Pop up ads from text words?

**awa355** · 27th February 2013, 15:44

Have just clicked that certain words are underlined and in a different font colour, both on KB, and on the Stuff news site. When the cursor moves over the word, a pop up ad appears.

Is this a third party malware thingy, I've picked or part of various websites sneaky attempts to push advertising.

I hadn't noticed this happening before.

**MIXONE** · 27th February 2013, 15:51

It's been happening for a while now.I think it's a advertising $ thing.

**awa355** · 27th February 2013, 15:59

So its not just my pc then? It's bloody annoying. I wonder if I can disable the feature.

**SMOKEU** · 27th February 2013, 16:08

Use an ad blocker if you're not using one already if your browser supports it. I use Adblock Plus on Pale Moon and it does the trick most of the time.

**Scuba_Steve** · 27th February 2013, 16:18

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

Use an ad blocker if you're not using one already if your browser supports it. I use Adblock Plus on Pale Moon and it does the trick most of the time.

yea I also run Ad Block Plus, so kinda have no idea what this thread is talking about

**Mental Trousers** · 27th February 2013, 16:42

You've got some shit plugin installed in your browser or you don't have a decent ad filter. One of those two.

**Akzle** · 27th February 2013, 17:07

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

You've got some shit plugin installed in your browser or you don't have a decent ad filter. One of those two.

^ that.
. .

**Hitcher** · 27th February 2013, 17:25

You have a shit plugin. This will have piggybacked in on some item of software that you have recently downloaded. There are a few of these timewasters around. Delta-search is one. They're a pain in the arse to get rid of and won't be picked up by anti-malware packages because they aren't technically malware. I know how to deal with these things on Chrome but not Firefox or that browser thing that Microsoft makes.

**The End** · 27th February 2013, 17:28

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

You've got some shit plugin installed in your browser or you don't have a decent ad filter. One of those two.

Wait, the admin vouching for an adblock plugin? I thought you wouldn't want people to have them for the $$

**Mental Trousers** · 27th February 2013, 17:36

Originally Posted by The End

Wait, the admin vouching for an adblock plugin? I thought you wouldn't want people to have them for the $$

Advertisers on this site pay a set price to have their ads here so clicks don't affect KB. They would much prefer people see their ads, but I'm not about to tell anyone they should turn off ad blocking etc on KB. Although the ads on this site are relatively unobtrusive compared to most.

Besides, what sort of insanity would cause anyone to go online without ad blocking? That's crazy talk. I use a minimum of 2 layers (a proxy then a browser plugin).

**awa355** · 27th February 2013, 17:49

Originally Posted by Hitcher

You have a shit plugin. This will have piggybacked in on some item of software that you have recently downloaded. There are a few of these timewasters around. Delta-search is one. They're a pain in the arse to get rid of and won't be picked up by anti-malware packages because they aren't technically malware. I know how to deal with these things on Chrome but not Firefox or that browser thing that Microsoft makes.

I'm using Chrome have played with the settings and the annoying words have gone. Not sure what I've done. The problem was not just with KB. I'm not sure that I've downloaded anything as recently as this problem showing up.

**The End** · 27th February 2013, 18:19

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

Advertisers on this site pay a set price to have their ads here so clicks don't affect KB. They would much prefer people see their ads, but I'm not about to tell anyone they should turn off ad blocking etc on KB. Although the ads on this site are relatively unobtrusive compared to most.

Besides, what sort of insanity would cause anyone to go online without ad blocking? That's crazy talk. I use a minimum of 2 layers (a proxy then a browser plugin).

Ah I see, yeah I agree with your statement about ads on KB. I don't have them filtered (not that it would matter anyway) as they're "good" ads. Screw the pop ups and animating ones, not letting them eat up my bandwidth.

**Hitcher** · 27th February 2013, 21:14

Originally Posted by awa355

I'm using Chrome have played with the settings and the annoying words have gone. Not sure what I've done. The problem was not just with KB. I'm not sure that I've downloaded anything as recently as this problem showing up.

If you click on any of those rogue links do they take you to the same place? That should give you some clues to work with.

**jim.cox** · 28th February 2013, 06:24

Mate, your browser has been hi-jacked.

Some software has been installed that changes the way it behaves. And i"m sure you never intended to. Me, I'd call it a virus - but its a bit more blatant than most of them.

There are a number of examples of this around - I got hit with "babylon search" which produces exactly the symptoms you describe.

Getting rid of it can be damned difficult.

If you can identify which software is causing the problem, you should be able to find instructions on the net for how to get of it. If you are really lucky it may find an entry in "add or remove programs" for it, but most aren't that easy.

A good first step would be to grab a free copy of malware bytes from www.malwarebytes.org and see what it finds.