Hey guys, just a quick note regarding those of you who are using Avast as your virus protection. Apparently some of you are getting warnings from Avast saying that this blog is compromised by some malaware or something. Specifically it points to a particular script that points to one of my websites. I might add that the offender is a very simple script and it definitely doesn’t have any malaware associated with it.
Still, why would you take my word for it, especially if you’ve come here out of the blue and don’t know who the hell I am. That being the case I thought it best to reveal the offending script Just to prove to you that it can’t possibly be infected with anything that could be setting off Avast’s alarm, so without further ado I want to show you the script that’s causing Avast to blow a fuse.
<a href=”http://coolbloglinks.com/”><img src=”http://coolbloglinks.com/button.php?u=Sire” alt=”Cool Blog Links” border=”0″ /></a>
As you can see the first part of the script merely points to my Cool Blog Links site, one that you may like to join 
Oh, that’s right you probably won’t want to do that because it requires you to install the above code on your blog that will turn Avast users against you. :annoyed_tb:
The second part of the code merely displays the following small icon by which you can see this blog currently ranks in the top 3. I moved up one because Mitch pulled out when he also got notified of the same warning by other Avast users. Anyway, as you can see there is nothing in that code that could be hiding anything harmful by which I can only assume that Avast has got it wrong when it comes to this site.
Just to be sure I checked Google’s WebMaster tools which showed this blog is free from Malware and thanks to Kimberly of Just Ask Kim I also used Sucuri SiteCheck and as you can see from the following photo it came up clean.
Scanned Site With Sucuri SiteCheck
It then came to me that perhaps Avast was clairvoyant and it had a preconceived notion that my Cool Blogs Links site was infected so I scanned that site as well.
So, what does that tell you except that Avast has got it wrong!
Speaking about programs that seem not to be working as well as they should, has anyone found that the GASP plugin seems to be letting more spam through than usual Lucky for me Akismet gets the ones GASP lets slip through but I know you don’t all use Akismet. There are some days where it picks up over thirty spam comments and that could be a pain if you had to delete them manually.
Keeping the above in mind here’s a list of the best web application firewalls (WAFs) that can help protect a website from hacks and external attacks.
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Mitch
26 Aug 2011Twitter: mitch_m
True, I did bail, but the night I heard about it there was all this fuss that was spreading about a post that I thought was important and the discussion of whether it was malware was getting in the way of what the post was all about.
As for GASP, did you change the setting telling it you didn’t want trackbacks? Once I did that most of that spam stopped or went directly to Akismet.
Mitch recently posted…Affiliate Programs I’m Connected With – Part One
Sire
26 Aug 2011It’s all cool Mitch. I would have removed it from this blog if it wasn’t for the fact it was my link and I knew it wasn’t infected.
As for GASP, I’m allowing trackbacks but most of the comments are spam and not trackbacks. I’m not all that fussed as Akismet is dealing with it, but I was wandering if anyone else was going through the same thing.
Sire recently posted…Five Best WordPress Plugins For Affiliate Marketers
Kimberly Castleberry
26 Aug 2011I’m one of the unlucky ones that is running Avast and even though I know your other site is clean watching it pop up as a detected threat is just freaky. I’d really rather see you switch to embedding an image and linking from a static image than that script in the meantime. Every page in your blog is setting it off because of that script in your sidebar.
I’m also seeing a lot more spammy stuff come through GASP. I have trackbacks disabled (which mind you I HATE doing but I was suffering from a bug in the original simple trackback validation plugin and hadn’t had time to switch to the newer variant). I dislike not seeing REAL trackbacks. Spam is definitely up and someone needs to let @growmap and @commentluv both know as they’re involved in the dev of it although @growmap does most of the support.
Kim
Sire
26 Aug 2011Unfortunately Kimberley that script is required to keep track of how many people visit my blog. That’s how my site keeps track of each sites rankings. Too bad Avast doesn’t allow you to tell it that the site isn’t infected the same way a good email spam filter does.
I’ve sent Avast and email and I am just waiting on a reply.
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Radu
26 Aug 2011Twitter: Solarbenefits
I’m using Avira and i haven’t git any problems. I’m aware now that these antivirus developers become a little paranoiac regarding link,malware an so on.
Sire
27 Aug 2011Hey Radu, I use AVG and I’ve never had a problem with my sites either. Still you never know if your site has been compromised which is why I decided to look into it a little further and uses Sucuri SiteCheck and I was relieved when they gave them a clean bill of health.
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sanjay
26 Aug 2011Whoa! Good thing it was gone, I saw some website this week which triggers Avast! it really freak me out and hit the back button, too bad I can’t contact the web owner (to warn her/him). Btw, how do you know if a trackback is a spam?
Sire
26 Aug 2011Are you running Avast Sanjay and does that mean that you are no longer getting that warning?
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sanjay
26 Aug 2011Yes Sire, My pc is running on Avast! and I haven’t receive any warning. Got it fixed already?
Sire
26 Aug 2011I hope so. I got the following email from them which I’m afraid wasn’t very helpful at all.
I read the post and it doesn’t seem to apply to me at all other than the fact they said my coolblog links site was part of some spam campaign, which it never was. I asked them to remove my site from their post.
