Caution - Odd Advertisements On SpudFiles
Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:27 am
This has come up a few different times with members, so I figured I should make a thread about it.
I had a user ask me about these new ads they were seeing on SpudFiles, that would cause certain words to be highlighted and would display ads next to them. A few months ago, I also had a user complain of Google ads making noise and being annoying to them.
These ads are not coming from SpudFiles. These are in fact viruses/spyware that have infected a users machine, which are designed to slip ads into webpages being displayed. The typical user doesn't notice, as the ads either take the place of existing ads on pages, or create a whole new ad on the page (such as the example screenshot below). They then also rely on those typical users to get fooled into clicking those ads, so then they can make a profit or try to scam someone.
If anyone has experienced odd occurrences such as this, I suggest running some anti spyware/virus tools. I would suggest...
Adaware
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Spyboy Search & Destroy
http://www.spybot.com/en/index.html
For good measure, if you don't already have some type of reliable anti-virus installed on your Windows based machine, I suggest AVG.
http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe
All of these tools are free and should help ensure your computer stays clean.
I had a user ask me about these new ads they were seeing on SpudFiles, that would cause certain words to be highlighted and would display ads next to them. A few months ago, I also had a user complain of Google ads making noise and being annoying to them.
These ads are not coming from SpudFiles. These are in fact viruses/spyware that have infected a users machine, which are designed to slip ads into webpages being displayed. The typical user doesn't notice, as the ads either take the place of existing ads on pages, or create a whole new ad on the page (such as the example screenshot below). They then also rely on those typical users to get fooled into clicking those ads, so then they can make a profit or try to scam someone.
If anyone has experienced odd occurrences such as this, I suggest running some anti spyware/virus tools. I would suggest...
Adaware
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Spyboy Search & Destroy
http://www.spybot.com/en/index.html
For good measure, if you don't already have some type of reliable anti-virus installed on your Windows based machine, I suggest AVG.
http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe
All of these tools are free and should help ensure your computer stays clean.