Entrecard and Viruses

12th January 2010

I want to first apologize to all of you loyal EC (Entrecard) droppers who have continued to drop by over the last few days. I want to tell you where I’ve been and why you have not been receiving reciprocal drops.

When I drop EC, I drop from my inbox. For about 4 days last week, there were 2-3 sites that, as they were loading, my McAfee virus protection would notify me that a Trojan virus had been blocked. I figured out which specific sites these were and began to avoid them. Unfortunately, Sunday evening, as I was dropping EC using my laptop, I received the same warning and then BAM! My laptop was infected.

To say I am disgusted would be putting it mildly. Just 2 months ago I spent over $500 getting both my desktop and laptop professionally cleaned and repaired due to virus attacks that occurred while I was dropping EC. I have virus protection on ALL of my computers and have never, in the 15 years or more I’ve been using the internet, had viruses attack my computers the way they have since I joined EC over a year ago. The virus protection has always worked.

It seems that there are a few EC users who are utilizing EC as a means to attack and I am fed up with it. While I truly appreciate the traffic that EC has brought me, I can no longer afford to utilize their site in the same way I have been, it’s costing me time and dollars, not to mention my frustration. Let’s just say, I said a few choice words out loud that I normally would never say, slammed the lid shut on my laptop and it has been sitting coldly on the floor of my family room since Sunday. I’m afraid that if I even begin to try to fix it, I will end up throwing it through the window.

I am tempted to leave EC all together, but I have found many wonderful blogs through EC that I not only prefer to drop on, but I enjoy reading. I will continue to visit those sites, but to all others, I’m sorry, I cannot keep doing this.

Over the course of the next few days I will be creating my own drop list, which will probably be rather small, nowhere near the 300 that I have been dropping on. I realize I will no longer be on the front page at EC, but have decided it is simply not worth it. Last week alone I had 3 different blogs ask to advertise on my site and none of them had even bothered to update their sites in over 30 days. That tells me they are spam and only looking for traffic, not interested. I declined them all.

EC needs to be more diligent in monitoring the sites they are allowing into the program. A few bad apples are ruining a very good thing.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 1:30 pm and is filed under a little bit of everything. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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1 On January 12th, 2010, Kim said:

I am so sorry to hear that! I appreciate the heads up too, I never thought about the sites giving us virus’. I wonder if you know which ones they were and would mind emailing them to me? I certainly don’t need that either!

Thanks for visiting my site and commenting on my quilting page!
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Quilted Folding Technique =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 2:29 pm

2 On January 12th, 2010, mike golch said:

I can relate to the numerous virus infections disabling the computer.I too have had that ptoble.The trouble is did it come from EC blogs of from emails I have recieved.I have ben pretty liberal about accepting adverts on my site.
I am glad that I have restore discs to fix my own computer.
.-= mike golch´s last blog ..OOPS =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

3 On January 12th, 2010, lynne said:

Kim – well, I thought I knew and was avoiding several sites, but still was attacked. I don’t want to name the sites because I could be wrong. I’m no longer going to drop from my inbox, that’s for sure! I am creating my own list from my personal favorites, you are included.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 2:57 pm

4 On January 12th, 2010, lynne said:

mike – I know the viruses are coming either directly through EC or through a website using EC because my computer is attacked while I am reciprocating drops from my inbox, not while checking email.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 2:58 pm

5 On January 12th, 2010, Storm said:

I totally agree – I had my computer catch a few too, and usually I ignore the get rich, make money etc cards in my inbox. I try to be nice and drop on as many as I can that have visited me, but it’s getting to be too much. It’s boring when they haven’t updated in weeks, either. I’m dropping to read, not make money!
.-= Storm´s last blog ..Fortune Cookie Says… =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

6 On January 12th, 2010, Lin said:

I have found two sites in the past two days that are giving me the alert, but I didn’t narrow them down. I think I’m going to have to join you in my slowing down the dropping. Add in the fact that there are drops coming from blogs with no EC box as well. The quality control is disgusting.
.-= Lin´s last blog ..Commencing the Dork Off II =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 4:36 pm

7 On January 12th, 2010, Sue said:

My computer was attacked a year ago – I’m pretty sure due to this. After getting a whole new computer – I now have Norton Security, so far it has blocked everything, but I noticed recently more things saying blocking “Bloodhound virus” or something like that. Which happens when I drop using the EC toolbar. Maybe I should only drop from a list too. That sounds like a good idea. I can not afford this to happen again to my computer either.

