Whats with the malware ,viruses on this site
02-17-2017, 01:13 PM
#21
Burning Brakes
The garbage that pops up from time to time is from the ad network that corvette forum uses to serve ads on the site. A couple of things to help get rid of these garbage malicious ads and redirects is to use an ad blocker in your web browser and make sure you are logged in as it seems that logged in accounts have less advertisements than not. Now a days I wouldn't even consider browsing without one because most "drive by" malware attacks are through ads, pop ups, flash content, etc. Use something like ublock origin or ad block plus although ad block has pretty much sold out it's list to advertisers and allows them to pay to get around it.
02-17-2017, 01:53 PM
#22
Drifting
jpbls,
Maybe some of the following will help you out---it is all Greek to me.
My son-in-law said he thinks he recalls doing the following: downloading and running malware-bytes anti malware software (there is a free version available for download); running some other anti malware products---he was talking too fast for me to write them down); disabling pop-ups and java script in the browser setting (I do recall he and my daughter going back and forth about the java script-----think one of them felt it was a real pain and caused problems); generally cleaned up my computer (guess when I was messing around trying to download songs for the corvettes USB I must have made several copies of the file on my computer---so something like 1,400 songs were recorded 3-4 times); moved my email from web mail to microsoft outlook; disabled automatically loading pictures and html emails-----now have to manually download within the email (something they don't want me doing unless I know the source, etc.). He also mentioned something about windows defender and an anti malware included with windows---and he added that '.....you may need to run these programs in window 'safe-mode,' depending upon the virus.
Bottom line, after they did the above I have been virus free as far as I can tell (over 6 months now). Previous to this, with stop gap measures taken, I bet I was getting viruses of some sort once or twice a week on average.......and as I say, they always seemed to come when I was on the Forum or after opening something from my buddy in RI.......90% from the Forum.
I hope I got the terminology correct and you are able to figure something out from the above. Best of luck to you.
Maybe some of the following will help you out---it is all Greek to me.
My son-in-law said he thinks he recalls doing the following: downloading and running malware-bytes anti malware software (there is a free version available for download); running some other anti malware products---he was talking too fast for me to write them down); disabling pop-ups and java script in the browser setting (I do recall he and my daughter going back and forth about the java script-----think one of them felt it was a real pain and caused problems); generally cleaned up my computer (guess when I was messing around trying to download songs for the corvettes USB I must have made several copies of the file on my computer---so something like 1,400 songs were recorded 3-4 times); moved my email from web mail to microsoft outlook; disabled automatically loading pictures and html emails-----now have to manually download within the email (something they don't want me doing unless I know the source, etc.). He also mentioned something about windows defender and an anti malware included with windows---and he added that '.....you may need to run these programs in window 'safe-mode,' depending upon the virus.
Bottom line, after they did the above I have been virus free as far as I can tell (over 6 months now). Previous to this, with stop gap measures taken, I bet I was getting viruses of some sort once or twice a week on average.......and as I say, they always seemed to come when I was on the Forum or after opening something from my buddy in RI.......90% from the Forum.
I hope I got the terminology correct and you are able to figure something out from the above. Best of luck to you.
02-17-2017, 04:03 PM
#23
Le Mans Master
I accidentally tapped on some link on this forum, using Google chrome on Android phone. It immediately rendered chrome unusable on my phone. Couldn't open chrome. Restarted the phone didn't help. I downloaded a new browser, Dolphin. Very happy with it so far.
02-17-2017, 05:21 PM
#24
Race Director
I haven't incurred a problem from this site or at least I don't know of it if I have.
02-17-2017, 05:21 PM
#25
Le Mans Master
IT expert here. If you use Windows 10 on your computer, my best advice is to get rid of (uninstall) ALL malware protection -- Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee, Malwarebytes, etc., etc., etc. -- and simply enable Windows Defender, which is built into Windows 10.
(You actually don't need to manually enable Defender. It will enable itself once you've gotten rid of all the crap malware software.)
