Please disable popup windows showing sites that might be virus infected

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  robkraft · Member · May 29, 2013 at 5:34 pm

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  When I review comments and hover over the poster’s URL a window pops up giving me a preview of the site provided in the poster URL. I am very concerned that these sites contain viruses and phishing attacks and that by simply hovering over them the infectious code on those sites is infecting my computer. Can I, or can you, turn off the popup preview window of the URLs on submitters so that we don’t infect our computers from that vector?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  timethief · Member · May 29, 2013 at 5:36 pm

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  jackiedana · Member · May 29, 2013 at 9:22 pm

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  Hi robkraft,

  The preview window isn’t harmful technically. As before, if you feel uncomfortable about a site, feel free not to click on the link.

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  robkraft · Member · May 29, 2013 at 10:35 pm

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  What makes the preview not technically harmful? To me, it looks like it is displaying the current site, which means it runs the html, css, and javascript on that site to render the page. And if that javascript is running it could be affecting my computer.

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  jackiedana · Member · May 30, 2013 at 5:14 pm

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  We take screenshots of the websites in question and then display the image to you. The very reason we do this is so you can preview the content without visiting the site (just in case the site is dangerous or something you don’t want in your browser history).

  The previews are just images, hosted by us, and there is no way to get transmitted anything from the sites since you are not viewing them.

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  robkraft · Member · May 30, 2013 at 5:24 pm

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  Thanks JackieDana, that sets my mind at ease. Screen shots of other sites won’t infect my pc.