Caution - Odd Advertisements On SpudFiles

[PCGUY]

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.

[jook13]

When I was having issues with these ads, Both adaware and Spybot did nothing. It wasnt until I bought Spyware Doctor that these issues were eliminated.

In that picture, the ad that is above my post is also not supposed to be there, and it was a little ad like that which was making a very annoying beep.

[Insomniac]

A really good, free anti-malware tool is Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware

It is free (you can pay for auto-updates and realtime protection, so remember to click the update button before each scan on the free version), very fast and lightweight, and from many sites I have checked on the net it is a very capable program. I prefer it to adaware and spybot simply because of how lightweight and fast it is. (adaware in particular seems a bit bloated)

[Xxplosive42o]

Spyware Doctor gets a A+ from me. It works great for eliminating these annoyances and keeping your system working like the well oiled machine it should be. I had several issues unresolved with Adware so I do not highly recommend it.

Cheers! Xxplosive42o 8)

[Ragnarok]

A really good, free anti-malware tool is Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware

That's my choice. However, I run a pretty clean computer, so it's only found a mere handful of things since I installed it.
Still, best not to have them there at all. I do transactions through this machine, so I always do a full check of my machine before any purchases. I kind of like my bank details to stay private.

Myself, I don't have a whole heap of tolerance for sites with excessive ads or ads in stupid places. Take forever to load, half the screen and all of my patience.

SF is fine ad-wise (they're not big, intrusive or time expending to load), and indeed, I deliberately browse the ads from time to time, partly in hope I'll find a good supplier (I have found a couple good sites to date), partly to help generate PCGUY some ad revenue.

[Insomniac]

MBAM hasn't actually detected anything on this pc so far, but it did find one infection on the other one. AVG has found a couple of things in the past though. Still, a quick MBAM scan beats an AVG/spybot/adaware scan when it comes to convenience any day, and their database is often updated more than once a day.

EDIT: It's also nice how MBAM is only a couple of mb, unlike somthing like Adaware.

[rp181]

lol, just look at the ads that come for this thread there for spyware programs.