Dangerous site

[Nanonevol]

Recently my Norton software has been blocking this site as "known dangerous".
'Course I'm not scared and I can usually get it back.

[DoomBuggy]

Well considering how much money I have spent since finding this site, they may be right, lol

[Tattooo]

LOL Hell my virus software has told me that for at least 3 years............

[Nanonevol]

Well it's getting annoying. Norton is pretty good though so maybe someone has put something here that infects computers.
That's a real scumbag thing to do as bad as breaking into a home.

[farmall]

Might be some advert triggered their warning. False positives are common too.

[Nanonevol]

Something has changed here (or with Norton?). Never had the problem before about a month ago.
Now I have to view in "isolation mode" with Norton (the web safety program) so can't see pop ups like photos or links.

[farmall]

Norton (and some browsers) now flag non-https websites. That's why it shows as not secure on Firefox (red slash through padlock at left end of URL bar) and Chrome ("not secure" warning in URL bar).

Chop Cult uses old board software (nice layout which I prefer) but does not use the https security protocol. I don't know if the classic layout with it's excellent human interface can be converted. Any web designers here with insights? I'm just some guy who piddles with computers.

That does NOT indicate malware etc, just that the connection is not encrypted.

https://www.digicert.com/dc/blog/not...ng-what-to-do/

If it converts there may be problems loading some non-http content and I don't know (I'm not a web dev) what that will break but I suggest backing up the old forum into an archive users can download (most won't so it won't be much of a bandwidth hit) to ensure the thousands of useful posts are saved. I would not blindly trust web host backups (or any backups) without testing because what is not verified is not known but checking to see if the local copy can be browsed is very low effort.

Scraping with a web scraper can get quite a bit of content but since the forum would need periodic backup anyway (wise admins remain ready to restore sites to bare metal if necessary since anything could happen to a web hosting facility) a copy should exist.

I'd cheerfully give (fifty bucks + media cost) for a full copy of the Forums (in a single or splt depending on media) compressed file since that's easy to deal with for all concerned) to add to my personal archive. The Wayback Machine will save some content (I need to look to see what) but that's intermittent.

Websites can be broken if not correctly converted and the web host may or may not get it right so I would obtain or perform the download then test it offline before doing any upgrades. Ya can never be too paranoid about backups.

https is not functionally a big deal since we just view content but if it were a shopping site etc then conversion would be a very good idea.

https://www.digicert.com/dc/blog/not...ng-what-to-do/

This would be a good thread to discuss saving important data because tens of thousands of hours go into user-generated content. It's no risk to the site owners revenue (I mention this because owners aren't always tech-literate) if users archive a forum because archiving does not relinquish intellectual property. HOWEVER it would be a good internet deed to sell archive downloads under the Creative Commons license (or none),

An example of downloads making money is the Farm Show magazine archives. Subscribers get the mag (still has the dead tree option) but can buy all the past issues on DVD. https://www.farmshow.com/product_detail.php?pid=325 (If you're a gearhead ya don't need to farm to enjoy the awesomeness that is Farm Show. )

Depending on file size a DVD forum archive could be split into multiple files as a compressed archive, and since for the small volume they're be burned instead of pressed best quality is obtained by burning at slowest speed on high quality media. (Speed matters, I've burned "live" bootable CDs then later DVDs since 1999 and fast burning can prevent them being read well enough to boot. Also keep that in mind if making an install disc for an old PC that won't boot from USB.)

Websites and fora aren't forever. Lack of https will deter some users so it should eventually be fixed unless there's so little profit that's impractical, and in that case the content should saved as important technical information and history.

[BuddhahoodVato]

Something has changed here (or with Norton?). Never had the problem before about a month ago.
Now I have to view in "isolation mode" with Norton (the web safety program) so can't see pop ups like photos or links.

Try clearing your history.

[farmall]

Clearing history doesn't change http status.

You can "add a site exception" to Norton Security which may do the job or do it until a browser update also flags or blocks content.
Example which I didn't test because I don't surf with Windows:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/add-...ity-55754.html

If adding a site exception fails then there is another problem (no software is perfect) but failure to update to https is a problem on the Chop Cult end. I didn't know it also lowers Google search ranking which costs views therefore ad revenue. Higher rankings are valuable to clueful advertisers.

https://www.sangfroidwebdesign.com/s...https-ranking/

[seaking]

I wonder if those bumped threads that have a noob posting jibberish are a type of trojan? My dumbass just clicked on a google appearing popup that said "blah blah running slow" and clicked "wait". whoops, appears to be no harm done. I've clicked on those in the past that got so bad I had to wipe and reboot my entire computer.

[farmall]

Those computer warning popups are all bait and if they come via Chop Cult remember that not all sites control all their ad content, and that it also may have come from another site you clicked but first shown up here for whatever reason. A legit site may be infected then pass malware to others. Botnets of compromised PCs are valuable and for sale in the right parts of the internet.

Because malware is so prolific it forces self-defense like running popup blockers, script blockers, PiHoles, hosts files and more.

I don't expose Windows to the internet except to download updates and trustworthy software and if restricted to a Windows PC I'd only browse using a Linux VM. That's not bulletproof but most malware targets Windows. It's easy to install VirtualBox (which is free) and download a Linux virtual machine like Ubuntu or Mint or many more. Bonus, ya learn a little about Linux for when Windows eventually sucks ass so hard you want to leave it (or just use it for CAD software or something).

Another, and fun option if you're a bit curious is install a Linux distro on (preferably USB 3.0) fob or to an external USB-connected SSD. Then you can boot from that, not touch your Windows drives unless you want to, alter nothing unless you want to, and have a separate much safer operating system than the vulnerable dumpster fire Windows had to become (for a bunch of reasons).

Anti-malware software can't keep up fast enough and often bogs down old or weak Windows machines.