Why is there Spam on some avatars?

[Connery]

[MENTION=40540]Connery[/MENTION]

Here is what I was seeing the other night:

See the bloomer box under the picture?

That is what was showing up under various random avatars the other night.

I haven't sen them since.

I have not gotten that. Did you take any remedial steps regarding this situation I.E. clean cookies etc?

 

[Moonglow]

You will also get weird stuff when you have a toolbar or browser that has adware or redirect loops.

 

[HelenaHandbag]

I have not gotten that. Did you take any remedial steps regarding this situation I.E. clean cookies etc?

Other than log out and reboot as I normally do, no.

But at least I know I'm not losing my marbles.

Googling "Right Surf" too and coming up empty.

 

[mamooth]

The Malware Bytes anti-malware program will supposedly kill the Translate Genius or BetterSurf malware, if that's the problem. It's a good little free program, only activates when you run it, doesn't put hooks all through your system like a lot of Malware/Antivirus programs do. And there's that "free" thing again.

Malwarebytes : Downloads

 

[depotoo]

I am now gettinng video ads at the bottom of some pages. Here is one, if it shows for anyone else.
Lois Lerner to take the 5th. Again. - Page 19 - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

I had been requested to accept a cookie before it started happening, but had denied accepting it.

 

[BreezeWood]

The Malware Bytes anti-malware program will supposedly kill the Translate Genius or BetterSurf malware, if that's the problem. It's a good little free program, only activates when you run it, doesn't put hooks all through your system like a lot of Malware/Antivirus programs do. And there's that "free" thing again.

Malwarebytes : Downloads

* keep it free - if you buy it, the good part is it upgrades daily against any new malware ... bad part, it runs a scan when you turn on the computer with no way to turn it off - with a popup what it found ... I find it annoying and rather turn it off and time it for once a week.

 

[HelenaHandbag]

It was malware at my end called RightSurf.

It had begun turning random words on various sites I visit to hyperlinks. Just about any website I went to was a spam house.

The malware was removed by resetting my browser settings. The procedure is here:

Remove RightSurf ads (Virus Removal Guide)

No downloading of any software or anything silly like that.

*whew*

 

[flacaltenn]

It's anarchy out there. Everyone thinks they own your machine.. The competition for updating tools sometimes slows the boot-time of my machines a lot.

Even worse on tablets and phones, because the basic user features can change overnight without even a note or a warning that an update has been done.. One day your text editing boxes scroll one way, and the next it's slightly different.

Changed to Chrome because IE was too bogged down on page loads because of all this added contextual advertising crap..

 

[HelenaHandbag]

Have Firefox with ad blocker.

Don't know how I ended up with it. The only places I download things are from CNET and Major Geeks.

But I now know it was at my end and that anyone can get rid of the little bugger, by resetting your browser settings. Thank heavens for small favors.

 

[MeBelle]

I'm getting it too. It started on this site and now has spread to other sites.
Transparent Genius I think is the malware. I've tried to get it removed but couldn't, so I went from Firefox to Google. That did the trick. I've uninstalled Firefox and re installed, but it does the same thing.

I'm not sure you got rid of it. There's a really stupid looking guy in your avatar now.
He looks distant and lost. Like he might hurt someone.

[MENTION=20545]Mr. H.[/MENTION] !
[MENTION=17949]Meister[/MENTION]


All hilarity aside, who really likes Google?
I've had to resort to Google because several of the sites I go to will only run 'full capacity' using Google.
I feel like I'm being spied on.

 

[Meister]

I'm getting it too. It started on this site and now has spread to other sites.
Transparent Genius I think is the malware. I've tried to get it removed but couldn't, so I went from Firefox to Google. That did the trick. I've uninstalled Firefox and re installed, but it does the same thing.

I'm not sure you got rid of it. There's a really stupid looking guy in your avatar now.
He looks distant and lost. Like he might hurt someone.

[MENTION=20545]Mr. H.[/MENTION] !
[MENTION=17949]Meister[/MENTION]


All hilarity aside, who really likes Google?
I've had to resort to Google because several of the sites I go to will only run 'full capacity' using Google.
I feel like I'm being spied on.

I got rid of Firefox and all is working well now.

 

[freedombecki]

It's anarchy out there. Everyone thinks they own your machine.. The competition for updating tools sometimes slows the boot-time of my machines a lot.

Even worse on tablets and phones, because the basic user features can change overnight without even a note or a warning that an update has been done.. One day your text editing boxes scroll one way, and the next it's slightly different.

Changed to Chrome because IE was too bogged down on page loads because of all this added contextual advertising crap..

I agree.

When I go just about anywhere, the blather starts, so I have to turn my sound off because I'm sensitive to noises, and some of them are radically hyper in the sound department.

 

[freedombecki]

Oh, yes, and I clean cookies about 3 times a day, sometimes more.