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Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Just wondering here, is anyone else seeing this thing, or do I need to run a virus scan? I know the Escapist has added annoying toolbars in the past (such as Meebo) so I wouldn't be surprised if they switched to a new one, but I want to make sure that it's not something on my end.
 

BrailleOperatic

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Jul 7, 2010
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Owyn_Merrilin said:
BrailleOperatic said:
You should edit this post unless you want to get banned; we aren't allowed to discuss those around here. Thanks for commenting, though.
Frankly, I'm more concerned about low content warnings. I don't see why using a sentence where a word would do is preferable. But alas, tis not my call.
 

Sightless Wisdom

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Jul 24, 2009
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I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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Sightless Wisdom said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
It's an ad toolbar, similar to Meebo, except that once I hide it, I can't manually bring it back up -- it seems to just randomly come back after a while.
 

Sightless Wisdom

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Jul 24, 2009
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Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
It's an ad toolbar, similar to Meebo, except that once I hide it, I can't manually bring it back up -- it seems to just randomly come back after a while.
And you're getting this on the Escapist? What browser are you using?
 

Swifty714

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You may have downloaded it after downloading something else online. Usually when you try to download something off the web, websites will throw in extra little things such as adding toolbars, or getting monthly letters about teen pregnancy (That actually happened). If you are downloading something off the web, make sure you read what your agreeing to download, to otherwise you may end up in a Apple Centipad.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Sightless Wisdom said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
It's an ad toolbar, similar to Meebo, except that once I hide it, I can't manually bring it back up -- it seems to just randomly come back after a while.
And you're getting this on the Escapist? What browser are you using?
Firefox, and it only shows up on The Escapist. It's also not unusual that the Escapist would have something like this -- were you active when the Meebo thing went down?
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Swifty714 said:
You may have downloaded it after downloading something else online. Usually when you try to download something off the web, websites will throw in extra little things such as adding toolbars, or getting monthly letters about teen pregnancy (That actually happened). If you are downloading something off the web, make sure you read what your agreeing too, toherwise you may end up in a Apple Centipad.
It's nothing like that; it's a glorified ad at the bottom of the page, similar to the fake facebook thing some porn sites have. I remember pointing out that the Meebo toolbar made the site look like a porn site when everyone was complaining about it, but the mods never really commented on that.
 

Sightless Wisdom

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Jul 24, 2009
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Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
It's an ad toolbar, similar to Meebo, except that once I hide it, I can't manually bring it back up -- it seems to just randomly come back after a while.
And you're getting this on the Escapist? What browser are you using?
Firefox, and it only shows up on The Escapist. It's also not unusual that the Escapist would have something like this -- were you active when the Meebo thing went down?
I was, I didn't think they'd try something like that again. But in this case it might be a firefox exclusive thing. I know Facebook is exclusively annoying with a particular extension that only appears on Firefox.

Now oddly enough, I checked in Firefox(Nightly build) and I still see no toolbar of any sort. No sign of it in Chrome either. Perhaps it's a U.S thing? I know some of the ads only appear in the U.S.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Sightless Wisdom said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Sightless Wisdom said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Which, in this case I can only assume is a good thing.
It's an ad toolbar, similar to Meebo, except that once I hide it, I can't manually bring it back up -- it seems to just randomly come back after a while.
And you're getting this on the Escapist? What browser are you using?
Firefox, and it only shows up on The Escapist. It's also not unusual that the Escapist would have something like this -- were you active when the Meebo thing went down?
I was, I didn't think they'd try something like that again. But in this case it might be a firefox exclusive thing. I know Facebook is exclusively annoying with a particular extension that only appears on Firefox.

Now oddly enough, I checked in Firefox(Nightly build) and I still see no toolbar of any sort. No sign of it in Chrome either. Perhaps it's a U.S thing? I know some of the ads only appear in the U.S.
Hmm... maybe. That would explain why nobody else in the thread has noticed it -- I'm on the East coast, and it's 2 AM here; most of the active users right now are probably in other countries. A google search turns up a website advertising the toolbar as a modern advertising solution, and nothing about it being spyware or adware. I'm running a scan with Malwarebytes to be safe, though.

