Scary Popups

October 21, 2004

The last 3 times I've visited the site, I've been hit by VERY disturbing porn popups. In all three instances, it happened after I had hit the back button on my browser two or more times. The popups wouldn't stop, so I resorted to turning off my computer! I had the IT person at my work (where this happened) run Adaware, and my machine came up clean. We have both a network firewall and I believe my machine has a local firewall. How can this happen? Has anyone else had this problem? Is there anything they can do about it? I'd hate for anyone, especially kids, to be subjected to what I saw before I hit the OFF button. Help!

9.4k · October 21, 2004

Dunno. Our site doesn't have any popups.

5.7k · October 21, 2004

I've never, ever seen a popup on the geocaching.com site. It's entirely possible that there is something on your machine that adaware doesn't recognize (yet).

--Marky

9.2k · October 21, 2004

The last 3 times I've visited the site, I've been hit by VERY disturbing porn popups.

It's definitely your PC. Try Spybot or one of the other ad/spyware detectors. None single utility will catch them all.

Edited October 21, 2004 by Prime Suspect

1.2k · October 22, 2004

The last 3 times I've visited the site, I've been hit by VERY disturbing porn popups.

It's definitely your PC. Try Spybot or one of the other ad/spyware detectors. None single utility will catch them all.

I agree

I have SpyBot S&D, Adaware and McAfee .

When I run them I do it one after another. Every time I do this I each prg finds something the others didn't. Doesn't matter what order I run them in they each seem to find different things

More is better in this case.

October 22, 2004

update and have a good HOSTS file for your system to utilize.

read this page http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

IT describes and has an updated hosts file that will keep alot of bad sites from accessing your computer/you accessing them.

Should even improve speed if you are on dialup. Watch out, some of the malicious programs will re-write over your newly created hosts file if such a program is on your system.

October 22, 2004

That sounds like a virus. I would recommend you to scan your computer. There are some websites that can infect your computer just by goin to that site. I know of a virus the changes your search botton and home page to a nasty site.

8.9k · October 22, 2004

When you run Ad-Aware, make sure your definition file is up-to-date.

9.4k · October 22, 2004

update and have a good HOSTS file for your system to utilize.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for the info!

October 22, 2004

My advice ... stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer ... its security holes are far reaching and are the subject of more "hijack" spy bot utilities than you want to know ..

My Advice is change to Mozilla or Firebird - both free

downloads

October 22, 2004

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. When I get time I'll investigate further into the "cleanliness" of my work machine. I think we have Spybot. I'm also going to look into the possibility of using another browser. Thanks, and may you all be porn popup free. I'm glad it doesn't sound like Groundspeak is the problem. I should have known - what a great, high tech website!!!! Thanks!

October 22, 2004

My advice ... stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer ... its security holes are far reaching and are the subject of more "hijack" spy bot utilities than you want to know ..

That is generally because IE has the lions share of the browser market. If some other browser had the market share of IE then we would be seeing exploits written for those browsers more often.

No software is bug free or exempt from security holes, etc. It is just if you are a duck hunter you go where the ducks are. And at this time the ducks are IE.

October 22, 2004

Is it always the same set of popups? If so you could try googling "www.xxx.com redirect" or "www.xxx.com hijack"

Thorin

October 22, 2004

I run Norton Internet Security, Spy Sweeper, and Window Washer at all times. I have them set to block pop-ups and I use IE v6. I do not see popups from any site that I visit. I also have those programs set to run complete system scans each week along with adaware. As was mentioned by someone else, each program will find something that the others did not.

I also do a weekly scan using WinDoctor which is part of Norton Utilities. This removes all of the entries hidden in your system that are no longer valid due to moving or deleting files.

All of these are set for automatic updating, so I don't even have to worry about that. Updates are downloaded and installed in the background.

Also, and this is important, make sure you have all of the latest security updates from Microsoft for both Windows and IE.

1.2k · October 22, 2004

I use the hosts file trick too, combined with Mozilla. Talk about schweet! A cool trick when you've been hacked by some evil spybot is to first go here:

http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html

...and follow directions.

Mess with that file with Notepad after you install it just to find out how to re-edit it and add a new URL to the list.

After you figure THAT out, you go here to get Snetguard:

http://www.tucows.com/preview/334998.html

...and download and install. Use that program to monitor what URLs your machine is going to with or without your permission. If you see your machine going to some evil porn url you don't want it to, grab that URL, add it to your hosts file, and watch your popups die a gasping death from not being able to phone home. :lol:

Snetguard claims to block IPs and URLs, but it doesn't do that for me, so I just use it for URL monitoring.

