Chess.com SPYWARE infestation!

I've never played a Live game, except a few minutes ago vs. the computer. Maybe it wasn't rated? Maybe it let me play the computer due to it being unrated? idk

what are they gonna do honestly on a chess website, track your email? As long as you aren't stupid enough to put personal info on your profile it shouldn't be too much of a problem

Well, I just played a rated Live game, at least in Firefox. It seemed to go OK. I don't use Google Chrome, so I can't try it in that browser.

Edit - Everything also seems to work with Vivaldi. Don't use Opera, it *does* actually spy on you, haha.

This has come up repeatedly. There are other people here who are far more qualified to speak about the hows and whys of this. But for me personally, it was the playing chess that did it. Everything else was fine. It happened so often it couldn't possibly have been a co-incidence. All the weird things that would happen to my computer when I played lived chess, it was too much. I've never clicked on any ad or banner, ever. 

So I changed one, and only one thing. I stopped playing live chess here. That was well over a year ago. And it went from consistent problems to not a single problem in over  a year. Everything else seems to be fine. The forums, puzzles, etc. 

This site should be investigated by a pro.  I think they are installing spyware and keystroke programs into it's member's systems.  Very sophisticated programmers that can bypass windows crappy defender security.  

If you really believe that, then you should probably do a fresh install of your operating system (including a reformat of the hard drive) and never use Chess.com again. Or, if you still want to visit this site, then separate out this site from your other activities by getting a second PC, or by using a dual-boot setup, or by using a Linux Live USB drive, or by using a Virtual Machine setup.

And if you're really that concerned about spying, you should give up Windows 10 and switch to Linux. :-)

If they were really smart, they'd just install ransomware on everyone's PCs. That's where the real money is these days... :-P

I still am not seeing what chess.com would gain from installing spyware on a chess site.

I remember, way back not long after I joined 8 years ago (back in the days of V2), the site offered a download of some kind of toolbar, or something like that (I don't remember the details). I remember researching it and discovering that it contained a well-known piece of malware. I remember screaming bloody murder about it, but it was still offered for a time after that. Thankfully, at least that episode is in the past. Of course, they never talked about that part of it, so I'll never know whether it was done on purpose or whether they were just clueless.

It's clear that the site wants the money from the ads, so it's more likely that if anything untoward is happening here, it's just sneaking in via periodic episodes of malvertising from the ad servers.

ah ok. 8 years ago I was on chesskid, so I wouldn't know of anything that happened there. Still I feel like it wouldn't be on purpose

I tend to agree with you, but I think the ad server situation *IS* a real problem that the site doesn't seem to feel the need to address. To protect my system, I had to resort to ad blockers and script blockers.

When I didn't have premium I don't remember seeing ads for some reason, or if there were they weren't too big of a problem for me.

The browser scan in chess.com is associated with Cloudflare.  Cloudflare is one of the most corrupt networks on the planet!! they host black hat sites and anything illegal  you can image.  They laugh at dmca notices and don't give a dam about anything  that has a copyright.   I'm looking for a new place to play chess.  

Uh dude

I've been here 2 years and am fine

So something is up on your side  

That response has been given to people who complain about problems for years. Chances are everything on your side IS fine. Or at least you think it is. And chances are things are NOT fine for the people complaining. Both are very possible. It's just that something has been, and is, still going on. If it doesn't affect you, that doesn't mean it's not affecting others. 

Escher had a good point. That seems like the most reasonable explanation. 

Hmm I am reminded of a virus I read about( Don't know what it did)

The "I Love You" Virus

wasn't it a worm?

Patriots

The thing is

If it isn't a site wide problem

Then it's an issue on the user's behalf 

not on the server's behalf

Correct?

I dont know. But I know that response has been given for years. It seems to me if installing some sort of adblocker, malware fixer, or just stop playing live chess fixes the problem, then it's probably not the user. It's probably chess.com. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