What's with the ads?

[river_chaos]

Okay, seriously, what's with the random ads that keep popping up when I get on here? Is it Google doing this or what?

I love this website, but it gets annoying when an ad comes up when I'm trying to read an interesting thread! 

[lost unit]

im not getting any adds when i browsing have you picked up a bug or installed anything new that also installs malware i would check before it becomes worse.

[*Jess♥]

Yes there is google ad code on the site, but I placed them out of the way. They are only banner ads and I placed them at the bottom so they don't get in the way of people using the site.

They should not be causing any pop ups at all. I believe that is against Google's code of conduct.

It is most likely due to some malware you might have picked up.

 

Could you confirm if it is only this site that gives you those ads or has it happened elsewhere?

if it is ONLY on this site, then it is something I will need to investigate with Google.

[river_chaos]

It is only for this site, Yuki.  When I used Chrome, no ad videos popped up, so I'm wondering if its Google doing this on purpose. 

[*Jess♥]

what is the nature of the adverts?

so I can investigate.

[river_chaos]

Not sure, since I close it once the screen allows me to (it forces IE to come to a stand still when its loading).  Other times its just a tiny screen in the bottom left corner that advertises cars, but mostly its something that takes up the entire screen and when I close it I cannot get the log-in box to come up. 

[*Jess♥]

ok I have adjusted something.

let me know how you get on.

[river_chaos]

Usually I'm just browsing when it pops up (without logging in).  Usually I have to log in from the main page or where it doesn't pop up and screw up the site's script.

 

Just clicked on a few threads where it's been mostly popping up, and I haven't run into it now. 

[*Jess♥]

lets wait until tomorrow to make sure.

[river_chaos]

Okay, no video ads today.  Whatever you did, Yuki, it worked.  Me and my computer say thanks!

[*Jess♥]

Then I need to ask you what happens when you go to other sites that have google code on them?

because it seems odd that the google code here would be the sole source of any issues.

[*Jess♥]

I want to add, Thank you for your patience River,

To be honest, I am mortified that you have been experiencing this.

I purposely placed the ads out of the way so they wouldn't get in anyone's way when visiting.

 

I'm currently investigating with Google as to why this happened in the first place.

[*Jess♥]

I need to solve the issue properly.

I need to re-enable the code, I reported the incident via google, but it may be more effective for me to manually block what is causing you an issue.

This is most likely a network that is targeting you specifically due to your browsing history on google sites and combined with this site's content.

for example, it could be sending you car ads due to the nascar thread on here and somewhere else you might have visited.

What I can do is I can manually block these ads or the ad networks but I need to know who it is in order to block them.

I'll wait for your reply before I re-enable the code.

it is actually against google code of conduct so by finding out who they are, I can block and report them and you can actually get retribution.

[Guest Jupiter]

I really think that River has ad-ware on her computer. Ad-ware is any software package which automatically renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author. The advertisements may be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process. The functions may be designed to analyze which Internet sites the user visits and to present advertising pertinent to the types of goods or services featured there. The term is sometimes used to refer to software that displays unwanted advertisements.

In short ad ware is a form of Malware on your computer or a trojan. Trojan's also load ads on your screen. Pop up ads are not a good sign. Means someone might be getting ready to hack your computer or is using it as a bot network.

By downloading Malwarebytes, this would resolve the problem. It works well with anti-virus because it is an application. So I advice anyone to use it.

Here is the link https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Here is another website and its safe and it has malwarebytes http://filehippo.com/

Also an effective firewall or anti virus will get rid of trojans, worms, virus and is trial free. You will never have to pay a fee. Comodo Premium internet security is free to use and always will be.

here is the link http://www.comodo.com/products/free-products.php

I have it on every computer I own.

Also, Yuki spoke of PeerBlock which is another app that blocks IP address.Here is that link. It works well with any firewall.

http://www.peerblock.com/

Like Lost Unit said, the issue needs to be dealt with before it can get worse. This will get rid of the problem.

Also. Ccleaner helps clean your browsers and get rid of everything like cookies and some ad ware. Here is the link.

http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

I would try doing all of these first. With the proper anti-virus and malwarebytes and doing a disc clean up should really help improve your computer and get rid of ads as well as other malware.