1.2k · October 22, 2004

Watch out, some of the malicious programs will re-write over your newly created hosts file if such a program is on your system.

Would that happen if you right-clicked on the HOSTS file and made it read-only?

October 22, 2004

My advice ... stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer ... its security holes are far reaching and are the subject of more "hijack" spy bot utilities than you want to know ..

That is generally because IE has the lions share of the browser market. If some other browser had the market share of IE then we would be seeing exploits written for those browsers more often.

No software is bug free or exempt from security holes, etc. It is just if you are a duck hunter you go where the ducks are. And at this time the ducks are IE.

Consider the fact that by using IE to visit Microsoft's own WindowsUpdate page, you can dowload and install the latest patches to Windows. Think about what this really means. By using a web browser, and visiting a web site, you can cause major critical components of your operating system to be altered. This can only happen using IE under Windows. It cannot happen using any other web browser, and it cannot happen under any other operating system.

If Microsoft's web site can send you updates to your operating system, and cause them to be installed — all by going through your web browser; then other sites can use this same feature to send you more malicious software.

Microsoft has a long history of being grotesquely, inexcusably ignorant and incompetent regarding these sorts of security issues.

Sure, Microsoft's products are much more widely used than others, but even if the others were more widely-used, the miscreants cannot exploit security holes that don't exist. I'm running iCab under MacOS X. If 99% of all computer users used iCab, under MacOS X, and the remaining 1% used IE under Windows, it would still only be the IE/Windows users getting hit by these kind of attacks, because neither iCab nor MacOS X have the kind of security holes that allow these attacks to happen.

October 22, 2004

Watch out, some of the malicious programs will re-write over your newly created hosts file if such a program is on your system.

Would that happen if you right-clicked on the HOSTS file and made it read-only?

I would expect that any competently-written malware that wanted to alter your HOSTS file (or any other file) would know to check for this case, and, if necessary, turn off the “read-only” attribute on the target file.

October 23, 2004

Consider the fact that by using IE to visit Microsoft's own WindowsUpdate page, you can dowload and install the latest patches to Windows. Think about what this really means. By using a web browser, and visiting a web site, you can cause major critical components of your operating system to be altered. This can only happen using IE under Windows. It cannot happen using any other web browser, and it cannot happen under any other operating system.

  If Microsoft's web site can send you updates to your operating system, and cause them to be installed — all by going through your web browser; then other sites can use this same feature to send you more malicious software.

  Microsoft has a long history of being grotesquely, inexcusably ignorant and incompetent regarding these sorts of security issues.

  Sure, Microsoft's products are much more widely used than others, but even if the others were more widely-used, the miscreants cannot exploit security holes that don't exist. I'm running iCab under MacOS X. If 99% of all computer users used iCab, under MacOS X, and the remaining 1% used IE under Windows, it would still only be the IE/Windows users getting hit by these kind of attacks, because neither iCab nor MacOS X have the kind of security holes that allow these attacks to happen.

I don't use another browser or OS so I can not fully comment on what you say. But I do know that I also have to click yes to allow those downloads to occur. I guess that also depends on one's security settings in the browser.

The other point to make is that many programs users download is really the source that opens the door to a lot of this type of software. Things like file sharing programs for mp3s, or screen savers, games, etc. I don't want to mention names of real programs, but I think we can all think of things we have downloaded and installed by our own choice. Many times these have programs that are actually causing the pop ups to happen it has nothing to do with the browser. Look if a person wants to run with low security settings on their computer and download things that they really have no idea of what is fully behind it, it is not the OS or browsers fault when those things happen.

I don't think you really want to go down the road about Mac OS X. I thought that was based on UNIX. Ask anybody that has worked with UNIX about the holes that were pretty much built into the system. That would really be the only reason I would hope the Mac OS over takes windows so I could then laugh at all those Mac users that think their system is so secure. It very simply is not. It is just that their market share is so small that when hacks are written against the OS it just does not effect that many people and very few critical systems are running on that OS. Just google Mac security holes and see what you come up with.

October 23, 2004

update and have a good HOSTS file for your system to utilize.

read this page http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I'm amused that their hosts file has the ad servers at the dotcom company I work for listed. However, it also has our cookie server. Anyone who uses this file and looks for a new job on our rather popular job web site is going to have a tough time. :lol:

October 23, 2004

Use Sybot, go into the tools section and look in your system startup. I have had several adware sites leave exe. files in the startup so even if you clean them they will re-execute every time you boot up.

