Linkbucks, How I solved my problem

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Level 1

15 points

Linkbucks, How I solved my problem

With the many threads about this subject, and searching this community and Google for 2 days I was able to solve my problem after trying many of the suggestions listed and finally calling Apple Support.

I have a 2012 MBP and a 2007 iMac that both were having the redirect problems with the shortened URLs (http://bit.ly/xxxxx) while the regular long URLs (http://www.xxxxx.com) worked fine.

After some basic trouble shooting with Apple Support - reset Safari, delete cookies, deleting the com.apple.safari.plist nothing was working. Apple Support asked me to take my MBP to a different Wi-fi other than my home to see if i also had problems there. I went to McDooalds and Starbucks and my MBP had no problems at all. It performed as if it never had a problem at all.

When I got back home I knew I had to look at my home Wi-Fi. I have an Oceanic Cable Modem which my Cisco Linksys WI-fi router plugs into - so I took the cable from the cable modem and hooked to the iMac bypassing the Wi-Fi all together. My iMac no longer has the Linkbucks redirect, which means my Wi-fi has been compromised, and I am not sure how as I changed the ADMIN user name and password as well as a log in password with WPA security when I first set it up.

I will be making a trip to the Apple Store for an Airport Extreme, till then its the Oceanic Cable Modem directly to the iMac and no Wi-fi for now.

Aloha

Message was edited by: dakine808

iPhone 4S, iOS 7

Posted on Nov 2, 2013 4:46 AM

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Answer 1

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Nov 2, 2013 5:01 AM in response to dakine808

Were you using DNS from the router, and if so, what are those numbers ?.

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Answer 2

dakine808 Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 2, 2013 5:23 AM in response to andyBall_uk

My numbers were:

62.113.218.132

8.8.8.8

24.25.227.55

All numbers were grayed out in the left colum and the right side said Road Runner or Oceanic which was also grayed out.

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Answer 3

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Nov 2, 2013 5:50 AM in response to dakine808

Thanks - the first one's a problem; did you try altering them in the router setup pages, or replacing with your own, either in the router or System Preferences - Network ?.

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Answer 4

dakine808 Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 2, 2013 6:21 AM in response to andyBall_uk

No, that Wi-fi router is really old, I think I bought it back in 2007 and could only set it up with a Windows XP computer and not on a Mac.

I have been thinking about getting a new iMac but my old 2007 iMac REFUSING to die and seems to run as fast as the day I bought it, 🙂

That first number, how did you know it was a problem?

Aloha

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Answer 5

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Nov 2, 2013 6:49 AM in response to dakine808

Just searched & saw that it isn't a usual dns # & others have had similar problems with it, whereas the others are Google & Time Warner. Usually, adding dns numbers in System Preferences - Network overrides the router.

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Answer 6

gnshcar

Level 1

0 points

Jan 2, 2014 7:41 PM in response to dakine808

I couldn't get rid of the linksbuck virus. One solution above was to reset the router--I just unplugged my Wi-Fi router and plugged it back in, and the virus disappeared. I was using FIREFOX. The virus was still in SAFARi--I again unplugged the router and it disappeared from Safari. you probably should clear history etc. before unplugging the router.

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