punishing the advertiser. If not, something else is going on, and I'll advise you to use an antivirus program like Avast or AVG.

I so appreciate spanishdict.com!

And I appreciate the advertisers as well that make all this possible. Wow! I do notice who advertises, and it does matter to me.

However... I was on today and got a popup from this site wanting to scan my PC for viruses. It gave me dire warnings of gloom and doom, and it wasn't at all clear how I could exit this program that I didn't want, but which appeared to start doing the scan without my permission.

To safely exit, I had to open my task manager and kill Internet Explorer. Fortunately Spanishdict.com was the only thing I had open.

That is simply unethical. I'm sure you police your advertisers diligently, but I'd like to report that a bad one slipped through.

According to my History file, the bad popup is:

scanner.best-protect.info

It's probably jerks like that that gives this site a bad rating with McAfee.

Thanks for the input everybody. I have re[ported this to the web owners. Hopefully they can resolve any problems quickly.

The bad rating from mcafee is (from what I've heard) because their server got hacked a few months ago, and some bad links snuck in. Shame on them for that, by all means, but after that was fixed all I've seen are advertisements from google ads. Was your experience from clicking one of those ads? In that case, google will be interested in punishing the advertiser. If not, something else is going on, and I'll advise you to use an antivirus program like Avast or AVG.

No, if it was from clicking on an ad I would understand.

I so appreciate spanishdict.com!

And I appreciate the advertisers as well that make all this possible. Wow! I do notice who advertises, and it does matter to me.

However... I was on today and got a popup from this site wanting to scan my PC for viruses. It gave me dire warnings of gloom and doom, and it wasn't at all clear how I could exit this program that I didn't want, but which appeared to start doing the scan without my permission.

To safely exit, I had to open my task manager and kill Internet Explorer. Fortunately Spanishdict.com was the only thing I had open.

That is simply unethical. I'm sure you police your advertisers diligently, but I'd like to report that a bad one slipped through.

According to my History file, the bad popup is:

scanner.best-protect.info

It's probably jerks like that that gives this site a bad rating with McAfee.

Many times pop-ups like this come from spyware or adware that has made its way onto your computer. Then the ad pops up no matter where you go on the internet, and some are even triggered by any typing or searches or sites in any way related to anti-virus info.

If that is the case, as I suspect, since I have never had any pop-ups or invasions while using this site, you need to get an up-to-date anti-virus program and at least one quality anti-spyware program, and do a thorough scan of your computer. DO NOT allow any program to scan your computer that YOU have not proactively downloaded from a trusted, reputable site.

I expect that you will find your problem there, and not with the Spanishdict site.

Also, if you have holes in your firewall (open ports), they are open doors for any intruder to pop in while you are on the internet, regardless of which site you are visiting. In other words, if you are talking to Spanishdict through your front door, and an intruder enters your open back door, it is not Spanishdict's fault that your back door is open, and they shouldn't be blamed for the intrusion, just because they happen to be the only ones present.

Hi There Greg,

I am very sorry about the experience you had. It looks like best-protect.info is malware. I have not seen this in our advertisements and we too loathe these types of campaigns. If you see anything like this again, please respond to this thread and let me know where. I will find out how to turn it off immediately. In the meantime, doing a Google search for "scanner best-protect" you'll see instructions on how to remove the malware from your computer. Thanks for letting us know about this!

Best,
Chris
SpanishDict.com

I have the McAfee, and it don't seem to mind this site... I don't know about pop ups, I have a pop-up blocker so I don't have to worry about pop-ups.

Hi There Greg,

I am very sorry about the experience you had. It looks like best-protect.info is malware. I have not seen this in our advertisements and we too loathe these types of campaigns. If you see anything like this again, please respond to this thread and let me know where. I will find out how to turn it off immediately. In the meantime, doing a Google search for "scanner best-protect" you'll see instructions on how to remove the malware from your computer. Thanks for letting us know about this!

Best,

Chris

SpanishDict.com

Hi there, Chris, you're not running ad-servers from anywhere but from well-known providers, are you? So we can be sure about this? You know that you've already fouled up by being hacked and all, so people can feel safe now? You're doing your best, and you're personally responsible for that, right? Right? Say yes.