October 24, 2004

Since I switched from IE to Mozilla, I haven't been bothered by popups at all. Still see files when I run Adaware, Spybot, Stinger, etc., but they don't seem to have any effect. If you are haunted by popups and spam, I recommend the switch.

October 24, 2004

Consider the fact that by using IE to visit Microsoft's own WindowsUpdate page, you can dowload and install the latest patches to Windows. Think about what this really means. By using a web browser, and visiting a web site, you can cause major critical components of your operating system to be altered. This can only happen using IE under Windows. It cannot happen using any other web browser, and it cannot happen under any other operating system.

If Microsoft's web site can send you updates to your operating system, and cause them to be installed — all by going through your web browser; then other sites can use this same feature to send you more malicious software.

Microsoft has a long history of being grotesquely, inexcusably ignorant and incompetent regarding these sorts of security issues.

Sure, Microsoft's products are much more widely used than others, but even if the others were more widely-used, the miscreants cannot exploit security holes that don't exist. I'm running iCab under MacOS X. If 99% of all computer users used iCab, under MacOS X, and the remaining 1% used IE under Windows, it would still only be the IE/Windows users getting hit by these kind of attacks, because neither iCab nor MacOS X have the kind of security holes that allow these attacks to happen.

I don't use another browser or OS so I can not fully comment on what you say. But I do know that I also have to click yes to allow those downloads to occur. I guess that also depends on one's security settings in the browser.

The other point to make is that many programs users download is really the source that opens the door to a lot of this type of software. Things like file sharing programs for mp3s, or screen savers, games, etc. I don't want to mention names of real programs, but I think we can all think of things we have downloaded and installed by our own choice. Many times these have programs that are actually causing the pop ups to happen it has nothing to do with the browser. Look if a person wants to run with low security settings on their computer and download things that they really have no idea of what is fully behind it, it is not the OS or browsers fault when those things happen.

I don't think you really want to go down the road about Mac OS X. I thought that was based on UNIX. Ask anybody that has worked with UNIX about the holes that were pretty much built into the system. That would really be the only reason I would hope the Mac OS over takes windows so I could then laugh at all those Mac users that think their system is so secure. It very simply is not. It is just that their market share is so small that when hacks are written against the OS it just does not effect that many people and very few critical systems are running on that OS. Just google Mac security holes and see what you come up with.

I stand by my earlier comments. Windows, by its very nature, is far less secure than any other operating system; and its security holes are greatly aggravated by some of the applications that Microsoft bundles therewith. Anyone remember the “Pen Pal” and “Join the Crew” virus scares? These took the form of chain letters that circulated, warning that if you received an email bearing either of those strings in the subject, not to open it, because by merely reading the email, you coudl be infected with the virus. This was a hoax. At the time this was going around, it was not possible to get a virus by merely reading an email message. A virus (or other malicious program) must contain executable code, and that executable code has to be run, in order for the malware to do anything. At this time, no way existed to embed executable code into an email, so that it would be run when the message was read. The closest you could get to this was to include an executable program as an email attachment, but for it to have any effect, the recipient still had to run that program as a separate, explicit step.

Email-born viruses didn't exist until Microsoft made them possible, by building into Outlook and Outlook Express a mechanism by which executable code could be embedded in an email message, and automatically run when the message was read. Microsoft's own stupidity made possible the ILoveYou virus and teh Melissa virus and the whole host of similar email viruses that came about. No other platform has everbeen, or ever will be, vulnerable to this type of attack.

Similar stupidity in Internet Explorer, and in Windows itself, have made it possible for miscreants to send malicious executable code to, and execute it on, other people's computers, without the consent or knowledge of the owners of those computers. Windows, by its very design, is open to this sort of abuse.

I'll point out that while WIndows/IE provides a mechanism for downloading and installing major changes to the operating system itself, any installation of operating-system-related code under MacOS X is done only through programs which explcitly exist to install such code, and which require the user to enter the root password to proceed.

Here, I suppose, if one of the most fundamental reasons why any Unix-based platfporm is going to be much more secure than WIndows. By default, in Windows, you are logged in through an account that has “Aministrator” (that's Microsoftese for “root”) priveleges. You have to be, because many common applications won't work if they are run without administrator access.

On a Unix platform, you operate, by default, in a non-root account. Nearly everything you need to do, other than altering the OS or its basic configuration, can be done just fine without root access. If you need to do something that requires root access, then you have to explicitly take steps to invoke such access, and, of course, you have to know the root password.

