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Be Careful of those FREE Wordpress themes

Posted by jsinkeywest • 6/03/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: freethemes, headache, Trojans, viral, virii, virus, wpthemes

Yesterday I googled free wp themes and downloaded a few.I have a really strong suspicion on which one put a NASTY trojan deep in my system32 and in the themes themselves.I was seeing porn on BC it was jacking ads.It was doing a lot of funky things.I think I finally got it,I hope.
Anyway I just wanted to give people the heads up
Bear in mind that a site can be 3rd in Google does NOT imply that their legit and not adding vicious code to their themes BE CAREFUL
Also Google will block your site quick if they have evidence you been "jacked"
and you can get locked out of your own BLOG
I was able to write a cool post while FIGHTING a full fledged battle
potpolitics.com/2008/06/02/making-lemonade-from-all-these-lemons/

User Comments

6/03/08

richrf

Good points. I have become very careful of this, sticking with themes that I know are from legit sources, because of activity and user comments. It's tough though.

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6/03/08

accidentalsexiness

I have yet to learn how to install themes but I have looked around some sites and not really thought about that. Thanks for the warning.

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6/03/08

ramblingprose

This is a very unfortunate occurrence. I tried to install one of those free blog hit counters and upon doing so, I noticed right beneath the counter icon it said, "Hard drive recovery". That alone scared me to bits, so I quickly removed the feature from my page.

Do you know of any legitimate sites for theme downloads? AND, will I lose my sidebar widgets, and need to start from scratch if I choose to use a theme other than what blogger offers?

Thanks in advance for any input you might offer.

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6/03/08

mattiasx

The safest place to look would have to be WordPress' own website.

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6/03/08

cooper

I never use templates unless they are from a trusted source.
You can check for hidden links by right-clicking on the page in Firefox and select “View Page Info”. The “Links” tab will show you every link on the page, hidden or not.

or you can install, Firefox Web developer plugin which can disable CSS for you to find those links on your blog.

The links are sometime put in the css
style="display: none;" - where you see the none.
Read this
www.bracingyourbrand.com/37/my-projects/seo-pitfall-hiding-links-black-hat....

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1. 6/03/08
  
  ramblingprose
  
  Thanks Cooper! Very helpful information!
6/03/08

MVT5150

if you get a theme also check the RSS feed links. My last theme re-directed the feeds to a different site. So I was doing the work but they were getting the feeds. A lot will linkbait to get more traffic to the site as well.

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6/03/08

pamelabaker

Thanks for the warning!!

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6/03/08

buyersweb

Always good for a heads up.. Yeah always best to look at the script as well with templates... its unfortunate if this happens as the designer just wants a link back...

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6/03/08

sdk1988

Thank you for the warning, I have noticed too, often times the ones even from wordpress, are really not what they explain them to be. That in itself is aggravating, sorry you had such trouble

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6/03/08

thewriterspulse

I'd never really thought of viruses being planted in theme downloads, but then again I always scan any new files I download off the Internet. I also tend to dig through the source while making modifications.

It's really something to think about, though. Thanks for the heads up.

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6/03/08

Jeunelle

Yup, I tried to give a warning about Wordpress themes a while ago and look at how much flack I received trying to give it. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.
Except for TT who came to my rescue, the rest of you sucked. hahahaha
www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/warning-to-all-who-use-free-wordpress-the...

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1. 6/03/08
  
  JillSaxon
  
  LOL. I think you caught flack because you said wordpress.com had a lot of rules and sometimes you can't stay within their guidelines.
  
  QUOTE: Their guildlines/rules are many and I cannot stay within all those rules.
  
  I don't think people are as understanding when you knowingly break rules, get caught, and then complain about it
2. 6/03/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  Jill as someone who was new to all this at the time including having my own site
  I already said I messed up and I created the discussion to warn others.
  I actually had a few people message me that they were glad I posted it
  because they had no idea about the rules either and they didn't read the TOS.
  They didn't come forward to admit it in the discussion
  because people like you would only criticize them, scrutinize and make fun of them.
  People are new to blogging daily and they will make the same mistakes regardless.
  And yes Wordpress has a lot of rules for a Free theme but I now own 2 Wordpress themes.
  After I posted that infamous discussion, people are now aware to read the TOS.
  So yeah some good did come out of it but I guess it depends on how you look at it.
  I am not one of those who is afraid to make a mistake and learn from it unlike some people.
3. 6/03/08
  
  JillSaxon
  
  Yes... reminding people to pay more attention to the TOS is good.
4. 6/03/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  hahaha trust me Jill I learned my lesson well. lol
  And the lesson is.... "Don't do nothing wrong at BC cause it's a tough crowd
  and they will eat you alive". lmao
6/03/08

gmoney

if you go to my site 17best.com I have all kinds of cool sites that are trusted for free wordpress themes.
www.17best.com/2007/04/21/17-best-places-to-find-wordpress-themes-skins-tem...

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1. 6/03/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  Thank you gmoney, the link you took the time to give, it's very helpful.
2. 6/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @gmoney
  Have you checked these themes that you are recommending to be sure that they are GPL licensed and contain ONLY one link to the designer in the footer? Have you also checked throughout the themes you are recommending to insure there are no "hidden" links anywhere else in them?
3. 6/03/08
  
  gmoney
  
  when I wrote the blog they were all good........ if they contain more than one link or hidden links then they can be removed! I will help if anyone needs help with there blog, design, or removing links.
6/03/08

bringdownthehammer

I just went through a bout of registry purging and bad viral computer indigestion in the middle of April. Wow, is all I could say. I ended up backing up the drive and RE-installing my Operating system. All new drivers and utilities while I was at it.. Running smooth again. Liked your post about this topic. PEACE!

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