Don’t write about Viruses/Malware or you will feel the WRATH!

This is definitely a new one for me. If you frequent C.O.D. (everyone should!), you would know that the last two articles we posted here, Will KHOBE Be The End of Windows? and Are PC Users in The Dark?, were in some way, shape, or form referring to viruses or PC users lack of knowledge. I had never thought that one day this site would be listed as a security threat for doing so. I run Microsoft Security Essentials on all my machines as do most of my friends. Today, we were presented with an interesting piece of doo doo slung from a fan blade.

Apparently, C.O.D. has now been deemed a security threat and is being blocked!  When visiting the site, our readers (some of them) have been shown a warning that describes C.O.D. as unsafe!

This website has been reported to Microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information.

This website has been reported to contain the following threats:

• Malicious software threat: This site contains links to viruses or other software programs that can reveal personal information stored or typed on your computer to malicious persons.

With the warning comes the ability to “Report that this site does not contain threats”.  After the interrogation, you are presented with an email from the Microsoft SmartScreen Filter Team:

We have received the information you have provided and are currently reviewing it. If it is determined that the current designation is incorrect or no longer accurate the warning will be removed.

We typically expect to take two business days for our investigation. During the investigation, you may not see changes to the status of your site.  If the status of your site has not changed after two business days, please contact us in a reply to this message.  Please include the URL address where the warning is occurring when replying. Please note that many issues are caused by a site compromised through addition of frames. Removing such frame references will immediately remove the warning from your site.

You can find additional information by reviewing the Microsoft SmartScreen Filter FAQ…

If it were me offering some words of warning to other sites out there… don’t use the following image in any of your articles… some may take it literally!