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confuser_newbie
Former Member
Message 1 of 14

Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Hi!  I'm new to this website.  I have Chinese-looking characters that appear over the tabs at the top of my screen.  It's a Toshiba laptop.  Anyone know what it is?

13 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

No we aren't sure but it would appear to be a reaction on certain web pages only between Firefox (assume you are using it) and Siteadvisor.   See

I fixed it on my machine by temporarily changing the Character Encoding settings under 'View" to Automatic and then restarting my browser.

Switching back hasn't thus far caused it to recur.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 3 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

There's a big discussion about this at the moment. We think it may be SiteAdvisor interacting with one or more browser add-ons (or the browser itself) but we're not sure. Resetting the Character Encoding setting sometimes helps.

Read the discussion here -

Plenty of suggestions, some of which work for one person and not another, others which work only for a while or until the browser is closed and re-opened.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Sorry Hayton you were posting as I moved this to SiteAdvisor.  

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 5 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

is that user name what you wanted?   We can change it for you if you wish.

confuser_newbie
Former Member
Message 6 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Well, I'm really a newbie with social media, but thanks for your quick response.  Not sure how to get to "View" to change the Character Encoding to Auto.

confuser_newbie
Former Member
Message 7 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Yes, please.  How about ?Confuser_Newbie!

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

OK you'll have to log out and back in as confuser_newbie - had to miss out the characters before and after the letters as the system wont allow that.

Regarding that Character Encoding, I was talking about Firefox browser, Edit (top row of buttons) > Character Encoding.

Regarding the subject, the SiteAdvisor team is working on it.

confuser_newbie
Former Member
Message 9 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Wow!  That's great.  I uninstalled SiteAdvisor, then reinstalled it.  So, we'll see how that works.  Thanks very much for your help!

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 10 of 14

Re: Visable characteristics of a malware attack?

Good idea and good luck 😉

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