Hi There Greg,

I am very sorry about the experience you had. It looks like best-protect.info is malware. I have not seen this in our advertisements and we too loathe these types of campaigns. If you see anything like this again, please respond to this thread and let me know where. I will find out how to turn it off immediately. In the meantime, doing a Google search for "scanner best-protect" you'll see instructions on how to remove the malware from your computer. Thanks for letting us know about this!

Best,

Chris

SpanishDict.com

Hi Chris,

It just came up again. I was in the video of "Learn Spanish 2.1" I paused it, I think, to go back to something Paralee said.

All of a sudden I got it again:

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n225/greghahn/virus-scan.jpg

As you can see from the pic, the scan started. From the popup box, it isn't clear as to how to close it. I clicked the wrong thing, and it went ahead and finished the scan. It "found" several viruses, then wanted to clean.

It attempted to download files to my PC, which McAfee stopped.

This is something that only occurs for me when I am on your site. I'm not sure exactly waht triggers it, but I am sure it's coming from this site, somehow.

The same thing happened to me twice; once two weeks ago and once last week... and it only happened when I was on this website. I did a McAfee scan and found no viruses or spyware, so it's definitely not my computer...it's coming from this website somehow.

Of course it is possible that this is an issue with this website, and I believe they should investigate it, but I have spent quite a bit of time on here the last three weeks, and nothing of the sort has happened to me.

Many times, spyware/adware on one's computer is triggered to activate by going to certain sites, or to sites that contain certain words or phrases. For example, a couple years ago when my computer was infected with similar spyware, anytime I typed anything in a Google search, or in the web address bar, that contained something to do with "virus" or "spyware," immediately something similar to what you describe popped up and started "scanning" my computer, and told me that I had viruses and that I needed to download an update to rid the computer of the viruses. THIS WAS SPYWARE THAT WAS ON MY COMPUTER, and McAfee could not detect it or get rid of it! And this was the version of McAfee provided by my high speed internet provider as, supposedly, the best protection for high speed internet, and it updated itself regularly.

The problem continued until my computer was later infected with a virus while surfing the Internet, and McAfee (which was running at the time) said it couldn't remove the virus. So I purchased a quality antivirus/antispyware program, and it removed the virus, and found and removed the malware. I have not had ANY such problems since then, 18 months ago. But all the while, McAfee said my computer was "clean"--no viruses or spyware.

Most computer experts recommend that you run ONE quality antivirus program, and TWO quality antispyware/antiadware programs. Because of my experience, I continue to use the program that I have to pay to update every year, rather than the McAfee my ISP provides, even though it is included in the price of my internet service. Because of my experience, I do not recommend McAfee--it just did not do a good job for me, neither against viruses nor against spyware.

Here is something you might want to try: do a Google search for "antivirus" and see if you get the same thing. This may not trigger it, as spyware writers are constantly changing and adapting their programs. If you can trigger it, immediately turn off or disconnect your modem, and if the "scan" continues, then you know it is something on your computer and not coming across the Internet.

If you can't trigger it somehow (some of these programs are written to pop up at certain time intervals no matter what you're doing), just continue using this site as normal until it happens again, and then turn off/disconnect your modem. If the "scan" continues, then it cannot be Spanishdict.com that is the culprit--it has to be on your machine.

One more thought about McAfee. If it were doing its job, why didn't it catch this "bad advertiser" as it was (as you assume) coming through this website and accessing your computer? Why did the malware have free reign of your computer, with no intervention from McAfee, until it wanted to download something? It is interesting to me that, when people have problems with their computers, and you tell them that it could be a virus/malware, many people respond, "OH, NO! I KNOW THAT MY COMPUTER CAN'T HAVE A VIRUS/SPYWARE. I HAVE SCANNED IT AND ___|\___|\___|_ (McAfee or whoever) SAYS THAT IT IS CLEAN. IT HAS TO BE SOMETHING ELSE." Then you scan their computer with a different antivirus program and find the problem. Many times, the problem is that their antivirus program failed to detect the malware, or they simply haven't bothered to update it (because it is inconvenient or it costs money).

