Why did this site give my computer a virus?

Question

I thought this was a safe website, and I like to go on it a lot. But when I went to try and translate something, the virus protection came up and told me the computer has dos viruses!! ¿Porque lo occurió, y qué debo hacer? ¡No me hace contenta en absoluta! Pero, supongo que es un otro sitio de web, pero no es muy probable. However, I talked to my sister and she said that it might not be this website. But anyway, ¿alguien sabe qué debo hacer?

Answer 1

But when I went to try and translate something,

Where did you go to try and translate something? Did you use this site's translator or go to Google or Yahoo or somewhere else to do the translation?

Most browsers, virus protection programs, etc. detect and catch viruses before they actually download them. If you virus protection came up, it probably was telling you that it had detected 2 viruses on the web page that you were going to and not that they were on your computer. Did it ask you if you wanted to end the connection (not download anything from that site) or scan you computer? If it asked you if you wanted to abort your connection then it did not download the virus. Also, be aware that most virus alerts nowadays are badly behaving advertisements or malware. Is your anti-virus program still warning you that you have quarantined viruses on your computer's hard drive?

I haven't gotten any virus warnings today and I've been using the translator and the dictionary as well as the forum. Look for further posts to see if others get viral alerts. If not, one of the ads on this site may have triggered your viral program or you left this site for another to get your translation.

I wouldn't cancel you membership over it until you confirm that this site is actually where you caught the virus.

Thanks! I did translate it through this site, just to tell you. I talked to my sister about it, and she said it could have been any site. Again, gracias! - june10, Jan 5, 2010

Answer 2

I've never gotten a virus alert on this site. On the other hand, AdBlock Plus (under Firefox) seems to be fairly aggressive about blocking advertisements.

Yes, it does work well on this site. - 0074b507, Jan 5, 2010

Ditto! - chaparrito, Jan 7, 2010

Answer 3

Yesterday and today I got a pop-up alert from my virus protection program (AVG - the free one from the internet) that this site was a known social networking site and could harbor a virus and threaten my computer. I can't remember the exact phrasing but that was the gist. I took this to be a theoretical threat and not an actual virus and just ignored it. I haven't had any problems with my computer being infected via SpanishDict. I hope you have luck removing the viruses.

I have the exact same virus protection (AVG)!!! And that's what happened to me, too! This site must be fine, then, if you've not had any issues. Gracias - june10, Jan 5, 2010

Answer 4

I use Avast and for a few days it kept popping up and saying that it had found a virus whenever I was on Spanishdict.com. I ignored it and 3 days ago I couldn't use Internet Explorer to get onlne - I had to use FireFox.

I finally went to tools on IE and reset everything to default and it works again.

Avast also hasn't been sounding the alarm for a few days either.

I should have documented what Avast said in case it recurs.

Thanks! So was it Avast that made your Internet stop working, or Spanishdict? - june10, Jan 5, 2010

I think it was an ad on Spanishdict. As Fabri noted, I got a notice that I had a virus. When I clicked on the notice to close it, I realized that it was from an ad and not my Avast or AVG. I need to pay closer attention. - john20, Jan 5, 2010

Internet Explorer is terrible anyway. You should use Firefox or Google Chrome. - Lasairfiona, Jan 5, 2010

Answer 5

Just a minute ago while on the Answers site my Avast said that a virus has been detected. This is the address it gave

http://d1.openx.org/afr.php?zoneid=61059&cb=9595959

Maybe that will help someone in administration figure out the cause.

9 times out of ten it is an ad having problems loading on to the page so your browser or antivirus thinks its a virus and gives an alert. (or the ad tries to collect cookie info that it shouldn't) - 0074b507, Jan 5, 2010

I agree - that's why I wasn't taking Avast seriously. But 1 out of 10 times it can screw up your computer. - john20, Jan 5, 2010

Answer 6

I am under constant attack from viral and trojan sources when useing this site, what have I learned after wiping my system clean at least 5 times to factory specs and losing thousands of dollars worth of programs is, do not click on any of the advertisements, when the pop up warning you of viruses comes up do not click on that either as it is quite possibly a fake notice and clicking on it allows access to your browser, ( I found that clicking on close has no effect and actually gave the virus access to my browser I have Mc Afee anti virus that seems to take care of the problem most times )