Possible virus

[Bohandas]

I don't know if this is on the site's end or mine but attempts to reply to the thread Decopodans and Donbots have been redirecting to some other site

Could somebody check it out and tell me if this happens for you as well

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/newre...ply&p=20434323

EDIT:
Specifically, it's been redirecting me to http://entertainment.howstuffworks.c...tist-fails.htm

[Rawhide]

Unable to replicate. Are you sure you're not just pressing something incorrectly?

By the way, HowStuffWorks is a legitimate site, which has previously been own/run by Discovery Communications (i.e. The Discovery Channel).

[Bohandas]

I'll try clearing the cache and maybe restarting the computer. Perhaps the browser's just loading that particular discussion wrong (the page it keeps redirecting to does seem like something that that discussion might contain a legitimate link to; though why it would follow it without me telling it to is beyond me)

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I'll try clearing the cache and maybe restarting the computer. Perhaps the browser's just loading that particular discussion wrong (the page it keeps redirecting to does seem like something that that discussion might contain a legitimate link to; though why it would follow it without me telling it to is beyond me)

I also can't replicate. Sounds like your browser might have picked up some malware extension.

GW

[Keltest]

I'm not getting redirected either. Does it only happen with that one thread? Have you tried any others?

[Bohandas]

I tried a few others

[Bohandas]

I also can't replicate. Sounds like your browser might have picked up some malware extension.

GW

Possibly. But neither Spybot nor Windows Defender nor Norton Internet Security was able to find anything, even after doing full system scans with those last two

[Douglas]

Possibly. But neither Spybot nor Windows Defender nor Norton Internet Security was able to find anything, even after doing full system scans with those last two

Check your browser extensions/plugins, specifically and directly in the browser, not with a scanning tool. In my experience Spybot etc. don't check those.

[Bohandas]

Everything that's enabled is stuff I remember installing

[Psyren]

Possibly. But neither Spybot nor Windows Defender nor Norton Internet Security was able to find anything, even after doing full system scans with those last two

To be blunt, those aren't exactly the best ones out there. I'd try some additional ones like Malwarebytes or Kaspersky.

[Bohandas]

Not even Norton?

[Douglas]

Not even Norton?

Every computer expert I recall ever seeing an opinion from on Norton was extremely negative, often to the point of describing Norton as effectively being malware itself. Not in the sense of showing ads, stealing personal information, or hijacking your computer, but simply being bad at its job and also slowing your computer down enormously - and then being extremely difficult to uninstall if you happen to object to having your computer handicapped in exchange for inadequate protection.

Now, most of that was several years ago, and things might have changed, but I'm still skeptical about the idea of Norton being good.

[Avilan the Grey]

Not to hijack the thread, but Norton has redeemed themselves in later years. Up until 4-5 years ago they got worse every year, by the end being more Malware than anti-virus suite, BUT that changed drastically a few years back. Now Norton, together with BitDefender and maybe one more, is ranked as the top suites on the market. Year after year.

[Psyren]

My experience matches that of Douglas, but regardless, my advice stands - when one doctor doesn't know what's going on, a second opinion can't hurt. At most you're out an hour or two of downloading, installing and scanning.

[Peelee]

Since this appear to be more a computer or browser issue rather than a site issue, would cross-posting it or just moving it to the science and tech subforum not get it better exposure for more advice or a possible solution? Nevermind.

[Traab]

I clicked on this discussion link and got a quick popup window of something being blocked. It went away too fast to get any details so im not sure what it was. Just an odd thing I thought I should mention. macupdate.com is what it was connected to.

[Psyren]

I clicked on this discussion link and got a quick popup window of something being blocked. It went away too fast to get any details so im not sure what it was. Just an odd thing I thought I should mention. macupdate.com is what it was connected to.

I just saw the same thing:



Let me know if I should redact any of that.

[Traab]

Yep, thats the one.

[Rawhide]

The MacUpdate one is easy to track down. It's Grey_Wolf_c's avatar.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

The MacUpdate one is easy to track down. It's Grey_Wolf_c's avatar.

AKA "time to time the picture time". Hopefully this one doesn't set off any detectors. Sorry about that.

Grey Wolf

[Traab]

Im not getting the popup anymore, so yay!

[Peelee]

Can anyone explain to me what the problem was, and how it was fixed?

[Keltest]

Can anyone explain to me what the problem was, and how it was fixed?

Sounds like there were two problems. One is that the original poster was getting redirected to a non-OOTs site when they clicked a thread. I don't believe that's been called solved yet. The other problem is that some posters were getting a popup caused by Grey_wolf's avatar, which has since been changed.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Can anyone explain to me what the problem was, and how it was fixed?

The original problem remains both unexplained and, as far as I can tell, unfixed. In the process of looking into it, though, a couple of people got warnings from my avatar, since it was hosted in the macupdate website. I fixed that by hosting a new avatar in a new website that hopefully will not join the ranks of spammers anytime soon.

Grey Wolf

[Bohandas]

Can anyone explain to me what the problem was, and how it was fixed?

Well I fixed it by not going to that one particular thread any more

[Bohandas]

It's happening again. Now it's redirecting from reply to: Funny Stuff in 3.5 to DieForDethklok.org (link contains coarse language).

I haven't had these weird redirects happen happen to me on any other site but this one

EDIT: Also, the other one from the original post is still redirecting me even after at least one full system scan with norton between then and now as well as uninstalling and reinstalling my browser.

[Keltest]

It's happening again. Now it's redirecting from reply to: Funny Stuff in 3.5 to DieForDethklok.org (link contains coarse language).

I haven't had these weird redirects happen happen to me on any other site but this one

EDIT: Also, the other one from the original post is still redirecting me even after at least one full system scan with norton between then and now as well as uninstalling and reinstalling my browser.

Does this happen every time you click those links? What happens if you use a different browser?

[Zherog]

I just opened your link and had no redirect. *shrug*

[Fri]

It seems to be browser hijacker.

Usually malwarebytes solve this kind of problem for me. Have you tried using it? Mind that malwarebyte is less of a general antivirus, it more specifically designed to detect malwares that's already in your computer, so even if you already have a good antivirus, it'll be better at detecting it. It might not even be the antivirus' fault, sometimes if you install the antivirus after the malware already been there, or the malware is well hidden, antivirus won't detect it, malwarebyte is simply a more specialized program.