Site is bugged with Trojans!

Try getting a firewall or proxy. That shoud do it

Avast+Ad-Aware+Spybot search and destroy+Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware+WOT on firefox = nearly inpenetatrable wall for viruses. Overkill? Maybe. But my computer has stayed virus free for about 2 years now on this.

Just my opinion but Norton is CRAP.  Its a resource hog and is not nearly as effective as AVG.  Between free AVG...AdAware...and free zone alarm fire wall...and turning off all of the unecessary windows resources that run, i havent had any problems.

1. Its dumbed down

2. People for the mst part do not want to take the time to learn Linux

3. Lazy people would rather point and click

www.ubuntu.com

Definitely not dumbed down, but not convoluted- all the benefits of Linux, much of the user friendliness of Windows, still no significant virii...

Problem solved.

Not to hash this into the ground- I think people have drilled in the point, but if I were you I would try installing Ad-Aware or some spyware scanner like that to see if it finds anything. I can't really comment on Norton as I do not use it (I am in the Linux camp). I have a hard time believing that this site is infected with maleware(of course anything is possible...), perhapes you picked something up elsewhere which is burried in your system.

Just my 2 cents worth.

What I am about to say is true for pretty much any website using ad networks, not just chess.com:

I must say that I'm not convinced by the arguments here. When virii are spread through ad networks, they don't need any help from the host website. So, I don't think you can ever claim "our site is clean" once you start putting ads coming from an external provider. I mean, do you sanitize the ads before sending them to the client ? I assume the ad provider does offer some contractual guarantee not to send malware, but I doubt they claim they won't ever do it.

But then again, those malware bits can only run on your computer if there is an unpatched security hole in something on your computer. Most of the payloads that are on ad networks use security holes in specific plugins (usually acrobat reader, but I would not be surprised that quicktime is used as well). So... limit to the maximum plugin use, make sure they are up-to-date and deactivate them by default if possible! Potentially, use less-targeted alternatives (like foxit reader). those attacks can happen pretty much on any website you browse, so your only valid defense is to protect your machine.

hey cpawn - did you build your own car and do you change your own oil? just curious :)

i'm a darn computer saavy dude, and i love windows (i went from 95 to 98 to XP and am here). why? i don't have time for linux, but i certainly am not lazy. i just prefer to spend my time working on other things. linux is for people who want to make their OS their hobby. plus in business, everything just works in windows. sure, there are other versions that you can kinda use to get around it in linux, but it isn't convenient.

Linux is only free if you don't value your time.

Hey, time well spent is not wasted my friend!

Besides, I don't think my Linux system takes any more time than my Windows XP partition. For one thing, I rarely have any problems with Linux- the OS is stable as a tank(At least Ubuntu is... not all Distros are created equal). If something goes wrong it is usually because I am doing something really stupid like messing with kernel modules or modifying daemon scripts. Generally, I know what I have done and can fix these problems rather quickly.

I have a computer running Vista at home that has a problem that I am STILL trying to debug. (Granted, I do not know as much about Windows as I do Linux) Windows feels more like a time bomb to me- its not an issue of IF a problem with happen- but rather WHEN a problem will happen.

Well, I got rid of Norton and AVG from my computer, uploaded another AV program and downloaded FF 3.5 about a month ago and have had no problems at all.

Actually Erik i learned Linux out of necessity.  My job has machines that run Unix.  So getting Linux and running a duel boot system was best for me.  Please understand that my remarks were not directed at everyone that uses windows.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not unfamiliar with Linux and it definitely has its uses, I just think that for your typical end user it's not a realistic recommendation as they're not nearly as likely to care to tinker as your average Linux user is.  Also, security through obscurity comes at a price:  you're no longer using the de-facto standard.  It's a trade off that most Windows users won't make and for good reason.

Of course, with Win 95/98/Me (Of course, Microsoft denies the existance of Win Me), they never did get rid of that classic, ever lovable Blue Screen of Death. Vista has its ups, I think Microsoft is starting to get permisions on file systems correct but still has work to do. They just need to quit screwing around with the GUI and build a good backend.