November 22, 2004

I use a program called Zero Popup. The problem that also happens is when visiting sites they load what's called Pests onto your computer. These create more popups and slow your computer down. Check out www.pestpatrol.com there you can run a free scan to see how many PESTS are on your computer. You can delete them yourself for free, or buy their software and they can be deleted automatically.

Nothing wrong with using IE. If you have highspeed hooked up, make sure you use a seperate firewall not a software firewall.

2.7k · November 22, 2004

On the preventative side:

I recently switched over to using Firefox on my home PC & laptop. Two advantages it has are

1) an automatic pop-up blocking with exceptions you define. For example, I have Groundspeak added, so whenever I get a PM it will still pop-up. You can 'except' any site(s) you want.

2) an extension that allows you to right click on a banner ad and -*poof*-, it goes away, forever. This is useful on sites that you like, but have either 'questionable moral character ads', or ads that will cause epileptic seizures. (What genius thinks it's a great idea to flash a banner ad from white to red 30 times a second while you are trying to read an article? Argh. Anyway, the cool thing with the extenstion is that you can strip out the specific url, and block every image from an advertising server (say www.annoying!ads!buy!me!now!.net). Very nice.

One more cool thing: all of the above is free, and works in windows. Still has a few minor issues that annoy me, but the other advantages, off topic here, are fantabulous.

On the curative side, Spybot & AdAware (www.lavasoft.de?) both work quite nicely together.

1.2k · November 22, 2004

One negative thing about Firefox is that not all websites supports them, since Firefox are using all standards VERY strict. If the website doesn't write 100% exact HTML, Java and so on will not Firefox work properly.

This can be a problem especially at internet stores, because it is wellknown that Firefox users sometimes can't order... But of course will this be fixed, but it will take time..

2.7k · November 22, 2004

One negative thing about Firefox is that not all websites supports them, since Firefox are using all standards VERY strict. If the website doesn't write 100% exact HTML, Java and so on will not Firefox work properly.

This can be a problem especially at internet stores, because it is wellknown that Firefox users sometimes can't order... But of course will this be fixed, but it will take time..

Agreed... But there is a Firefox extension that allows you to right click on a link and open it in Internet Explorer, for those times when you have no choice... <_<

9.2k · November 22, 2004

One negative thing about Firefox is that not all websites supports them, since Firefox are using all standards VERY strict. If the website doesn't write 100% exact HTML, Java and so on will not Firefox work properly.

This can be a problem especially at internet stores, because it is wellknown that Firefox users sometimes can't order... But of course will this be fixed, but it will take time..

The percentage of Mozilla/Firefox uses is growing by leaps and bound, and will very soon account for one of every ten users. That's too big a market for merchants to ignore, and they'll have to abandon their poor web coding practices of the past.

Besides, who want's to use a browser that can deliver a virus to your PC just by clicking a banner ad?

November 22, 2004

Besides, who want's to use a browser that can deliver a virus to your PC just by clicking a banner ad?

Clicking? You mean just viewing... I would be very happy IT person of Microsoft would fix the preview pain (sic) in Outlook...

1.2k · November 22, 2004

One negative thing about Firefox is that not all websites supports them, since Firefox are using all standards VERY strict. If the website doesn't write 100% exact HTML, Java and so on will not Firefox work properly.

This can be a problem especially at internet stores, because it is wellknown that Firefox users sometimes can't order... But of course will this be fixed, but it will take time..

The percentage of Mozilla/Firefox uses is growing by leaps and bound, and will very soon account for one of every ten users. That's too big a market for merchants to ignore, and they'll have to abandon their poor web coding practices of the past.

Besides, who want's to use a browser that can deliver a virus to your PC just by clicking a banner ad?

We are not just talking about internet stores, we are talking about every single website!

Especially if the website are using some kind of java or javascript, then will a standard configurated Mozilla Firefox have problem.

November 23, 2004

I use Firefox as well as Thunderbird for my email. Both are much more secure than their Microsoft counterparts. I was forever running pop up blocker (and still getting popups) with IE. The inconvenience of having to switch over to IE for the rare few internet sites is well worth the hassle. I still remove spyware but even that has been reduced. I think the final IE straw for me was something similar to the start of this thread. One of my kids were online, and a porn add popped up. Yes, pop up blocker was on. My 7 year old thought what she saw was sick.

Make the switch, tell your friends. Microsoft has too long controlled too much of the internet, and it has left it unsecure.

November 23, 2004

There is a java plugin available for Firefox

Scary Popups

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