I have been saying this for YEARS, but finally the tech industry is starting to call out these grubby money-makers (malware software vendors) for actually making your computer LESS SECURE.
Here is a recent technical article from Ars Technica that describes one scenario where malware software makes your web browser unsecure: https://arstechnica.com/information-...ivirus-is-bad/.
Malware software purposely labels harmless activities and functionality on your computer as "evil/bad stuff", because the more stuff it can tell you it helped you with, the greater the chance you will renew the annual subscription to their software or upgrade to the latest version. Even free software works like that, because they use their volume of free installs to convince corporate customers to pay for a "professional" version.
A great example of a harmless function that is labeled "evil/bad" is browser cookies. All malware vendors want to "make you secure" by blocking cookies and/or constantly deleting them. That is not only dumb, but again it makes your computer less secure. By deleting cookies, you are not making yourself one bit more safe, but instead you are forcing yourself to login to websites all the time (because many websites store your login token in a cookie), so you are constantly entering and re-entering your password. Unless you use a password organizer (like LastPass) then you will typically create easy passwords that you can type quickly, because you have to use them all the time. There is nothing whatsoever that is bad or evil about cookies, no matter what line of bull you've been told. All the bad stories about cookies were started years ago by the very companies that make money blocking them.
I have been using Defender since the very first free version came out in the Windows 7 days. Back then it was called Microsoft Security Essentials. I have never experienced one single bad malware event since that time, but it did catch some attempts to invade my computer when I was stupid and clicked on something I shouldn't have. (Even experts have flashes of stupidity.)
By the way, I mentioned LastPass; I strongly recommend that people use LastPass or another password manager. LastPass is my absolute favorite, and very much worth paying a little money for the complete software. But you also get an enormous amount of functionality just with the free package. It allows you to create a unique, complex password for every website, and then when you get to the Log In page of a website, it automatically logs you in. You only need to remember one password: the password to LastPass. You create a good complex password that you can remember for LastPass, and that's the only place that password is used. It works in every web browser and every smartphone platform.
So that's my 2 cents, feel free to comment or question.
(You actually don't need to manually enable Defender. It will enable itself once you've gotten rid of all the crap malware software.)
I have been saying this for YEARS, but finally the tech industry is starting to call out these grubby money-makers (malware software vendors) for actually making your computer LESS SECURE.
Here is a recent technical article from Ars Technica that describes one scenario where malware software makes your web browser unsecure: https://arstechnica.com/information-...ivirus-is-bad/.
Malware software purposely labels harmless activities and functionality on your computer as "evil/bad stuff", because the more stuff it can tell you it helped you with, the greater the chance you will renew the annual subscription to their software or upgrade to the latest version. Even free software works like that, because they use their volume of free installs to convince corporate customers to pay for a "professional" version.
A great example of a harmless function that is labeled "evil/bad" is browser cookies. All malware vendors want to "make you secure" by blocking cookies and/or constantly deleting them. That is not only dumb, but again it makes your computer less secure. By deleting cookies, you are not making yourself one bit more safe, but instead you are forcing yourself to login to websites all the time (because many websites store your login token in a cookie), so you are constantly entering and re-entering your password. Unless you use a password organizer (like LastPass) then you will typically create easy passwords that you can type quickly, because you have to use them all the time. There is nothing whatsoever that is bad or evil about cookies, no matter what line of bull you've been told. All the bad stories about cookies were started years ago by the very companies that make money blocking them.
I have been using Defender since the very first free version came out in the Windows 7 days. Back then it was called Microsoft Security Essentials. I have never experienced one single bad malware event since that time, but it did catch some attempts to invade my computer when I was stupid and clicked on something I shouldn't have. (Even experts have flashes of stupidity.)