5 years ago, I would have agreed with you about the tinkering but not anymore. Many modern distros work really well right out of the box. Ubuntu is a prime example of this, Mandriva works really well too. Sure, I would not recommend Slackware or Scientific Linux to a newbie, but Ubuntu or Mandriva are mature enough- as general personal desktop environments to where I could make such a recommendation without much reservation(Although a few caveats would be in order).

If you want to tinker in Ubuntu you certainly can, but I don't think it is nessasary any more than it is in Windows (IE, changing your screen saver- wallpaper). There are two areas which would make Ubuntu unsuitable for most people and they are not issues with the OS design- they are issues with developer support. One is finding devices with Linux drivers and the other is the fact that very little non-technical software is developed for Linux.

Personally, I have a dual boot system to get around this- I work in my Linux partition for almost all tasks- When I want to play video games(That I can't get to work under Wine) or hook up my scanner- I log into my windows partition. I set up my file system to make it brain-dead easy to share files between the two. Its a very minor inconveinence which gives me the best of both worlds.

Also, almost every issue I have ever had with Ubuntu has been solvable within minutes after a quick search through the Ubuntu forums. Almost every conceivable problem one can think of has been thought of already and a fix has been posted (I have even found fixes to problems with the High Energy Physics software I use, talk about an exotic problem to troubleshoot).

The moral- honestly, all of this that I am talking about is not as complicated as many people would think. Linux has earned the reputation of being a very difficult OS to work with, this reputation has been well earned in the past, but many distros have matured to the point at which I no longer agree with this stereotype. We are past the days manually configuring the Kernel, the GUI, etc... (Unless you want to- these things are the fun part of Linux after all). You not longer have to load Kernel modules every time you want to mount a USB flash drive- this is all automatic.

Now, in Windows defense. Part of the problem with spyware and worms is exploits inherent in the OS itself- that is quite well known. On the other side of the coin; however, many Windows users do not use the built in security measures of the OS properly. Many Windows users I know operate day to day using an Administrator level account- this is asking for trouble! Microsoft is to blame in part for this as from day one their regular file permision system has either been non-existant or terrible. Vista is starting to get it right, but I think needs a little massaging (I think Windows users are still getting used to the idea that the annoying little message asking if you want to continue doing task X and to type in an admin password, is a good thing...). A lot of users I know do not install updates regularly either- I think microsoft really ticked a lot of people off with the Genuine Advantage fiasco.

Oh golly... I must have started rambling again...

(In the voice of Peter Griffin from Family Guy) Awww come on!! This just leaves me curious!

I have to agree with this. I actually went to the extreme to disable any automatic opening of a PDF file in my browser, so when I encounter one, a pop-up window for saving the file comes up. That way I see any "unwanted" PDF files. And yes, occasionally (not frequently) this window pops up on this site, which I also thought was ad related. When this happens, I do a hard reset (shoot first, ask questions later). Then I restart my computer and do a search for files that were modified/created on that day. In these cases there is always a 0 byte pdf file with a jibberish name created just before the reset. However, no other files are modified/created. I just upgraded to premier membership, so I will see if this happens without ads.

Continuing the fun off topic discussion...

The only time I have ever had a problem with automatic updates in Windows was Genuine Advantage. My old computer was one of the ones who OS broke as a result of the update. I even had a "genuine" version of Windows!

It has only happened once but I learned from it and, like you do, manually install the updates.

The live CD idea is a very good point. Not to hammer it into the ground but Ubuntu is availbile as a Live CD, I think Mandriva is as well. The only downside to live 'CDs' is that you cannot save any changes to the OS(You might be able to with Live versions installed on USB Flash drives, I do not know because I have never used one myself). Of course if you are primarily interested in using Linux to surf the web without concern of maleware (A very good reason to use Linux), then a Live CD is well suited to this purpose. No concerns over Virii on Chess.com that way!

Great comic- love the copywrite notice!