Edit: And it's already turned up 7 items. They're probably just tracking cookies, but it's going to be at least 45 minutes before it finishes and I can see what they are. The only thing that suggests to me that it might not be on my end is that it's a little (java?) applet running on a webpage, and not a hard coded toolbar -- well, that and the fact that I've only seen it on The Escapist. I've seen quite a bit of spyware in my time (not on this computer, thankfully) and it's never been this benign before.

Edit Edit: Here's the website I mentioned that advertises it. The pitch is eerily similar to the one for Meebo.
 

Lareia

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Jul 9, 2010
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I am getting that same toolbar and ads on it with Chrome. I actually haven't seen it with Firefox yet, I don't live in US either.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Lareia said:
I am getting that same toolbar and ads on it with Chrome. I actually haven't seen it with Firefox yet, I don't live in US either.
Interesting. Anybody else? Because it's possible the two of us just have the same piece of malware.

I doubt it, though. The items the Malwarebytes scan turned up had been on for at least a couple of weeks, when I screwed up a scan I did, not properly deleting everything that turned up. If that were causing it, you'd think I would have seen it weeks ago.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Lareia said:
I am getting that same toolbar and ads on it with Chrome. I actually haven't seen it with Firefox yet, I don't live in US either.
EOTD said:
I have it too, for a few day's now.
Just to let you guys know, I haven't seen the toolbar since my malware scan cleared out what it found. You might want to run a scan to be safe.
 

Lareia

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Jul 9, 2010
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Owyn_Merrilin said:
Just to let you guys know, I haven't seen the toolbar since my malware scan cleared out what it found. You might want to run a scan to be safe.
This is odd, why would it show up only with Chrome for me and only on the Escapist page, I have not downloaded much anything nor clicked any weird links. Will try with the malware scan though, hopefully it helps.
 

LGC Pominator

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Feb 11, 2009
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It is on my PC too.

Running win7 with IE9 and Opera as my main browsers.

CCleaner and malwarebytes have done nothing.

Im in the UK so it seems to have spread.

I know before it turned up people on AVG *myself included, were getting malicious script warnings, this may be connected, either way it is incredibly annoying because it covers the portion of the screen with the navigation buttons, and tends to load up just as I go to press them >.<

If this is a deliberate thing from the Escapist staff then I am worried, I aren't used to seeing scam ads on legit sites (I HAVENT WON THE POSTCODE LOTTERY, A WOMAN DIDNT FIGURE OUT THE SECRET TO ETERNAL TOOTH WHITENESS, I WONT WIN A NEW PS4 IF I CLICK HERE, I WONT SEE WHAT THE FATHER SAW WHEN HE WALKED IN ON HIS 2 DAUGHTERS, THERE IS NO SECRET TO INSTANT WEIGHT LOSS!)
Seriously, I cannot stand these sorts of ads, and if they are here to stay on the escapist then I might just go hang around somewhere else.
 

Dags90

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Oct 27, 2009
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LGC Pominator said:
But all it takes is one weird tip/rule! And YOU TOO can have perfect teeth whiteness/thinness/muscle building! And it was discovered by a Mom, how can you not trust that?

It seems like an ad the Escapist is aware of, or at least, two separate moderators didn't comment on its existence in this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/538.306682-SOLVED-Help-Escapist-is-broken] thread.

Note: I haven't seen it, here or elsewhere. Can anyone put up a screenshot?
Edit: Nvm, I see it in IE.


Ads covering up other ads, you make it too easy Escapist.
 

Scarim Coral

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Oct 29, 2010
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Dags90 said:
LGC Pominator said:
But all it takes is one weird tip/rule! And YOU TOO can have perfect teeth whiteness/thinness/muscle building! And it was discovered by a Mom, how can you not trust that?

It seems like an ad the Escapist is aware of, or at least, two separate moderators didn't comment on its existence in this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/538.306682-SOLVED-Help-Escapist-is-broken] thread.

Note: I haven't seen it, here or elsewhere. Can anyone put up a screenshot?
Edit: Nvm, I see it in IE.


Ads covering up other ads, you make it too easy Escapist.
Yup I seen that toolbar on Firefox when I first go to this site to log in. It doesn't appear again when I close it and log in until I log out.