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Last Post
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Feb 22, 2009 1:05 AM
by: innovate
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 12, 2008 6:38 PM
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It seems that banner ads and other ads on a variety of very tame websites (e.g., tvguide.com) have been taken over by ads for Vimax Pills. There are pictures of mostly naked men (hats strategically located) and comments about a larger *****. What's going on? I downloaded Safari thinking it would override the existing program, but it didn't help. Do I need to delete the existing Safari and download a new one?
I am extremely unsavvy about anything of this sort, always counting on my iMac to be free from all concerns such as this and to run smoothly allowing me to maintain complete ignorance. So now, I'd appreciate any help possible in the simplest explanation possible.
Thanks in advance.
iMac 500 Special Edition 128 MG PowerPC G3
Mac OS X (10.2.x)
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 12, 2008 7:37 PM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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I see that it's also infected Firefox, so it's not just a Safari issue. Still, any help is appreciated.
Message was edited by: Gerie Lopez
iMac 500 Special Edition 128 MG PowerPC G3
Mac OS X (10.2.x)
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Posts:
2
From:
UK
Registered:
Jul 11, 2008
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 12, 2008 7:43 PM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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Yeah, I have the exact same problem, I noticed it first on BBC.com, which i don't think even has actual advertisements, and now the same ads on Yahoo, IGN, and several others. I've scanned my MacBook using several programmes, but can find nothing out of the ordinary??
Someone help!!??
MAcBook
Mac OS X (10.5.4)
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Posts:
6,555
Registered:
Oct 2, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 12, 2008 8:01 PM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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There is no infection, so it's useless to start thinking that way. You cannot download a new copy of Safari, so if you try, you'll be sorry. Instead, try disabling JavaScript and Plugins in Safari preferences, and disable JavaScript and enable Block Pop-Up windows on Firefox.
If you're being redirected to a different site than what you expect or typed in your address bar, that would indicate either a Trojan Horse or something your ISP is doing. But if you're just getting a pop-up ad from a site, disabling JavaScript and Plugins should stop those; but you should also send an email to the webmaster of those sites telling them about these pop-up ads, since it's much more likely that their web server has been infiltrated for that purpose.
Mulder
iMac G4 1.35 Ghz
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 12, 2008 9:27 PM
in response to: Mulder
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Thank you, Mulder!
I clicked off JavaScript enabling and was back to the typical, "respectable" ads. Now my concern is that with JavaScript disabled, will other things be affected? In other words, just what does JavaScript do?
iMac5,2
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
5,054
From:
Australia
Registered:
Jul 7, 2008
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 12:01 AM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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Unfortunately a lot of things you like in a web page.
Javascript runs much of the navigation and interactivity. Without it your web browsing will be both duller and more difficult.
Aluminium iMac 24" 2.8Ghz
Mac OS X (10.5.4)
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Posts:
2
From:
Australia
Registered:
Oct 13, 2008
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Posts:
6,555
Registered:
Oct 2, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 6:58 AM
in response to: AllisonR
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There are no viruses for Mac OS X, so purchasing or using Antivirus software will accomplish nothing other than wasting time and money. You cannot defend against or remove something that doesn't exist for the Mac.
As I stated earlier, if you see pop-up ads from sites you visit, you should advise the site administrators, since there are very few that actually allow those types of ads, so either one of their advertisers is doing something they shouldn't be, or their web server has been infiltrated to serve up those types of ads.
Mulder
iMac G4 1.35 Ghz
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 7:02 AM
in response to: AllisonR
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Thanks, Allison.
After all these years of being so smug about using a Mac.....Sheesh!
I don't want to disable javascript because it does have a negative impact on my computer use. I'd rather see the ads. I'm curious about antivirus software, but don't want to go downloading things until I know they'll solve the problem. Has anyone had any success with these kinds of products?
iMac5
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 7:21 AM
in response to: Mulder
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Mulder, you were posting when I was. Thanks again. I have contacted two of the website administrators so far. I'm just wondering how many there will be, and if this will ever stop. I'm also wondering, "Why me?" One of the sites is a National Geographic forum. When I first spotted the ads, in places where only Nat. Geo. ads had appeared before, I asked other forum members if they were getting this, too. No one else was.
Because it's on so many different websites, on both Safari and Firefox browsers (but not AOL, interestingly) and not affecting other users of those sites, I can't help but feel it's something in my computer.
iMac5,2
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
6,555
Registered:
Oct 2, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 8:39 AM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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The only way for the problem to be something on your computer is for you to have downloaded it and installed it, which requires Admin authorization. If you didn't download or install anything that might be suspicious, then we know it's not that. But the fact that it doesn't happen using the AOL browser would seem to eliminate malware from the equation.
You should enable pop-up blocking in both Safari and Firefox if you haven't already; this will stop most pop-up ads and other windows.
Mulder
iMac G4 1.35 Ghz
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
3
From:
Chicago
Registered:
May 22, 2008
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 11:47 AM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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I just noticed it today. Chicago Tribune, Notebookreview.com, and many others. All of them are from Vimax with the same ridiculous ads about enhancement and enlargement. Surely there must be a market opportunity for someone to come up with a product that will block this.
imac g4 20"
Mac OS X (10.3.x)
1.25 gb memory
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Posts:
3
From:
Chicago
Registered:
May 22, 2008
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 1:05 PM
in response to: Smith9900
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I just solved my own problem. I installed an add-on for Firefox called Adblock Plus. Works automatically and blocks all of the garbage. Perfect.
imac g4 20"
Mac OS X (10.3.x)
1.25 gb memory
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Posts:
8
From:
Long Island, NY
Registered:
Jul 6, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 1:38 PM
in response to: Smith9900
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Hey, Smith! Good for you! Can you please supply a link for the adblock plus? Did it take care of both Firefox and Safari? Is it a free program? Appreciate your help. Thanks
iMac5,2
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
7
Registered:
May 25, 2005
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Re: Takeover by male enhancement product ads....HELP!
Posted:
Oct 13, 2008 2:55 PM
in response to: Gerie Lopez
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I'm so glad I am not alone and this issue is happening in real time to others. I started seeing these Vimax ads on IGN and Globe and Mail just yesterday. It appears the other sites listed below have similar ways of displaying banners...which makes me think they are being hosted by the same company. So this suggests its a server-side issue.
However I am having other issues (I use Vista and Firefox). If i type a search in Google (using the search field at the top of FireFox) that contains .com, i get a looping search error.
May I ask those seeing these Vimax banners try typing "ask.com" and see if it goes to the correct site, or if you see these looping search error. Because this tells me the problem could actually be Malware on my computer...
I have run serveral virus scans, it found 2 viruses and both were removed, now all scans are clean.
Perhaps this issue is so new that it has not hit the Virus Scanning companies yet...
Hopefully its fixed soon!
Windows Vista
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