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Gail Gardner from GrowMap
27 Aug 2011Remember that GASP only blocks bots – not real spammers – so the more popular you get (and spammers share and sell lists with each other so you get more popular with them over time) the more manually created spam you’ll get.
I have noticed more spam lately.
Sire
27 Aug 2011Hi Gail, I realise that it detects Bots and it’s because some of the scam that gets through seems to be bot related that I raised the question.
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Brian D. Hawkins
27 Aug 2011Twitter: hotblogtips
I use AVG and never had a problem with your site. It’s hard to believe that little line of code would trigger an anti-virus alert unless the site being linked was on some list or something. Obviously Sucuri knows it’s safe so the problem has to be with Avast. Think it would do any good to ask them to look into it? Cool Blog Links might be on some list of theirs from a past admin, even though I know you have had that site for a long time.
I don’t know how many people use Avast and if it’s a real concern for loosing potential visitors. Obviously those receiving the warning won’t see this post so they will certainly be lost. Any idea how many chance people that is?
Sire
27 Aug 2011Like you I also use AVG and I also for the life of me I can’t see how that code could cause any problems. The other thing is I created that site and so I didn’t inherit any bad karma, so to speak.
It seems that perhaps it has been listed as a spam site but I don’t know who would have done such a thing.
I did send them an email requesting they remove it from their list and to resolve the problem. No reply other than the initial one that I posted in one of my comments.
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DiTesco
27 Aug 2011hmm, I don’t use Avast and as it so seems it may be an issue with them as I don0t get any warning signs when visit your blog. As for GASP, yeah, not sure what’s going on but it appears to be letting an awful lot of SPAM go though. Fortunately I still run akismet together with it serving as an added defense :)
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Sire
27 Aug 2011Hey DiTesco, I knew I couldn’t be the only one having issues with GASP and the spam does seem to be bot related. It still does a great job but I’m wondering if perhaps someone has found a way around it?
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DiTesco
27 Aug 2011It seems that way Sire. I mean, if it were not for Akismet, I would be filled with SPAM again. There has been one in particular that when it decides to go in, it does it by the dozens. No email address and all… Definitely looks bot powered.
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Sire
28 Aug 2011Yeah, I kept Akismet because I knew it would deal with the human spam and I am so glad I did. Every now and again it tags one as spam which isn’t but it is so easy to reclaim it that it’s not a bother.
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Ana from Internet Marketing Tools
27 Aug 2011I was wondering what was wrong when someone mentioned this on my site. Since I don’t use Avast, I have not had this problem.
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Sire
29 Aug 2011You sort of have to wonder, if they get one thing wrong how many other sites are they wrongfully persecuting.
Sonny
27 Aug 2011I get that Avast message on several of your sites, and I try to prevent it from popping up in the first place by using the Adblock Plus Firefox extension on the coolbloglinks.com banner; but no joy…
Anyway, I kind of figured that it wasn’t a big deal. If your pages were really a danger, I’d expect to see Google’s “Reported Attack Page!” declaration.
Sire
28 Aug 2011Yeah, that ad blocker won’t work because it isn’t an ad :cheese1_ee:
At least you keep coming back I reckon a lot don’t which is why I’m hoping they get back to me soon about resolving this issue.
Jean from Used Tires
29 Aug 2011Luckily for me I do not use Avast, so I did not experience those issues. Strange that Avast would detect the site like that, I guess Avast is not that great afterall! Oh and I use kaspersky!
-Jean
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Sire
29 Aug 2011Well Jean, perhaps their problem is they’re a little over cautious. You would think though that once they get notification of an error they would act on it.
Karan Lugani
29 Aug 2011Avast is still blocking you website and showing a malware. I know you have verified but why not contact avast about it? Write them a mail and response about this issue.
Sire
29 Aug 2011I’ve actually written two emails to them Karan, the second one because their reply in the first one was inadequate. I’ve even gave them a link to this post so they could have the right of reply.
Melly Lifshitz
30 Aug 2011I haven’t tried AVAST yet. Currently testing the free version of AVG anti virus and AVG anti spyware. Works fine at the moment.
Sire
30 Aug 2011I’m using AVG and I’m more than satisfied with it.
Murray
3 Sep 2011I’m not a techie to find and solve issues..but I found Avast was annoying me while working on the internet or writing something..later when I asked the computer friend..he told to uninstall Avast and use AVG. I did that and now AVG works good for me.
Sire
3 Sep 2011I’ve never tried Avast Murray and if it’s prone to give false warnings I’m not about to.
Kayla from Furniture Stores Glendale
4 Oct 2011I use a different virus protection program that doesn’t seem to have any problems with your blog – but thanks for reassuring me none the less. ;)
Sire
4 Oct 2011I just thought people should know Kayla.
Matt
13 Jan 2012It’s crazy. Avast is giving faulty positives. The question is are you willing to take the chance of going to the website itself. I know that I have clicked through many websites that I was warned about, I still have yet[knocking on wood] had a problem.
Sire
13 Jan 2012Wherein lies the problem Matt. Sites like mine are losing traffic because of Avast’s faulty program. I for one would not use them.