Chtistopher and FulanoMcDuck have also suggested that the problem is on your computer. I think this is more than likely the case, since you seem to be the only two people reporting this problem (Greg & Marianne). It seems to reason that if the name of the culprit that you listed is "scanner.best-protect.info", and Christopher found instructions on Google for removing "scanner best-protect" from one's computer, then it is most likely on your machine.

Hi There Greg,

I am very sorry about the experience you had. It looks like best-protect.info is malware. I have not seen this in our advertisements and we too loathe these types of campaigns. If you see anything like this again, please respond to this thread and let me know where. I will find out how to turn it off immediately. In the meantime, doing a Google search for "scanner best-protect" you'll see instructions on how to remove the malware from your computer. Thanks for letting us know about this!

The bad rating from mcafee is (from what I've heard) because their server got hacked a few months ago, and some bad links snuck in. Shame on them for that, by all means, but after that was fixed all I've seen are advertisements from google ads. Was your experience from clicking one of those ads? In that case, google will be interested in punishing the advertiser. If not, something else is going on, and I'll advise you to use an antivirus program like Avast or AVG.

So I purchased a quality antivirus/antispyware program, and it removed the virus, and found and removed the malware. I have not had ANY such problems since then, 18 months ago. But all the while, McAfee said my computer was "clean"--no viruses or spyware.

I buy McAfee every year for $65 and I'd like to try something different because I agree: how did this spyware get into my system if McAfee is working?

Can you recommend a good antivirus/antispyware program?

Thanks for your help on this.

Can you recommend a good antivirus/antispyware program?

I use Avast (www.avast.com) as an antivirus program, and Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.com) to get rid of other malware. They're both free, and regularly updated. They also both have resident modules to keep track of what's going on, and they inform you in a detailed way.

I don't think there's really anything wrong with McAfee per se, but it's a constant struggle between the good and the bad guys on the net, and all anti-malware programs need some time to get aware of the latest threats. In my experience, there's no need to pay for commercial programs, since there's no guarantee that they're faster in blocking the threats, and I've also found that they're not. The programs I mentioned are considered top notch (I did a thorough investigation after having been infected by malware a year ago), and I'm very happy with them both.

From having used SpanishDict a lot and reading the testimonies from you and Greg, I also highly doubt that the malware was caused by this site. Anyway, do a scan with Avast and Spybot S&D, and I'm sure you'll find something to get rid of on your machine.

Good luck!

I don't want to be guilty of advertising on the site, but since you asked ... (and I don't stand to profit anything by this)

I purchased Kaspersky Internet Security at a local office supply store, but I had never heard of it before, and made my decision based on more than an hour of standing in the store, reading the boxes of several programs. I must say that Kaspersky can be a little overbearing if you try to "Custom" set up the firewall. That is, while it is in its "Learning Mode," it asks you for permission to go anywhere/do anything on the Internet. If you're not an advanced "computer person," I would recommend going with the automatic/default settings. One strong point about this program ... it updates itself instantly and constantly while you're connected to the Internet, to deal with late-breaking virus threats.

It is about the same price as what you pay for McAfee, and the package I bought was licensed for 3 computers. It comes with antispyware/antiadware, firewall, antispam/antiphishing, privacy and parental controls, and more, all working together in the same program.

Here's what FulanoMcDuck recommends:

The bad rating from mcafee is (from what I've heard) because their server got hacked a few months ago, and some bad links snuck in. Shame on them for that, by all means, but after that was fixed all I've seen are advertisements from google ads. Was your experience from clicking one of those ads? In that case, google will be interested in punishing the advertiser. If not, something else is going on, and I'll advise you to use an antivirus program like Avast or AVG.

Also, a highly respected computer guru has this link on her website for a free download of AVG:

http://komando.com/downloads/category.aspx'id=2519

I don't know if that comes with anti-spyware and firewall, as well, or if those would be "pay" items.

She has links to freebies in those categories, as well:

http://komando.com/downloads/categories.aspx'cat=Security

One more ... one of Komando's featured advertisers (that she actively recommends on her show) is PCTools. They have a good reputation, and also have other useful programs such as a Registry Cleaner.

Also, after submitting that last post, I noticed an ad at the bottom of the page for AVG. I don't know if it would be for the free version or a paid version.

I think if you buy from them after clicking on the link on this site (or even just clicking on the link), it helps Spanishdict.com in some way.