sirpig

Q: onclickads.net and other ad pop ups in safari due to flash player?

Hello all,

 

This past week all of the browsers on my computer (google chrome/safari) has been experiencing random popup ads upon click on many websites.

 

These occur when I click somewhere on the website page and happens on almost all websites I go to.

 

The popup usually goes to "onclickads.net" then redirects, usually to mackeeper, but will sometimes redirect to other ads.

 

This morning I thought I identified the issue as a fake flash player that I had installed, so I followed Adobe's "how to uninstall flash player" guide and completely uninstalled flash player.

 

The problem instantly went away and I thought I would never have to deal with the annoying popups ever again.

 

This afternoon, I decided to reinstall Flash Player from Adobe's actual site because I need to use flash player for sites like youtube.

 

After I installed it, the problem with popups came back. Even though I knew that this time, it was definitely the legitimate copy of Flash Player.

 

Frustrated, I uninstalled the flash player again and like magic, the popups and ads went away with it.

 

Now I can still watch youtube videos from chrome because I think it comes with flash player preinstalled, but I would still like to have flash player on my main browser, safari.

 

Does anyone know what could be causing the problem? I don't think adobe would put these annoying ads in flash player.

 

I mean, if there's really no fix, I guess I'll just go with using google chrome when I need to use flash :\

 

Thanks a ton!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Apr 28, 2014 4:32 PM

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Q: onclickads.net and other ad pop ups in safari due to flash player?

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  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 7:42 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 7:42 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hey Linc,

     

    Okay, now I'm just frustrated. I completely wiped my system and went into recovery HD and did a fresh install which took an hour.

     

    I log in for the first time and open safari...what do you know THE POPUPS ARE STILL THERE...WHAT

     

    I have no clue if its malware anymore, but it happens on my local ymca web page, it happens on wiki how

     

    I don't know whats going on...

  • by lytic,

    lytic lytic Apr 29, 2014 7:45 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 7:45 AM in response to sirpig

    Try to reset the router.

  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 8:12 AM in response to lytic
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 8:12 AM in response to lytic

    It's weird I don't think it's my router, the ads still happen even on my school's wireless

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 29, 2014 9:19 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 29, 2014 9:19 AM in response to sirpig

    I completely wiped my system and went into recovery HD and did a fresh install which took an hour.

     

    I log in for the first time and open safari...what do you know THE POPUPS ARE STILL THERE...WHAT

     

    Just to be perfectly clear, when you say you "wiped your system," did you actually do exactly that and erase the hard drive completely, using Disk Utility? Or did you just reinstall the system on top of the existing system? If you did the latter, that wouldn't actually remove anything, unless something had modified a system file.

     

    If you really did wipe the system clean, how did you restore your data from backup after reinstalling the system?

  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 9:24 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 9:24 AM in response to thomas_r.

    I went I to disk utility and wiped the disk, then did the reinstall.

     

    So at one point there was nothing on the disk.

     

    I have not restored my data, so its basically a brand new mac out of the box...what's the problem?

     

    Can someone one go to this link: http://www.ymcasv.org/paloalto

     

    And click the button that says "were more than you know. We're a cause" and see if they get a pop-up ad?

    Thanks!

  • by andyBall_uk,Helpful

    andyBall_uk andyBall_uk Apr 29, 2014 9:30 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (20,495 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 9:30 AM in response to sirpig

    >>they get a pop-up ad?

     

    No, but I do if using the rogue DNS mentioned near the end of this thread :

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6141436?start=15&tstart=0

     

     

    what is your dns set to ?.

  • by andyBall_uk,

    andyBall_uk andyBall_uk Apr 29, 2014 9:31 AM in response to andyBall_uk
    Level 7 (20,495 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 9:31 AM in response to andyBall_uk

    it shouldn't be anything unwanted after an erase/install : in which case, check the router dns setting too.

  • by taguz,

    taguz taguz Apr 29, 2014 9:57 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 9:57 AM in response to sirpig

    I am also having this same issue with both of my Macs. One I've had for a few years so I figured maybe it was getting old, and this problem was so frustrating I went to use my brand new Air and had the same problem.

  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 9:57 AM in response to andyBall_uk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 9:57 AM in response to andyBall_uk

    208.67.222.222

    208.67.220.220

     

    thats what is says in DNS Servers.

  • by andyBall_uk,

    andyBall_uk andyBall_uk Apr 29, 2014 10:05 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (20,495 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 10:05 AM in response to sirpig

    Those are for opendns, so shouldn't be a problem : did you add them after erasing/installing ?.

  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 10:14 AM in response to andyBall_uk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 10:14 AM in response to andyBall_uk

    I didnt touch the dns settings, maybe theres something with the network im on? this is my school's wifi.

  • by andyBall_uk,

    andyBall_uk andyBall_uk Apr 29, 2014 10:21 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (20,495 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 10:21 AM in response to sirpig

    I see, then they're probably 'grayed out' and supplied by the school router; I think your earlier reply to Lic Davis showed no manual entries.

     

    It can't hurt to test with google's instead : https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 29, 2014 10:28 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 29, 2014 10:28 AM in response to sirpig

    Can someone one go to this link: http://www.ymcasv.org/paloalto

     

    And click the button that says "were more than you know. We're a cause" and see if they get a pop-up ad?

     

    If I set my domain name server to the one Andy indicated, I get one every single time I click that button. I'm having difficulty coaxing a pop-up out of other links, but it happens very reliably on that one, every time.

     

    If I leave my DNS setting alone, or if I use the same OpenDNS servers you indicate your machine is using, I don't get a pop-up.

     

    The fact that your machine is using the OpenDNS servers probably just means that your school's wifi network is set to use those servers.

     

    I'm really stumped here... but it's looking more and more like this has to be some kind of very odd network compromise.

  • by sirpig,

    sirpig sirpig Apr 29, 2014 10:45 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 10:45 AM in response to thomas_r.

    you're right, I realized that the popups stopped appearing at school.

     

    I may have a compromised network at home...

     

    how should I fix that? reset the router?

  • by thomas_r.,Solvedanswer

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 29, 2014 10:56 AM in response to sirpig
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 29, 2014 10:56 AM in response to sirpig

    When you get back home, re-test the problem and see if it's still happening. Assuming that it is, report back here and let us know what the DNS setting is when you're on that network. Also let us know what kind of router you're using.

     

    Try manually setting your computer's DNS settings at home to use those OpenDNS servers. If that fixes the problem, and clearing those settings (and thus using the DNS settings from your router) causes it to happen again, it's definitely a compromised router. See:

     

    How to manage a hacked wireless router

     

    (Fair disclosure: The Safe Mac is my site, and contains a Donate button, so I may receive compensation for providing links to The Safe Mac. Donations are not required.)

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