And last but not least. Tor web browser. It completely masks your IP address from 5 different Tor Nodes. It literally changes your IP or masks it in what we call Onion Stealth, no one can trace you really. You're pretty much automatically linked to an anonymous Proxy server. Its said on the Tor website that there is over 8,000 Tor Proxy Nodes all Entry, bridge, and exit. You're IP will pretty much be saying that you're in Germany or in some other state or Canada. Its a must have. I use it a lot.

Tor has my IP at 109.163.234.10 which places me in Bucharest, Romania. When I use the Tor button, it will change my IP address again. It changed it to 178.217.184.36 which places me in Poland. I'm sure if Yuki tried to trace my IP, she'd come up with that IP address and the country. Tor also blocks your ISP from people who are trying to track you such as hackers and the NSA.

Here is the link to that. You really must have it. Once you have it, you wont regret it.

https://www.torproject.org/

You'll never get ads again.Tor makes it very difficult for people who want to do your computer harm.

[river_chaos]

Ran the mal-ware scan and nothing was found on my computer. I haven't visited any other sites that would trigger the car ads, but then again the big one might be a different ad entirely (I never allow it to play since it messes up the site's script).

What I do find interesting is that this started when the ad banners were first added (it actually caused a few issues with my internet provider the first time since we have a limited data contract). Then I went the school's computer lab and it popped up there too, and they have the top dog security program for their network.

Edit: when using the school computers I do NOT log in to any sites. The other sites that I do visit have the ad banners, but nothing pops up. It's weird!

Edited May 14, 2014 by river_chaos

[Guest Jupiter]

If you download Tor Browser Bundle on your home computer and strictly use Tor. It'll block all ads and change your IP address. Since no one can trace you, its hard for you to pick up anything or have anything sent to your IP like a trojan. Its faster than any other browser you've experienced. If you download, be sure and read their instructions. There's certain things you cant do with Tor, things that would leak your IP. Tor is safe and its legal. It was designed by the US Military to keep their agents and soldiers anonymous. As for the computers at your college. I'm not sure what to tell you. It must be the server or their browser. I know Google Chrome and other browsers has a lot of ad ware that and tool bars that upload to it, same with internet explorer. But Tor beats them all.

Tor user for life!

https://www.torproject.org/

 

[*Jess♥]

It's very odd, I am hoping that with the announcement I posted, if there is anyone else who experiences this, I can get feedback and block this type of thing.

I personally have all google ads blocked by my script blocker since it would be problematic if I accidentally clicked them myself.

But there have been the odd occasion when I had my script blocker disabled and I never saw any intrusive ads.

it is really as simple as this, anything intrusive is not welcome. I wish you had mentioned it back then. I never want you to have any disruption from this kind of thing.

anyway, I am re-enabling the code. if you can please note down any intrusive ads, give me any info you can about them and I can manually block those advertisers and report them to google as they are breaking the rules.

[*V Guyver]

I use AdBlock extension on chrome. Helps me avoid the ads. 

[Cannibal]

As I also use Google Adsense on my sites, I'm interested in this topic. It will be great to see your screenshots of those ads and the source code of the web page with those ads.

 

I never heard about such problems with Google's ads before.

[Guest Jupiter]

I honestly haven't had any issue with ads on this site at all.

[*Jess♥]

I just received a response from google support. he informed me that google ads will never be in a popup format.

I share his view as well. whatever has happened is not right.

He suggested that there may be malicious code on this website. as I am intimately aware of all the code that goes into this site, I am pretty certain that is not the case.

it is clear that there has to be something slipped through a net somewhere. since it appears no other users have reported this, it is probably limited to one user. the fact it happened on more than one machine is perplexing though as it suggests that it can't be malware.

the google rep asked me to provide a screenshot though.

we will need evidence in order to solve the issue. so if this continues to happen, please take a screenshot and post it so we can see what we are dealing with.

[river_chaos]

What I find interesting is that I had not logged in when they popped up.  Visitors might have also encountered these ads.

 

Now that I think of it, I haven't encountered the ad since you took down the ads. I've been trying to find it, but it hasn't appeared at all.  I think whoever was behind it got scared off or something. 

[*Jess♥]

I did update the google code.
I had an old copy of the google code. it may have had some form of exploit in it. can't imagine how that might have happened and i would be surprised that google would not have told me about it by email or something.

but if that were the case, then I'm glad it seems to have resolved.