unwanted data on Starving Artists post

[philnrunt]

I was reading the post by Big Boy about grafiti and starving artists, when the post enlarged itself to larger than my screen, and suddenly I was getting data transferred from" home comcast" and some others. I (literally) pulled the plug, then came back online and accessed it again, and the same thing happened. This time I just backed out of it.
Not being a 'puter wiz, someone out there tell me what was going on. I have AVG anti virus, it scans automatically at each startup and nothing was found, is this spyware or something along those lines?
Educate me, folks!

[Anonymous]

It's probibly spyware. Or it could just be how the webpage is set up. Run your spyware program if you got one. If not go to http://www.lavasoft.de/ and click on ad-aware. It's a free product that I use ono my two computers. When you run it, it will check your computer for spyware and give you a list. Check the list see if it caught anything by mistake. Then hit the fix button and it's off your computer. If this doesn't fix the problem atleast you deleted spyware and will help your computer run better.
Andrew Miller

[lupo]

Phil,
what could have happened was that a big sized picture in one of the posts was being transferred from the original place on the web to your browser cache, during the time that is happening the forum collumn widens to the original size of the picture, then when it is completely loaded it mostly resizes to a size fitting in the standard forum lay-out.
and you can watch the picture in its original size by clicking it.
Usually when you have a fast internet connection and the picture is on a webserver with a fast connection too, you'll hardly notice the transfer, but if your connection, or the webconnection to the server where the picture is hosted gets slow you notice the transfer.

next to the adaware program Andrew recommended it is also quite nessecary to run a firewall ( zonealarm or similar) to block unwanted incoming and outgoing internet traffic
if you are using Win XP it has a kind of firewall build in, but you have to activate it..

[Anonymous]

I recently updated my profile and checked off that I did not want to see member's signatures or avatars in their posts. This has reduced the loading time and made reading easier, as some signatures with large amounts of text, large images, and animated images are distracting and unnecessary in my opinion.

BB in Canada

[fiatfan]

Another good spyware program is Spybot Search and Destroy:

http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd

The two programs complement each other. However, Spybot can give you a warning from a web page that you know is safe. You will have to use a little judgement when Spybot gives you a warnign that a program is about to be installed.

Tom

[Big_Boy_4005]

That's weird Phil, I've been in that topic at least 50 times since I started it, and was even in yesterday, and everything seemed fine to me. My photos are hosted on comcast, because that's my ISP, but that doesn't explain why you were having trouble. I had a problem with spyware a while back and that Lavasoft seemed to fix it. I think I picked up the spyware on another website, and it effected everything, it was a mess. Part of the problem may come from the interaction with the google ads on the side of the pages on this site.

[Anonymous]

Andrew,

I went to the site and down loaded the Ad aware...It found 238 spy ware files on my computer!!! This is with a firewall and Norton antivirus. Anyone who has not done this, I reccommend it highly. My computer is much faster, especially email, since the program got rid of all that junk.. Thanks Andrew.

Guy

[philnrunt]

Big Boy 4005- It never surprises me anymore when a one in a million thing happens to me. Or should I say when BAD things happen. Can't win the lottery, oh no, but backing out of my front door I can get my inside pant belt loop hooked on the door handle, underneath my duty belt, and have to do a suspended in mid air strip tease to get unhooked! Nothing better than seeing a 300lb cop cursing and undressing and pounding on the house. That helps people feel safe at night.
Sigh.
I downloaded Ad Aware and only found 4 items, so it's not bad, and to be honest, I have no idea what it even done. Or did. Or done did.
The only complaint I have is I never got to read your post!