By the way, I mentioned LastPass; I strongly recommend that people use LastPass or another password manager. LastPass is my absolute favorite, and very much worth paying a little money for the complete software. But you also get an enormous amount of functionality just with the free package. It allows you to create a unique, complex password for every website, and then when you get to the Log In page of a website, it automatically logs you in. You only need to remember one password: the password to LastPass. You create a good complex password that you can remember for LastPass, and that's the only place that password is used. It works in every web browser and every smartphone platform.
So that's my 2 cents, feel free to comment or question.
Personally I use Linux on most of my computers because I just don't trust Microsoft. I can modify open source code so I know exactly what my operating system is doing. With Windows you are trusting that Microsoft is working in your best interests. Sure it is. I remember when Windows 95 came out it was discovered that it was making an inventory of applications that were installed on your computer when you tried to upgrade. It then sent this list to Microsoft. Windows 10 is not better in terms of your privacy since they track everything you do. Who really knows what information Windows is sending back to Microsoft. Their EULA that everyone agrees to and seldom reads is biased in their favor and not to the consumer.
02-17-2017, 05:50 PM
#26
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: Rochester NY
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2018 C6 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '10, '17
Assuming your own personal computer isn't infected (99% of the time this is the problem and no you don't need a new computer if you are infected), the problem of the annoying, hijacking pop-ups on the mobile and desktop site comes from the owner of the site, Internet Brands, and their advertising policy.
The ads you see are part of a giant system, that rotate around the internet. What you see in advertising is based on your browsing history, location, certain key words and other factors. Internet Brands, like most of the major online sites are part of this huge advertising network.
What happens is that "occasionally", a bad ad works it's way into this rotating, massive advertising system. When this happens, many, many websites are affected, including the Corvette forum. It is not necessarily Internet Brands or the Corvette forums fault. Google removed over a billion of these bad ads last year alone, and I know that Internet brands has take pro-active efforts as well. The "bad ads" typically hijack your browser and automatically open up a new website that claims you are infected, when in reality you aren't. They are just trying to sell you something or they themselves are trying to infect you. If this happens, close the browser completely (all sessions of it), then re-open a new browser and clear your cache, clear your cookies and clear your internet history completely. Often times this will resolve the problem and the browser hijacking ads won't come back, or at least won't come back immediately until another bad ad works it's way into the system.
The ads you see are part of a giant system, that rotate around the internet. What you see in advertising is based on your browsing history, location, certain key words and other factors. Internet Brands, like most of the major online sites are part of this huge advertising network.
What happens is that "occasionally", a bad ad works it's way into this rotating, massive advertising system. When this happens, many, many websites are affected, including the Corvette forum. It is not necessarily Internet Brands or the Corvette forums fault. Google removed over a billion of these bad ads last year alone, and I know that Internet brands has take pro-active efforts as well. The "bad ads" typically hijack your browser and automatically open up a new website that claims you are infected, when in reality you aren't. They are just trying to sell you something or they themselves are trying to infect you. If this happens, close the browser completely (all sessions of it), then re-open a new browser and clear your cache, clear your cookies and clear your internet history completely. Often times this will resolve the problem and the browser hijacking ads won't come back, or at least won't come back immediately until another bad ad works it's way into the system.
02-17-2017, 06:45 PM
#28
Pro
02-17-2017, 07:11 PM
#29
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: Rochester NY
Posts: 2,734
Received 1,678 Likes
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878 Posts
2018 C6 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '10, '17
Yea, logging in helps alot as it reduces the amount and types of advertising significantly. The mobile site is still more prone to it though, even when logged in. I know it is easy to blame the forum, but it is actually a much larger problem that many forums deal with as these bad ads wiggle their way into this giant, rotating advertising system. The ads pay the billsI know for a 100% fact that Internet Brands is well aware of the issue and works actively to identify and block these ads as they are found. As I said, Google removed over a billion of them last year from the world- but they are replaced as fast as they are eliminated.
