I have a new Orbi and it came with a trial version of Netgear Armor. It's been running and apparently blocking what it says are Spam URLs on my computer. Thing is, I never tried to go to those URLs on my browser or any other way. Now, if I actually try to go to one of those bad addresses manually via my browser address bar, I do get a block screen in my browser warning me, etc. That's fine. But why would my router claim to intercept URLs that I never requested? Also, what does "Spam URL" mean anyway? I thought Spam was incoming email, not a malware-infected website. What's going on? Can someone explain? Thanks....

Hello mfuchsinpa, Welcome to the community! May you provide a screenshot of the URL for us to better assist. Thanks, Christian

Hello mfunchsinpa, Thanks for the screenshot. Please refer to the article below for more info regarding blocked websites: https://kb.netgear.com/000061153/Why-does-NETGEAR-Armor-block-certain-websites Christian

Thanks for writing, Christian. Unfortunately, the reply doesn't really help. First, as my screenshot shows, Armor is indicating that the URLs are “Spam.” If you follow the link you provided, you will see that “Spam” is not one of the categories of malicious URLs listed (your link lists Fraud, Untrusted, Malware, Phishing, Miner, PUA). My understanding of the term “Spam” is that it is unwanted, unsolicited email. It may contain embedded links to click on that may be URLs that can be classified as Fraud, etc., but not necessarily. Spam may just be marketing email that gets sent to millions of people. So the term is off. But, that’s not my main question. My main question is: Armor blocked the URLs in question even though I did not click on them in any email, and I also did not myself enter them into any address bar on any browser. What I wanted to know is: where did the URLs that Armor blocked come from if I did not initiate them in any way? Is some piece of software on my system doing calls to external URLs without my knowledge? Or is Armor intercepting incoming emails at my router without letting them get to my computer email client (which, of course, has its own Spam filtering capabilities)? Or is Bitdefender, which is installed on my computer, intercepting incoming emails, deciding they are Spam, not letting them get through to my email client, and reporting the action in Armor? I'm trying to understand what is going on behind the scenes, since whatever Armor is blocking isn't something coming from me.

Hi mfuchsinpa, The Bitdefender support team may be able to provide you with a more concrete answer and advise since the issue is still being detected by their database. You can reach them on one of their support channels on the link below. https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/ Christian

Unexpected Spam URL blocks | NETGEAR Communities

9 Replies

Christian_R
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Feb 01, 2021
Hello mfuchsinpa,

Welcome to the community! May you provide a screenshot of the URL for us to better assist.

Thanks,

Christian
- mfuchsinpa
  Aspirant
  Feb 07, 2021
  - Christian_R
    NETGEAR Employee Retired
    Feb 11, 2021
    Hello mfunchsinpa,
    
    Thanks for the screenshot. Please refer to the article below for more info regarding blocked websites:
    
    https://kb.netgear.com/000061153/Why-does-NETGEAR-Armor-block-certain-websites
    
    Christian
fionalam
Aspirant
Jul 05, 2021
I'm also a part of many forums, and I hate it when I get email spam from some users. All I'm thinking is, like, don't they have anything better to do? Anyways, I've learned a few tricks and tips about fixing spam issues, and I can help you if you'd like. Anyways, I read an article on http://folderly.com/blog about looking out for spam trigger words. That helped the situation a lot. I also started using a spam email fix from their website. They helped me stop all those annoying emails from coming again and again.

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Unexpected Spam URL blocks