I feel like no one is even working at Entrecard anymore to monitor these blogs!
.-= Sue´s last blog ..Post It Note Tuesday =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 6:13 pm

8 On January 12th, 2010, lynne said:

Storm – I pretty much drop on the same sites every day, and definitely avoid those that can’t be bothered to update. It seems to catch viruses when I’m dropping from the inbox. I gave up on the toolbar a long time ago!

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 7:25 pm

9 On January 12th, 2010, lynne said:

Lin – I have learned that if a site (even one I regularly drop on) is struggling to load, it’s a good idea to close it and move on. Unfortunately, I was watching a movie while dropping EC on Sunday and wasn’t paying attention. Guess I’m paying the price now!

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 7:26 pm

10 On January 12th, 2010, lynne said:

Sue – I gave up on the toolbar almost as soon as it first came out. I didn’t like not being able to see which sites I was getting ready to load and so I opted to drop for my inbox. Guess that hasn’t proven to be the best either. I’ve been working on my list today, you’re definitely on it!

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 7:27 pm

11 On January 12th, 2010, blueyes said:

I only drop on the sites I know, I’ve actually turned in a few sites that tried to load viruses on mine and had them removed. I just can’t believe people still try this garbage.
.-= blueyes´s last blog ..Four Foods on Friday #100 =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 8:37 pm

12 On January 12th, 2010, Laane said:

Oh dear!
What a pity you’ve missed my blogpost about the same, otherwise you would have stopped dropping from your inbox.

I’ll mail you tomorrow.
.-= Laane´s last blog ..changed the comment system =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 9:09 pm

13 On January 12th, 2010, tahtimbo said:

I am really sorry to hear this. I have become a victim of these viruses a few times as well. One thing that I have tried is a program called Avast! (yes, they spell it with the exclamation mark). Anyway, the program is aggressive when tagging viruses and it will stop any script from actually downloading to your site (it will actually tell you what type of virus it stopped). It has saved my bacon more than once. Best of all…it’s free.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 10:12 pm

14 On January 12th, 2010, Rachel said:

I drop from my inbox and don’t have a problem, but I’m using Chrome, and it seems to stop anything from loading if it’s suspicious. I also have Avast! and that seems to have worked fairly well. I saw this problem was coming up a while ago and it seemed to be from some bad script on a widget (I can’t remember which one, but it was commonly used). Even my own was sending up a warning, which fortunately, someone was kind enough to tell me about. Once I got rid of the widget, it stopped.
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Flashback Friday – Rocky and Bullwinkle =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 10:50 pm

15 On January 12th, 2010, silvergirl said:

yah, i have a warning too when i drop EC to one blog, and now I am very care ful to whom i will drop, and since i remember that ad he/she has..thanks for bringing this post,,, hope the admin in this site will have some action
.-= silvergirl´s last blog ..Received Payment from NETVERDIX =-.

posted on January 12th, 2010 at 11:42 pm

16 On January 13th, 2010, Lin said:

Found one! http://jansnjens.khrye.com/ It is a picture of a little angel–LOOK OUT!
.-= Lin´s last blog ..We Got Ourselves a Winner! =-.

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 8:07 am

17 On January 13th, 2010, Karen said:

I have never dropped from my inbox. I have narrowed my drops down to 60 of the blogs I like to read. If they have not updated or blog about subjects that don’t have any interest to me they are gone. The exception to that is two sites that leave me comments. I am so sorry that you experienced trouble with a virus. What a pain.
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Tuna! The Healthy Choice =-.

