Am I being attacked?

i've been here almost 7 years and never had an issue like that (using both a pc and a mac), i doubt it's coming from the site, hopefully some one else can give you more direction on tracking down the source

I'm sure it's not from the site. You follow links at your own risk.

It's me, I admit it.

Smiles, watch out for Mame, she is a mad cook... really, she has some fascinating threads about cooking in mining camps for a crowd of hungry people. We've met each other. Good woman, except she doesn't like anchovies.

I don't know enough to help, especially re viruses. Somebody smarter on all this than the rest of us will come along to help.
I've been at a2k, what, approaching nine years, and have never seen a question like this pan out to be an a2k fault.

On cookies and a2k, if you deny all cookies, then you will have to log in -
well, don't trust me. I used to hand pick cookies (now there was a waste of time) and based on some discussion stopped bothering with that.

But, I am guessing you can clear all cookies and then check back in and just get the a2k cookie anew.

You can pick up tracking cookies anywhere and they're not going to cause you any harm if you keep clearing them - they're just a fact of life on the internet. I assume your 'security' is getting rid of them - if not any basic free antivirus programme like AVG will deal with them and also protect you against more sinister threats. Relax.

Doing that does absolutely nothing to remove malware or a virus from your computer.

Do a tag search for viruses or malware and check out the suggestions in those topics here.

I'm not sure sms knows about tag seaches.

This is probably the best, most recent thread with current instructions and links.

Read all the way through the thread before proceeding with any advice there.

http://able2know.org/topic/138103-1

That really made me 'laugh out loud' Thanks for the chuckle

You're dead right Osso. SMS does not know about tag searches, but I'll try and learn. Thank you all for your replies, it sets my mind at rest that it's neither coming from this site, or something I've done by mistake. I have been looking at alot of Ice-Cream web pages so it probably is something I've picked up during that trawl, just pure coincidence that I joined you at the same time.

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I had a bit of a hiccough with a day-case procedure and so ended up in hospital for 4 days. It's only the 10th January and already this year is turning out to be a real doozy.
SMS xx

It is not from A2K, but could come from a link that is written on a post. I have one rule that I use on A2K. I NEVER click on a link unless I am familiar with the person posting.

Since you are relatively new, you don't have the "history" to know who's who. Therefore when you see a link that you might want to explore, click on the person's name. You will then be directed to a page where you will find the number of posts that this person has already written. If he has a lot of posts, you can be pretty well be assured that the link is safe. I never click on a link from a brand new member.

Thanks for that Phoenix, have found the profile pages, v interesting. Rest assured I don't know enough to actually do any damage, and including links and quotes in my posts is a far and distant thing. (hoho)

May I ask for some more advice? What's the correct protocol for following people on A2K, should I ask if it's ok? or do I wait to be invited? and, do people follow you on the basis of your posts?.

Follow away! You don't need to ask or wait to be invited.

If it's someone who posts things that you enjoy reading, then following can be a way to find those posts more easily.

i've never asked to follow anyone, just went and did it

i was somewhat accused of stalking because i was following someone who had me on ignore, but they were ignoring me at the time, i wasn't ignoring them

try to get a decent malware remover like malwarebytes and run a thorough scan on your unit ....becuase i think your just getting a false positive alarm there.