Full screen pop up ads, that come up randomly. Do I have adware?

Question

Level 1

11 points

Full screen pop up ads, that come up randomly. Do I have adware?

I've done everything to prevent pop ups from coming up. Even downloaded the program "Glimmerblocker" to block even more pop ups then just safari can do normally.

These pop ups I've been getting take up my whole screen. It pops up, and directs to like 3 different websites before stopping on a certain ad. It is the same kind of pop up and it happens on different sites. Even popular sites like digg.com, it would pop up when I try to log in to digg. They only pop up after I click something, but at random though.

Anyone have similar pop ups, and know what to do? I did some research and I read that there's some kind of adware for mac out there. I tried running the mac antivirus program "MacScan 2", but it found nothing but some cookies. I am updated to the latest security updates.

Any help is appreciated.

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 27, 2010 1:55 PM

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Answer 1

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 4, 2010 1:12 PM in response to star-fish

I gotta check again with his computer.

I just got one of these pop ups on my school's website, which does not have any ads at all. Now I am thinking it is some form of adware once again. How it gets on my mac without me knowing... I do not know. Some of these ads don't even load, they just open up a new window.

I notice them in all browsers (with Firefox I am able to prevent them with Adblock Plus), so there has to be something wrong with internet files that are accessed by all the browsers. Anyone know what that would be?

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Answer 2

Jan 27, 2010 1:57 PM in response to frank135

Try disabling Plug-ins and JavaScript in Safari's preferences, then try those web sites again to see if the problem continues. I'm guessing it will be gone, but so will a lot of web content that relies on those things being enabled.

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Answer 3

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 27, 2010 8:37 PM in response to Golden Shoes

Thanks for the response!

These seems to help this issue, but causes other problems in the long run.

I still do not understand how my brothers mac does not get these pop ups but I do. He has the same MacBook Pro as me.

When these pop ups come up, they go behind my main window, and take up the whole screen.

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Answer 4

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 28, 2010 2:38 AM in response to frank135

Just an update, the pop ups I get have these kind of URLs
results.gugle(dot)com
results.google-analytics(dot)com

One way I get it to pop is by logging into Digg. All I do is click "Log on", and I get this big full screen pop up. This should definitely not happen. The pop up is not just on safari, I noticed it on Chrome and Firefox as well.

I checked my internet plug-ins, and library files, I do not see anything that is weird, but I have no idea what I'm looking for... 😟

Anyone else out there with similar problems?

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Answer 5

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 28, 2010 6:15 AM in response to frank135

frank --
Do you have any Google apps on there?

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Answer 6

Jan 28, 2010 12:02 PM in response to frank135

HI,

Try Clearing Just Your Google History:

1. Go to the Safari Menu
2. Select Preferences
3. Select Autofill tab
4. Select the Edit button from the Other Forms Line
5. From the AutoFill list of sites select Google.com
6. Select Remove
7. Select Done

Relaunch Safari. If the problem persists, go back to AutoFill / Other Forms and "Remove All"

FYI: MacScan is not anti virus software. It's for Trojan detection. There are no Mac viruses in the wild.

Go to ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ Move the Cache.db file to the Trash.

Go to ~/Library/Preferences and move the com.apple.recentitems.plist file to the Trash. Restart your Mac.

Good read here by Klaus1 regarding malware: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10582058#10582058

Go here for trouble shooting 3rd party plugins or input managers which might be causing the problem.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1594

And make sure Safari is not running in Rosetta. Right or control click the Safari icon in your Applications folder then click Get Info. In the Get Info window click the black disclosure triangle so it faces down. Where you see Open using Rosetta... make sure that is NOT selected.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 7

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 30, 2010 9:34 PM in response to frank135

Thanks all of you! Carolyn thanks for all that information!

I ended up messing my computer up trying to install antivirus programs and my computer started getting that "No Entry" symbol on start up. 😟

*A regular reinstall of Snow Leopard actually fixed my full screen pop up ad problem*, but I still was getting the "No Entry" symbol and having to boot in Save Mode. I messed up some files though while trying to install antivirus programs, which Snow Leopard keeps and does not erase while doing a regular reinstall of Snow Leopard. (tried repairing disk permissions, etc... nothing helped with that)

So I backed up all my important files on a external HD, and just did an erase and reinstall of Leopard, and then upgraded all the way up to the latest Snow Leopard. All my problems went away.

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Answer 8

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 1, 2010 10:07 PM in response to frank135

Actually I'm getting the pop ups again...

I have a fresh install of Snow Leopard and Safari, not sure what is making them appear. I only notice them on certain sites though, maybe it's a new kind of add that allows itself to come up regardless if you have Safari's "block pop ups" checked.

They appear right after you click certain links, and not all the time, only like once a session.

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Answer 9

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Feb 2, 2010 7:29 AM in response to frank135

frank --
I use GlimmerBlocker.
Very effective, with no side effects. It's free.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/glimmerblocker.html

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Answer 10

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 2, 2010 6:28 PM in response to TildeBee

I've tried glimmerblocker, it blocks a decent amount of ads, but not these completely... I even tried making my own filter, it stops the ad from loading, but the new full screen safari window still opens in the background.

Maybe there is some ad blocker out there that prevents these kinds of popups?

I really doubt it's adware now. It's some kind of new way to force ads upon mac users. I do not see these pop ups with PC.

Firefox with Adblock Plus blocks these completely. I use the filters "EasyList (USA)", "AdblockRules.org", "Fanboy's List", and "Malware Domains". These filters are located here http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions.

I cannot figure out how to use these filters for Safari, if anyone does please post 🙂

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Answer 11

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Feb 3, 2010 4:50 AM in response to frank135

Hi Frank

in System Preferences - Network - choose airport in the left pane ( I guess you're using airport? ) then click the 'advanced' button at lower right.

Choose the 'dns' tab - what DNS servers are listed there?

It's possible that some rogue dns is being used that redirects your page requests to a site that serves up pop-up windows, then sends you along to the page you originally wanted...

I'd have thought these would be blocked by the add-ons you've tried, but maybe not eh?

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Answer 12

star-fish

Level 2

195 points

Feb 3, 2010 8:03 AM in response to frank135

frank135 wrote:
I really doubt it's adware now. It's some kind of new way to force ads upon mac users. I do not see these pop ups with PC.

But I thought you said your brother wasn't getting them on his mac? Have you tried viewing web pages on his computer with Safari where you normally get pop ups?

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Answer 13

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 4, 2010 7:27 PM in response to andyBall_uk

I connect manually to my internet for some games/programs that require open ports.

I added two DNS numbers myself, I had to find them. But, could this be the problem? I will try to connect automatically and see if that does any good.

This might be the problem, now that I am thinking I did not notice these pop ups until after I started connecting manually to the internet.

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Answer 14

frank135 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 4, 2010 7:51 PM in response to frank135

This might be it, does anyone know how to properly connect to the internet wirelessly with a desired manual IP address?

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Answer 15

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Feb 5, 2010 1:58 AM in response to frank135

if it's just the dns you suspect ( and it could easily be that... )
then simply remove the current numbers & replace them with those from open dns or google

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