ATTN Brian: Browser Hijacking
I recently clicked on a thread on the MGoBoard and my browser was hijacked from MGoBlog and taken to something called VirusDoctor. This is a fairly big deal, as anyone clicking OK on this pop-up will have malware installed and possibly trojan viruses that look to steal credit card information, etc. I know this because this exact thing happened to someone close to me from accidentally clicking OK when his browser was hijacked from Facebook. It took me about 2 weeks to fix and ~4-5 specialized virus programs.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:26 PM ^
By the way, in case anyone accidentally got infected, here is a guide to removing the program and its associated badness.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-virus-doctor
If doing whatever they suggest doesn't iron out the problems, create an account on the website and post a forum topic on your issues. They are great at resolving these issues and the service is free. I don't work there or anything, just passing this along.
September 20th, 2009 at 8:51 PM ^
Thanks for the link. Fixed my computer right up. I owe you some points, at least
August 30th, 2009 at 2:27 PM ^
get firefox and the plug in adblock plus. turn that on and enjoy.
Edit: to get rid of the malware, get malwarebytes. best program out.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^
I have FireFox but not the adblock plus (that I know of) and still got the malware thing. I don't know how relevant that is, but just throwing it out there in case it is.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^
Malwarebytes is really good and easy to run.
September 20th, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^
that's what i used this weekend, and it took the 2 things off that were ghost-added because of these ridiculous ads.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:27 PM ^
I had this happen to me twice now I think.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:27 PM ^
The same thing has happened to me.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:36 PM ^
This happened to me, what programs should I use to get rid of the malware?
Edit: Never mind, thanks for the link.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:37 PM ^
have to worry if you clicked OK on the popups. Restart your computer and see if it is generally freaking out - popups, threat messages, etc. If so, see the link I posted in the first reply to this topic.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:01 PM ^
are exactly why I use ABP. I've seen browser hijacking on enough sites that I've had enough.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:21 PM ^
Linux FTW.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:19 PM ^
He is aware of this as has been discussed in other threads. He is on yardbarker's case about it and might drop them soon if it persists.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:26 PM ^
for the update
August 30th, 2009 at 3:34 PM ^
...to me yesterday. I didn't click on ok, I just shut down and restarted. I haven't seen it since.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:36 PM ^
It's pretty sporadic. There are one or two ads out of the circulation of a couple dozen that cause it. I've only had it 3 times in the last week, but it keeps coming back.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:47 PM ^
Here is the download link for adblock plus for Firefox users. I am just installing it now for the first time.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
August 30th, 2009 at 4:47 PM ^
i got this popup earlier too and have gotten it before. i've never even had to shut it down, just click the X rather than the OK or whatever options there are and i've had nothing happen so far.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:00 PM ^
Good point! Never click the "OK" or "CANCEL" go straight for the X
August 30th, 2009 at 6:17 PM ^
the X causes it to just pop up again in an endless loop. The best way I've found is to ctrl-alt-delete and end the internet explorer/firefox/whatever process from there.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:23 PM ^
Killing the process is the best idea. Don't click within the window. Try Alt+F4. And if you get infected, penicillin or Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware usually work for me.
September 20th, 2009 at 9:31 PM ^
I was hitting Alt-F4 and the popup kept coming up "Are you sure you want to close?! YOU GONNA DIE!" or something
So I just went to the task manager. Ctrl Alt Delete, for those uninformed
August 31st, 2009 at 3:30 AM ^
Try Sandboxie:
http://www.sandboxie.com/
When you install it, you can run any application from within a secure sandbox. If you do get infected, you can delete the sandbox and the rest of your computer's data is protected.
Also, never use IE. NEVER. When I browse with a PC, I use Chrome.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:10 AM ^
Still getting this as well. Running firefox.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:12 AM ^
Problem still not resolved. Patience.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
I understand that, just wanted to make sure it hasn't fallen off the radar screen due to game week excitement.
Also it would let other viewers, that may have the same problem, see this thread.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:08 AM ^
For the really bad viruses...Windows Restore...the quick, simple nuclear option.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:19 PM ^
Some viruses can actually invade your Windows Restore backups...
And for the record, I got the hijacker again a few minutes ago.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:34 PM ^
Just happened to me.
Die, VirusDoctor, die.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:13 PM ^
Me too. Virus Doctor. 1st time and it's stubborn. Thanks for the advice earlier about getting out with x's and/or task manager.
Is this something Brian's still working on?
September 20th, 2009 at 2:25 PM ^
You need to tell Yardbarker they can get f*cked, this VirusDoctor shit is unacceptable on their part.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:31 PM ^
On Friday.
I've encountered shit like this before on other sites, and it was easy to get out of and get back to where I was supposed to be. The one I encountered here, however, was very persistent and tricky.... I had to opt out 4-5 times in order to get back to where I was supposed to be.
September 20th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^
Hasn't happened to me, using Safari 4 on Mac OS 10.5.8
I've been on the site a few times at work on a pc w/firefox, hasn't happened there, yet.