Android Forums is loaded with malware ads

Gmash · Jan 23, 2015

Damn, just had one to Chain Chronicle- RPG in Play.

Member1660584 · Jan 23, 2015

This add problem happens to me a lot too. I go into a thread and sometimes without even touching the screen, I get redirected. It happens a lot on XDA lately too. Sometimes its impossible to do anything other than close the browser and try later. Along with the glitches in this forum since the change, it makes me not want to go on the site because it's so aggravating.

Thom · Jan 23, 2015

On this page ... right now ... the right panel has what is probably an ad with a link ... it is for "Remove Redirect Virus" at spywareremove.com

No I did not select the link. I don't select any links on any AF ad ... ever.

Since I pay to be a premium member ... one benefit is ... no ads. Why are ads appearing when I am logged in?

... Thom

Unforgiven · Jan 23, 2015

Thom said:
On this page ... right now ... the right panel has what is probably an ad with a link ... it is for "Remove Redirect Virus" at spywareremove.com

No I did not select the link. I don't select any links on any AF ad ... ever.

Since I pay to be a premium member ... one benefit is ... no ads. Why are ads appearing when I am logged in?

... Thom

IIRC even though the old banner said no ads (or less ads) with a premium membership, that was always false and was ultimately removed from the banner and list of premium benefits.

Edit: link to real old conversation where Phases removed the verbage from the premium ad.
http://androidforums.com/threads/ads-have-doubled-what-do-you-guys-use-to-block.482365/#post-3895281

Thom · Jan 23, 2015

Phases said:
Yah, but there have been occasions where we have been able to identify and exclude the offending ad. Not an easy task, though, not without excluding an entire ad network.

I think, I'm not all into the details on that..

One possible approach ... remove the ad network and when the provider is willing to correct their bugs and expressions of bad taste ... start using it again.

I monitor a lot of forums here. I visit them when someone has posted something new. I have seen ... in the middle of the week ... the participation drop to close to zero across all the forums I monitor.

... Thom

Thom · Jan 23, 2015

Unforgiven said:
IIRC even though the old banner said no ads (or less ads) with a premium membership, that was always false and was ultimately removed from the banner and list of premium benefits.

Edit: link to real old conversation where Phases removed the verbage from the premium ad.
http://androidforums.com/threads/ads-have-doubled-what-do-you-guys-use-to-block.482365/#post-3895281

Thank you for the notification. I was not aware of that change. I thought I was paying for something that apparently I was not. I will stop telling people of the benefit.

... Thom

today · Jan 24, 2015

If anyone is interested, I too have been experiencing the redirect issues with the "virus detected warning click here to clean" banner and ultimate destination a play store game (mostly) clash of clans. When backing out through several loaded "chat" sites and "virus warnings" ultimately having to close the chrome browser to escape.

I googled "slimspots virus" and read through quite a few discussions. One poster mentioned that slimspots is a German ad company. I had a German game on my phone, a puzzle game from Amazon market. I had downloaded that game about the sametime these redirects started happening involving slimspots. I've removed the game now. I'll see if there's an improvement.

There is a whole lot of this going on and not just on AF.

nickdalzell · Jan 25, 2015

Can the dating ads be turned off? seriously what relevance do they have to Android?

funkylogik · Jan 25, 2015

nickdalzell said:
Can the dating ads be turned off? seriously what relevance do they have to Android?

Exactly. I don't mind targeted ads but I'm a happily married man lol. I'm not interested in "hot singles in your area" and ive never searched for anything like that (honest)

Gmash · Jan 25, 2015

I don't care about the ads, but being redirected to Play and "virus detected" pages is getting to be a bit much. Whoevers fault it is, somebody needs to get a handle on this.

nickdalzell · Feb 3, 2015

It's a shame i can't do like on Facebook and say 'i don't want to see this' and provide a reason, and the algorithm works eventually to target ads relevant to you better over time...Maybe it's there, but this is Google AdSense, and if it's like the other Google apps/services, the option is probably buried under some gesture or something.

I never had any interest in dating myself, i'm a nature guy who loves animals. i have no interest in 'marriage' or 'dating' so Google has me all wrong. you'd think the history from Google Now would have provided a better profile of me to Google, as most of the locations there it's seen is a deer park, animal rescue, animal sanctuary, and the slew of tech outlets.

