Forum Ads - Harmful Software

[rbryan4]

I noted with interest that the big banner Ad on the forum homepage is for "Email Login Now" - a software extension I consider nothing but malware. It tracks your online activity and does a number of undesirable things, including:

1- Changes the web browser’s default home page to Email Login Now
2- Changes the browser’s search provider, built-in search box to Email Login Now Search - which provides malicious links as search results
3- Modifies the ‘new tab’ functionality of your browser to launch the corrupt/modified search portal page

Bottom line is I HIGHLY recommend you don't install it, and if you do, it's difficult to remove. I don't think the Ad should be displayed on the forum in the first place. Ads for commercial items, goods or services of value are one thing, but software that performs either malicious or deceptive activities is another - just my 2 cents.

[Greg A]

You are correct that it is some type of malware and I also highly recommend that folks be careful with that one.
We find them occasionally trying to place similar ads on Fiberglass-rv-4sale.com and scampowners.com. There is an ability where we go into the advertiser admin and can block those advertisers which we do constantly. I'm assuming they do the same procedures here as well.
Sometimes it is hard to keep ahead of the bad guys, but this feedback should help the administrator here to block it. We recently had an advertiser mimic our login bar and when you clicked to login it took you to their site. Shame!

[KarenH]

Thank you, Robert, for providing a screen shot of subject matter as I didn't understand what the problem was until I saw it in the picture.

[lorrie]

Someone on this forum mentioned AdBlock Plus and I couldn't be happier with how it blocks ads on all of my content. Sorry I can't remember who, but if you're reading this, thank you!

[Rossue]

Just downloaded and see no difference. Does it only work with tapatalk?

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by lorrie

Someone on this forum mentioned AdBlock Plus and I couldn't be happier with how it blocks ads on all of my content. Sorry I can't remember who, but if you're reading this, thank you!

Originally Posted by Rossue

Just downloaded and see no difference. Does it only work with tapatalk?

It works with pretty much any browser. What I like about the desktop version is the ability to disable it on a per site basis. I had it disabled on purpose when I saw the Ad I linked above. With Adblock enabled, the site now looks like this:

[Brian B-P]

While the website operators don't likely choose these ads, or even know which ones will display, they presumably have some control over the type of ads displayed.

Originally Posted by lorrie

Someone on this forum mentioned AdBlock Plus and I couldn't be happier with how it blocks ads on all of my content. Sorry I can't remember who, but if you're reading this, thank you!

Same here. I installed ABP because video ads made web pages nearly unusable on a slow mobile internet connection, and wasted my data allocation. I don't mind reasonable ads, but "reasonable" went out the window long ago.

Not displaying ads removes the primary income source for some websites. As a result, some detect the effect of ABP (presumably missing requests for ad content to third-party sources), and either put up a request to turn it off (normally by whitelisting the site) or block their content until it is turned off.

Originally Posted by Rossue

Just downloaded and see no difference. Does it only work with tapatalk?

I don't use Tapatalk; I have AdBlock Plus installed in Chrome on Windows 10. It works fine... blocking 6 ads on this reply composition page. There are no ads showing on this page, but on most forum pages the ads from within the Social Knowledge system and selected ads in the right-side column still show... as shown in Robert's example.

[thoer]

Thanks for the heads up Robert. I used the little x in the corner of the ad that sometimes works and it showed that the ad is from Google ads. It let me make it go away anyway

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Just downloaded and see no difference. Does it only work with tapatalk?

No tapatalk here, ABP works on my PC running Firefox and Chrome.

[Rossue]

Appears all those above are using desktops or laptops. Am using my Samsung S8 and the app made no difference.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Appears all those above are using desktops or laptops. Am using my Samsung S8 and the app made no difference.

Yeah, it's a little different Ross on a mobile device. Make sure you follow the configuration steps. If I recall, I had to set up a proxy port in my wireless adapter settings in order for it to work properly.

EDIT: Yes, on an Android phone, I used the following guide:
https://adblockplus.org/android-config

[Rossue]

Thanks Robert; will give that a try.

[StarvingHyena]

Well ... I do not have that green "Log In" button on my screen. If I had clicked on it in the past, does it disappear and run in the background. How do I get rid of it if it is somehow on my computer?

I'm running Windows 10 on laptop.

Thanks ahead for any help,
Tom

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by StarvingHyena

Well ... I do not have that green "Log In" button on my screen. If I had clicked on it in the past, does it disappear and run in the background. How do I get rid of it if it is somehow on my computer?

I'm running Windows 10 on laptop.

Thanks ahead for any help,
Tom

It's an Ad, and the Ad content rotates. It might appear in one browser while a computer sitting right next to it displays a completely different Ad. You can't get "infected" unless you've clicked on the Ad and then the download link that follows.

On the other hand, if you want to check your system for malware, spyware, or any other unwanted software, I recommend a quality malware removal program, like MalwareBytes or Spybot S&D.

To protect the browser from unwanted extensions or browser hijacks, I also like a program called Hijack This.

But, you already have one advantage running Windows 10, in that Windows Defender is included. It's a decent program as well.