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 10:59 am

18 On January 13th, 2010, liza said:

Hi stopping by..By the way I want to let you know Im having a blog giveaway. Come check it out if you have time..:)

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 11:10 am

19 On January 13th, 2010, Rebecca said:

Same here, I had ELEVEN virus, fortunately my kids helped me with some free virus protection, otherwise I’d have a mess that I can not afford to fix. I know they come from entrecard, because the popups and freeze-ups only occur during entrecard drops. I want to quit entrecard, but I’d miss all the wonderful blogger friends and comments. Why does entrecard allow these sites?
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: Snail Cat =-.

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 11:25 am

20 On January 13th, 2010, Janiss said:

I’ve only been on Entrecard a little over a month, and yeah, I wish someone was doing more quality/ spam control! I’m on a Mac, so less prone to viruses than PCs, but not exactly safe, either.

I finally began my own bookmark folder of EC blogs that 1) update on some sort of regular basis 2) are written in properly spelled, grammatically correct English (I’m a writer and I CANNOT STAND how badly written and generic some of these blogs are! I imagine they are probably also where some of the viruses come from – they seem more like spam than actual blogs.) AND 3) are about a topic that interests me, or are so amusingly written that I keep wanting to come back. (The cat sites that I visit daily aren’t on this list – I just go directly to the EC pets campaign page and drop from there. Those blogs are all known entities to me and part of my cat’s community.)

Right now, I’m dropping 300 a day because I’m still getting established and seeking out good blogs, but I do plan to narrow it down. Eventually, I’ll move my absolute favorite blogs to the top of my bookmarked list, visit them and the cat blogs and then drop the rest. It’s kind of a PITA right now, but the extra traffic to my cat’s site, plus finding some very charming and wonderful blogs, has made it worth it.

Thanks for your post – I’ve heard this complaint before on other blogs, but yours is an excellent reminder to be careful!
.-= Janiss´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: My Roommate Binga – the Gift I Wish I Could Return =-.

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 9:08 pm

21 On January 13th, 2010, Stormee said:

I did not know that you can get viruses from other blogs. And if I had been infected and did not know it and passed it on to someone else, I am sorry. I know that there are some blogs that when I click on them, my computer gets all jammed up then it shuts down. I was going to quit EC anyway. I hope that you will still visit my blog.
.-= Stormee´s last blog ..My Backyard in December =-.

posted on January 13th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

22 On January 14th, 2010, Natalie said:

I had that happen twice too!!! I have only been dropping a few cards a day now and those are on sites like this one that I know aren’t the culprits. Our anti-virus software took care of things…but I don’t want to risk it. Whoever the jerks are who are doing this need to just go away.
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..Who knew? =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 1:46 am

23 On January 14th, 2010, Jude said:

I use the free version of Avast which helps catch a lot of that crap. I’ve also noticed a lot more problems when dropping from my inbox so now I go through and click on the widgets I know and that seems to work for me.
.-= Jude´s last blog ..I’m Sharing My Spam Again =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 5:34 am

24 On January 14th, 2010, Karen & Gerard Zemek said:

I noticed that too and no longer utilize the feature of finding new blogs through entrecard and dropping cards from my inbox or by category like I used to do. Just not worth the virus attacking hassle. I just drop on the ones I know which I follow or have on my blogroll. I use SITS (http://www.thesitsgirls.com/)not to find new blogs and haven’t had any problem since.
.-= Karen & Gerard Zemek´s last blog ..Get Out Of My Way! (Writer’s Workshop) =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 6:54 am

25 On January 14th, 2010, sandy said:

Errrrrrrrrr

Had posted a nice long comment; but you math thingy didn’t work all was lost. I hate those things, as well as the words that no one can read.

