Member keeps getting odd downloads from my forum

[Sand]

Forum URL: (private)

One of my members has had 3 different downloads from my forum using the browser Firefox each time. The first time this happened, the member told me it looked like a zip file had been downloaded without their consent. I was also told that the first and second time, the files were Trojans. It only happens on ProBoards sites.

Today, they had finished editing a post from one of their threads. They clicked on the Participated button to check new posts in another thread. Somewhere between clicking the Participated button and as the new thread loaded, the download notification popped up and they had not downloaded anything. The other two times this happened, the weird download was too fast for them to catch.

They're confused about this one because the file ends in .htm, but they refuse to click on any of the downloads and delete them permanently asap.

here's a screenshot from today:


Is there any reason why this keeps happening? I'm not sure if it's malicious or not, but the member would like to know either way. Thanks in advance. 

[Scott]

Sand -

These are not malicious.

The first thing the member should do however is disable the browser's automatic downloads. (Actually this is a best practice for all browsers.) On Firefox go to Settings > General > Files and Applications. Tick the box for "always ask you where to save files" under the Downloads section.

What extensions does this member have installed on FF?

[Sand]

I'll let them know. The extensions they have are the following: uBlock, Honey, Facebook Container, Return YouTube Dislike, and Don't Accept image/webp.

[bigballofyarn]

Oct 23, 2024 10:19:03 GMT -8 Sand said:

I'll let them know. The extensions they have are the following: uBlock, Honey, Facebook Container, Return YouTube Dislike, and Don't Accept image/webp.

Let them know to add ProBoards to their whitelist. They shouldn't be using an ad blocker on any ProBoards forum, unless the forum already pays for ad-free viewing.

[Scott]

Sand - There have been reports of this happening on other sites with uBlock being the common extension. The member should try disabling it or at least whitelisting the forum.

It would be appreciated also if you'd remind them that using an ad-blocker with our service is a TOS violation. Thanks!

[Sand]

They have uBlock disabled and whitelisted the forum, but I'll inform them about it again. Thank you!