The last time i got a redirect to a fake virus scan was way back in Windows XP. Since going Linux (now fully there save one laptop that lacks a CD drive which i fail to grasp the purpose of) i must be immune to them.

Phases · Feb 3, 2015

http://phandroid.com/2015/02/03/google-play-apps-found-with-android-adware/

nickdalzell · Feb 5, 2015

Otherwise known as airpush. Old news.

Gmash · Feb 5, 2015

nickdalzell said:
Otherwise known as airpush. Old news.

Airpush just put ads in the notification bar, these things basically hijack your whole browser. For me personally, though, I haven't downloaded any new apps in ages and I haven't even updated any apps in months. Most updates seem to make things worse in my experience so I don't update unless I see a good reason to. This is the only site I've had the problem, and it's very sporadic. Can go days without it happening, then have it happen a lot for a day...

AZgl1500 · Feb 6, 2015

Gmash said:
Most updates seem to make things worse in my experience so I don't update unless I see a good reason to. ...

I am in total agreement with this.

If it ain't broke, don't be trying to fix it until it is broken.

nickdalzell · Feb 9, 2015

The only time I update apps is if they're games. They usually improve the game or add extra content (Infinite Flight makes the sim better each update ) but if say an email app or Web browser works fine, why? Usually the update completely changes the UI and I can't stand relearning everything

kate · Feb 9, 2015

nickdalzell said:
but if say an email app or Web browser works fine, why?

The included security updates are a good reason, especially for browsers

tonyroz007 · May 16, 2015

I solved this nasty thing in the following way:
1) Go to Chrome App Info.
2) Click on Clear All Data
3) Click on Disable All Updates
4) Force Stop

Now come out of App Info and click on Chrome. You will be asked to sign in as if you are launching Chrome for the first time. Sign In & Viola you problem is solved.!!!!

codesplice · May 18, 2015

Inconvenient ad placement is inconvenient...

whitehat · May 20, 2015

BitDefender just complained (21 events) about infected web pages. Here are 3 of the events:

EarlyMon · May 20, 2015

whitehat said:
BitDefender just complained (21 events) about infected web pages. Here are 3 of the events:

Link to a page that causes that please?

whitehat · May 21, 2015

EarlyMon said:
Link to a page that causes that please?

Here is one for you.
http://androidforums.com/threads/an...d-with-malware-ads.895112/page-3#post-6975056
http://androidforums.com/threads/an...d-with-malware-ads.895112/page-3#post-6975056
http://androidforums.com/threads/an...d-with-malware-ads.895112/page-3#post-6975056
I have noticed it intermittently in the past. Now it looks like any thread I access causes it. BitDefender only calls it an event since it didn't cause an impact on my machine (desktop running Win7 pro with Firefox 38.0.1). There is no popup warning. I only see the event counter on the logo is not zero. It might be something that BD doesn't like on the web page containing the avatars. I believe BD checks the whole web page even though all we need are the avatar photos.

whitehat · May 21, 2015

Ran another test on my desktop.
1. Deleted all events so the event counter was zero.
2. Went to androidforums.com and waited for about 30 seconds with the mouse pointer hovering on the My Forums link. After the 30 seconds the counter went to one.
3. Clicked on the unread posts link. The browser went to the page listing the unread threads. I waited again and the counter again incremented.
4. Selected the first thread and read the new posts. While in the thread, the counter incremented again.
5. Used the browser back button to get to the list of threads and selected the next unread posts thread. This time while reading the posts the counter incremented by two.
6. After finishing the last thread, I went back to the list of threads page and waited. Sure enough the counter again incremented.
7. I used the browser back button again to get back to the androidforums.com home (?) page and waited. Yes, the counter incremented again.

My conclusion is that the problem is occurring for every page visited. All the messages have the same link.
I hope this test provided some useful information.

I also did a quick test on my laptop which came with McAfee LiveSafe (No BitDefender ) installed. It did not show any warning of any kind while visiting androidforums.com.

EarlyMon · May 21, 2015

Phases notified of your findings, many thanks!

Android Forums is loaded with malware ads

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