ACS55: That is also a browser hijack. Typically via javascript in the ad. It is a two-step redirect. The bad advertisements are attempting to re-direct you to the App store. Clear your cache, clear your cookies and history. Also Go into Settings App, General > Restrictions (turn them on). Disable "Installing Apps". This should remove the App Store from your home screen & prevent Safari or any other app from redirecting you to the App Store.
ACS55: That is also a browser hijack. Typically via javascript in the ad. It is a two-step redirect. The bad advertisements are attempting to re-direct you to the App store. Clear your cache, clear your cookies and history. Also Go into Settings App, General > Restrictions (turn them on). Disable "Installing Apps". This should remove the App Store from your home screen & prevent Safari or any other app from redirecting you to the App Store.
02-18-2017, 12:57 AM
#30
Burning Brakes
02-21-2017, 07:58 PM
#31
Making CFOT Great Again
Just got this in case anyone at IB is interested:
02-21-2017, 09:24 PM
#32
Based on the incomplete URL shown, it's the following JPG:
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
02-22-2017, 07:00 AM
#33
Melting Slicks
Based on the incomplete URL shown, it's the following JPG:
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
02-22-2017, 01:31 PM
#34
Le Mans Master
Based on the incomplete URL shown, it's the following JPG:
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
https://staticssl.ibsrv.net/sidetile...30_exp1116.jpg
Which is clean. It's a small banner advertisement. One of several.
Going to suspect you have a false-positive.
More likely a false positive, but I bring it up because I remember a number of people saying it happens to them on mobile but not on the desktop...
02-22-2017, 01:34 PM
#35
Le Mans Master
Personally I use Linux on most of my computers because I just don't trust Microsoft.
Last edited by davepl; 02-22-2017 at 01:37 PM.
02-22-2017, 02:02 PM
#36
To be clear, those images are hosted by Internet Brands, who owns CorvetteForum and a number of other websites like CorvetteForum, on the Internet Brands' server. So that ad is not the issue.
Those that report the hijack ad is from ads outside of the network.
Those that report the hijack ad is from ads outside of the network.
Or the "hijack" is clever enough to look at the referring browser and do nothing if it's a desktop browser, but kick the user over to the app store (or wherever) if it's an iPhone, for example.
More likely a false positive, but I bring it up because I remember a number of people saying it happens to them on mobile but not on the desktop...
More likely a false positive, but I bring it up because I remember a number of people saying it happens to them on mobile but not on the desktop...
02-25-2017, 07:27 PM
#38
Le Mans Master
You obviously know nothing about Linux. Have you ever heard of Red Hat or Oracle Linux ? These are big ticket software companies and their operating systems run some of the worlds largest servers. They are not buggy or spyware infested like Microsoft products.
02-25-2017, 09:40 PM
#39
Melting Slicks
Calling Microsoft products "spyware infested" is not only unfair, but is similar to shouting claims of "racist", or "homophobe" at someone because you disagree with them. Just don't do it.
You might not like that Microsoft uses telemetry in Windows to diagnose and fix the product, but that does not make it "spyware". Microsoft uses information from crash reports to find and fix bugs, not to advertise or something. If you want to level that claim, then point your ire at a company that actually makes its money from advertising, like Google.
Personally, I have used every OS at one point or another. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Go with the one that suits you without feeling the need to besmirch the ones you didn't choose. You're not going to convince someone on CorvetteForum to install Unix on their computer if they don't already use it.
02-26-2017, 12:33 PM
#40
Le Mans Master
^^^ Agree. I'm partisan of course but all of the major operating systems are robust by now.
All I frankly care about are the APPS I run, so on the desktop it's Windows and on the phone it's Unix. Doesn't bother me a bit to go back and forth between the two 10 times a day.
Now I'm off to change all of my passwords because of Cloudbleed...
All I frankly care about are the APPS I run, so on the desktop it's Windows and on the phone it's Unix. Doesn't bother me a bit to go back and forth between the two 10 times a day.
Now I'm off to change all of my passwords because of Cloudbleed...