adware

I have a problem with adware that only seems to occur on ATS. When i'm reading a thread, every now and then the page will navigate away from the thread and go to an ad. I get no popups from any of my virus scanners or spyware scanners, and a full sweep by Spyweeper reveals just some cookies. I had this problem once before, but I attributed it to the Vundo trojan, which I got rid of. There is no trace of this trojan or anything else on my system at this time.

I'm at my wits end, and any help would be appreciated.

LL

not that im syaing you have one, but some spyware scanners are actually backdoor trojans that act as "scanners" and once in a while load up a virus.
What programs do you use?
Maybe some of the more savvy members could look and see if thats the case?

reply to post by LiquidLight


I've had that problem all evening. First time for me with this happening.

I downloaded StopZilla and its blockers seem to catch 'pop-ups' that aren't pop-ups in a normal sense. And, that has stopped the automatic navigation away from ATS for me.....at least for now.

reply to post by guinnessford


At the moment I have Webroot Spysweeper, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Avast, and Windows Defender. All of these, I believe, are reputable pieces of software, so I don't think that could be it.

On another note, since I removed the cookies that Spysweeper found, I haven't had the problem. I don't see how a cookie could cause this, though, so I'm still baffled.

That actually happened to me today on ATS. I havent thought much of it.

I clicked on a thumbnail to go to another forum. (No I did not click an ad by mistake) and it was going to take me to the forum but, something else ,sort of, took over and it took me to some other site.

I click off quickly before I got a good look at what it was. I did so because I didnt want to give it a chance to try and install malware or something.

I ran a virus scan and nothing was there.

I am guessing that it has to do with some ad that is on the site. I do not think it is ATS's fault because according to another thread SO ran a check on the site and found nothing compromised...

I am just rambling. Bottom line, it happened to me too. I ran a virus scan and nothing was on my side... I dont know

Originally posted by LiquidLight
reply to post by guinnessford

 

At the moment I have Webroot Spysweeper, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Avast, and Windows Defender. All of these, I believe, are reputable pieces of software, so I don't think that could be it.

On another note, since I removed the cookies that Spysweeper found, I haven't had the problem. I don't see how a cookie could cause this, though, so I'm still baffled.

Spybot s&d, defender,and avast are all good, and i use them all.
My only suggestion is make sure the definitions are updated, and maybe turn off the webroot one.
Thats the only one i know nothing about.
And im not saying its bad, just not farmiliar.
Also, hit cntrol/alt/delete, then see what prosesses are running.
Im no tech geek, but ive gotten rid of a few trojans and viruses.
Also, when you check your processes, get out of as many systems as you can.
Maybe even get offline, and that way you can see whats there.
Shouldnt be much running at that point besides your spyware stuff, and a few other programs that are in your startup.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Hm, It's starting to look like to me that a rogue advertisement is indeed the most likely cause, since that makes three of us on this thread it's happened to.

I had something similar happen to me starting about 1 hour ago...and I haven't been anywhere but here on ATS...So it started here...My browser keeps getting hijacked and redirected to: www.... geniusinspiration.net/go/sh_us_lnk_2min?keyword=43010

What gives? Is ATS selling out to advertisers? WTF?

EDIT: so that web address can not be clicked on

[edit on 16-3-2009 by Aggie Man]

Originally posted by Aggie Man
I had something similar happen to me starting about 1 hour ago...and I haven't been anywhere but here on ATS...So it started here...My browser keeps getting hijacked and redirected to: [link removed]
What gives? Is ATS selling out to advertisers? WTF?

Whatever anyone does, DO NOT CLICK THAT LINKY!
iF ITS HIJACKIN YOURS, ITS GONNA HIJACK THEIRS.
sorry bout all caps, mods but its important!

[edit on 16-3-2009 by 12m8keall2c]

Yep same thing here about an hour ago . Same URL also. ................................line two

reply to post by Aggie Man


That's one of the sites that my browser was auto-navigating to. I always hit the back button before it could load fully, but that didn't stop it from happening every 30 seconds.

There was another site, but I can't remember what it was......it was only the two sites, though.

I would love to see a reply by SO or the like, just to get to the bottom of this.

I haven't experienced it yet, so it's going to be hard to track down.

Still trying.

The firm that manages our "fill networks," Rubicon, believes they've identified an errant ad from a lower-tier ad network, and have negated that entire network from delivering ads on ATS.

Please post here if you get the redirect again.

I had the same errors earlier today, and ut was definitely tied into the ads. I thought maybes a java problem, as it occurred as soon as the ad was loaded. Seems to be fixed though, now.

Originally posted by LiquidLight
reply to post by guinnessford

 

At the moment I have Webroot Spysweeper, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Avast, and Windows Defender. All of these, I believe, are reputable pieces of software, so I don't think that could be it.

That's just the thing. So many "dictionaries." When was the last time you reinstalled Windows? Eventually your computer cannot tell the difference between up and down, unless you get Lenix or whatever it's called...but you'd have to be a micro-manager to operate that OS.

Windows is the pinto.

Lenix is the tank.

Your problem may be: computer is lost?