Back to the topic, did you report to EC? You didn’t mention in your post if you did. I too have had issues lately, over the last couple of weeks, except I use the toolbar so have 10 pages loading at one time, and therefore can’t tell which site or sites are the problem in order to report it. I don’t know/understand my virus protection well enough to know if it goes off for all of them, or only the current page I’m on when I see the warning? I use Avast, it gives me the option to abort, which I do, and thus far I seem to be ok doing that. It is frustrating though. I report violators almost daily that have pop ups, music playing, no ec widgets, and no updates on their blogs. I assume, but don’t really know that ec does something like deleting them after they’ve been reported. Since we can’t communicate like we used to on the forum to know how many people are experiencing a problem, and you can’t leave a message on the blog…you feel like you’re in the dark when these problems arrise.

Good Luck
Sandy
.-= sandy´s last blog ..Sedona, Arizona =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 8:11 am

26 On January 14th, 2010, Lidian said:

Same thing just happened to me, and I am dropping from a favorites list now too, which you are on. It is really frustrating and annoying. And I like EC but it does not feel like they are checking up on this sort of thing at all, and it just gets worse and worse. Still, making fewer drops mean I have more time to write and do research (and, you know, do stuff around the house, and deal with 2 teens etc etc)
.-= Lidian´s last blog ..New York’s Floating Chapels =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 9:13 am

27 On January 14th, 2010, Anna said:

Only drop from a favorites list not the inbox. I haven’t had any issues since I started doing that.
.-= Anna´s last blog ..Our Frozen World =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 11:21 am

28 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Sandy – I’m sorry my math spam protection caused a problem for you! As for EC, no, I didn’t report anyone because I’m not 100% sure which blog it is. I’ve narrowed it down to about 3 possibilities and I have no intention of clicking on their widgets to find out! I spent over 8 hours yesterday just restoring one of my infected computers and still have my laptop to work on, so don’t want to take a chance again.
I use McAfee and get a popup that tells me it has blocked a virus. Unfortunately, I tend to also open multiple tabs, so not sure which one was trying to deliver the virus. I am not sure how much the EC people are monitoring these sites, but I do wish they would do a better job before accepting a site. It seems the spam blogs have gotten much worse lately and we won’t even talk about the widgets with all the scantily women in provocative poses! I definitely don’t click on those!

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll continue to visit you!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:20 pm

29 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Laane – How did I miss your post! You always have valuable insight and info when it comes to EC! By the way, thank you very much for the email!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:21 pm

30 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Lin – Now you’ve got me curious and I want to know what site that is you found causing a problem! I am NOT going to click that link though! I do have a feeling it could be the one that caused my issues.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:24 pm

31 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Stormee – I don’t know that it’s the blog itself that is sending the virus, but it’s probably a widget they have installed on their blog or something in the blog code. I do know it’s a real pain! I like the traffic I get from EC and have found some really wonderful blogs (including yours!). I plan to stay with EC, just have to go about my dropping in a different way.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

32 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

I agree Natalie and I think there are currently a few blogs at EC that need to go away!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

33 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Jude – Yes, I think it pays to be selective when dropping EC!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:29 pm

34 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Thank you so much for the SITS link! That looks like a great way to build traffic from legitimate blogs with similar interests. I will certainly be looking into it in more detail!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

35 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

Lidian – I agree, perhaps not spending so much dropping isn’t such a bad thing! I have piles of fabric awaiting me in my sewing room after all!

