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Author Topic: Advert Speed test on Forum front page  (Read 3589 times)

renluop

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Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« on: November 09, 2018, 08:58:49 PM »

Is being blocked by Malwarebytes, because of malware. Posted in case Kitz wants to or can block it.
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kitz

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2018, 11:11:17 PM »

Thanks for reporting, but I can't see any speedtest advert test :(

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renluop

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2018, 11:57:08 PM »

It popped up right at the top, where the Kitz.co and PayPal logos are where there are ads.
I saw it several times yesterday, but today I haven't been about much, so have no idea, if it has appeared again.
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Weaver

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2018, 02:20:07 AM »

Is there any chance at all that adware has got into your web browser? By adware, I mean software or configuration changes that causes adverts to be displayed?
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renluop

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2018, 05:02:16 PM »

I don't think so, but for everyone the attachment shows the ad's position on its appearances.

I used to have ad-blockers installed, but found that some sites e.g. local newspapers would make viewing difficult, and whitelisting was erratic in its efficiency. That was a time ago and the forgettery has stored in I do not know where.
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kitz

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2018, 01:45:00 AM »

Hi Ren, sorry for the delay but its taken me all evening to get to the bottom of this.

The published ad is perfectly fine and viewing the ad does not cause any problems.   If anyone clicked the link it would take you to a page which invites you to add a browser add on which will test your Internet speed.  This is available from the chrome webstore.

The app itself, whilst available form GooglePlay doesn't particularly cause any malware as such but there have been a few complaints that the toolbar for chrome does offer its own search engine and ads.  There were also a few other complaints about its accuracy when compared to speedtest.net.
So whilst the app is not malicious it could perhaps be considered spammy..  or perhaps its flagged because it adds a toolbar to the browser?   

However I have absolutely no idea why the advert itself would be considered malware.


 
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renluop

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2018, 07:45:44 AM »

 :-[ :-[ :-[ My inaccurate posting! I did click the link. That's when the Mbytes warning stepped in.
Sorry .
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kitz

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Re: Advert Speed test on Forum front page
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2018, 06:24:23 PM »

That's when the Mbytes warning stepped in.

I suspect then,  that it may then be in a list that MWB maintains for browser toolbars.   A lot of the anti malware programs do flag up browser toolbars particularly if they are monitoring something.   
A classic example would be the Alexa toolbar for developers which is perfectly safe but because it sends data back to Alexa (as it's supposed to) then its classed as spyware.  I used to use the toolbar for many years without concerns but it was always being flagged up as unsafe by the likes of Spybot S&D   

I don't know about that particular toolbar as I didn't install it to see how it works, but I should imagine if its testing your speed then it will be 'dialling home' a fair bit to be able to monitor your speeds.
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