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:34 pm

36 On January 14th, 2010, lynne said:

blueyes – I think EC needs to do a better job of monitoring which sites they are allowing to join. Seems lately the number of spam blogs has increased 10 fold.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

37 On January 14th, 2010, jenn said:

I can relate…just a couple of weeks ago, I got a virus from a blog on entrecard. In fact, I have read that lots of people are getting infected. I wish they would do a sweep of the blogs in their system, or something. Otherwise they are going to lose a lot of droppers, including me.
.-= jenn´s last blog ..There IS A Reason For My Lack Of Posting Lately =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 7:21 pm

38 On January 14th, 2010, JT Locke -- The Frugal Housewife said:

Currently I’m using two virus scanners. I know it’s not a good idea to run 2 at one time but what one does not catch the other one will. I’m using the free version of Avast and a trial version of ESet. Usually Avast will catch anything before it attacks the computer and will close the site and not let it load.
.-= JT Locke — The Frugal Housewife´s last blog ..$30.40 in Coupons =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 7:53 pm

39 On January 14th, 2010, Rebecca said:

This post was extremely enlightening. I am terrified of getting a virus– I could always reformat, but if I lost everything on the computer, I’d be a basket case. I run my business from it. Maybe I should drop cards from a separate computer!

I am VERY interested to know what sites you suspect, Lynne… would you consider emailing me the names?

I’m so happy that your reformatting saved you money and fixed the problem! I’d be STEAMING mad too, though, if I had to go through something like that again.

EC must clean up their lists, or they are going to tank.
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Polydactyl Paw Prints =-.

posted on January 14th, 2010 at 11:02 pm

40 On January 15th, 2010, Cacai M. said:

Hi, I am with you. I also encountered those annoying sites that have pop-ups but I can’t leave EC as easy because I also found great sites. I even think of creating my own droplist wayback months already while I was just a newbie in EC and until now haven’t done due to some chores offline and such. Anyway, I would love to be in your droplist and perhaps you could create a droplist that could have reciprocal drops—I will be one of your member either of the two, count me in! thanks..
.-= Cacai M.´s last blog ..Hormonal Change =-.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:41 am

41 On January 15th, 2010, Angel said:

Yeah, I came across a few myself and 2 weeks ago, my laptop was infected. It pissess me off but I had only started on EC less than 3 months ago. Maybe I’ll hang on for a bit longer but if it hurts me more than the joy of having traffic in, maybe I’ll think of another alternative..
.-= Angel´s last blog ...::Back Again::. =-.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 6:17 am

42 On January 15th, 2010, lynne said:

jenn – I’m certainly being more cautious when dropping EC and have really limited the blogs I drop on to the ones I’m familiar with.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:25 pm

43 On January 15th, 2010, lynne said:

Jt Locke – That’s an interesting idea. It’s really incredible how severe some of these viruses are that are getting through via EC blogs. I think we all need to take whatever precautions we can to protect our computers!

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:28 pm

44 On January 15th, 2010, lynne said:

Rebecca – The computer warned me and I figured I would lose everything, but was so mad I had reached the point I didn’t care! I did have to reload a few things like my printer and my antivirus software. I did lose documents and photos, but it was not my main computer and the photos I have backed up at an online website. I also had to go through a ton of updates for Windows XP because the computer is 4-5 years old and it reset to the original version. I spent the most time uninstalling factory installed programs that weren’t needed and getting McAfee to work again. I don’t have the addresses of the blogs I suspect, but I’ll try to remember to email you the names. Two of them are on the front page of the most popular EC blogs, and one has been with EC for a long time. I’m still not sure they are the responsible ones because I had multiple blogs open when the Trojan came up. I have been avoiding both of those blogs now and haven’t had any issues. I don’t normally drop on sites that I’m not familiar with, but occasionally I will click on a blog if it’s widget looks interesting. I guess I will have to pass on new sites from now on.
My laptop is another issue, I don’t want to lose all my photos and documents so will have to attack that one differently. EC really need to be more diligent.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:41 pm

45 On January 15th, 2010, lynne said:

Cacai – Not sure what type of list I will be creating, I’m still working on that. It’s pretty time consuming and I seem to have little time lately! I’ll let you know.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:44 pm

46 On January 15th, 2010, lynne said:

Angel – I’ve been with EC for quite some time and it’s only been recently that I’ve had such major virus issues. I do believe EC management needs to monitor the sites better that are applying for membership, too many new sites (not yours obviously!), are total spam blogs and nothing but trouble.

posted on January 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm