Fake virus redirects

[srob]

I can’t really use the forums at the moment as I seem to get the ‘congratulations you’ve won an iphone’ thing happen each time I try!

At least it seems it’s a PH issue as I was worried I had a virus on my phone

[Highway Star]

Keep getting some bloody ad trying to download fake PDF readers. Really annoying.

[Mr Whippy]

Still happening.

[BenLowden]

Thanks (and sorry) all, the ads team are now back on the case to work out what's going on. Will keep you posted!

[DonkeyApple]

The tabloid news sights seem to have the same issue which suggests it is those syndicated ads that are the issue.

[emicen]

Every other page load I’m getting this crap



Starting to get seriously annoying.

[Mr Whippy]

Getting this on PH and Autotrader.

Not noticed it elsewhere though. Hmmm.

[Funk]

Protect yourselves from this st:

PC - uBlock Origin plugin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin works across Safari (beta), Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.

Android (does not require root) - Blokada https://blokada.org/index.html which will block ads over all apps as well as the browser.

iOS - I don't have any Apple devices myself but hear Adguard works well: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/adguard-adblock-pr...

[DonkeyApple]

Thank you. I downloaded that app about 15 mins ago to my iPhone and the problem has gone. As have the banal third party ads which PH should have temporarily removed while their supplier found and fixed the offending client.

[Scrump]

Funk said:

Protect yourselves from this st:

PC - uBlock Origin plugin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin works across Safari (beta), Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.

Android (does not require root) - Blokada https://blokada.org/index.html which will block ads over all apps as well as the browser.

iOS - I don't have any Apple devices myself but hear Adguard works well: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/adguard-adblock-pr...

I don't get this problem on my android devices using Brave browser.
I do get it on my iOS devices even though I use adguard.

[DonkeyApple]

I enabled Easylist even though I didn’t really know what I was doing. Maybe that’s the difference?

[blueg33]

I use Ghostery as an ad blocker and to stop the tracking carp that goes on. Despite me turning everything off on PH preferences of all the sites I visit Ghostery blocks more ads and more tracking than with any other site I visit including newspaper websites and Facebook.

I understand that ads pay for the site, but there is a line between a few ads being ok and pages and load time being stuffed up. Classified is the worst

[Mr Whippy]

Whatever happened to paying for banner ad space and manually placing files there/managing etc?

The current paradigm of webvertising needs to die.

I’ll happily view car type adverts on PH, but supporting these vampiric spam adverts is just naff imo, and brings PH down to the level of the “10 amazing things you didn’t know” type websites.


Best blocker for iPhone is a vpn with blocking done at their end.

[Funk]

Scrump said:

Funk said:

Protect yourselves from this st:

PC - uBlock Origin plugin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin works across Safari (beta), Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.

Android (does not require root) - Blokada https://blokada.org/index.html which will block ads over all apps as well as the browser.

iOS - I don't have any Apple devices myself but hear Adguard works well: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/adguard-adblock-pr...

I don't get this problem on my android devices using Brave browser.
I do get it on my iOS devices even though I use adguard.

blueg33 said:

I use Ghostery as an ad blocker and to stop the tracking carp that goes on. Despite me turning everything off on PH preferences of all the sites I visit Ghostery blocks more ads and more tracking than with any other site I visit including newspaper websites and Facebook.

I understand that ads pay for the site, but there is a line between a few ads being ok and pages and load time being stuffed up. Classified is the worst

uBlock Origin does everything Ghostery does and more - by switching to uBlock Origin you'll get ad-blocking and anti-tracking in one.

Brave works for now but is heading 'pay to surf' apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)

[blueg33]

Funk said:

uBlock Origin does everything Ghostery does and more - by switching to uBlock Origin you'll get ad-blocking and anti-tracking in one.

Brave works for now but is heading 'pay to surf' apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)

Ghostery is doing my adblocking and anti tracking in one

[Funk]

blueg33 said:

Funk said:

uBlock Origin does everything Ghostery does and more - by switching to uBlock Origin you'll get ad-blocking and anti-tracking in one.

Brave works for now but is heading 'pay to surf' apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)

Ghostery is doing my adblocking and anti tracking in one

Ghostery were selling user data to ad companies a while back although they've supposedly stopped (I'd imagine when people deserted in droves). All I can recommend is to do some Googling and decide which works for you.

My personal preference is using uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere in combo, uBlock does a better job than Ghostery imo.

[blueg33]

Funk said:

Ghostery were selling user data to ad companies a while back although they've supposedly stopped (I'd imagine when people deserted in droves). All I can recommend is to do some Googling and decide which works for you.

My personal preference is using uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere in combo, uBlock does a better job than Ghostery imo.

What’s it like for impact on load speed?

[Mr Whippy]

If you’re into a bit of tinkering uMatrix is good.

But if you think you’re avoiding tracking then fingerprinting is likely catching you any way.
Spoofing to as generic as possible but ‘correct’ for your user agent is best then.


The web has gone crap though.

Brave isn’t the right way to go either.

[4x4Tyke]

I've used a blacklist hosts file on my PC/Laptops for years and never have a problem. A hosts file can be added to pretty much any internet device, including phones. This is the one I use at the moment and is probably the most comprehensive, combining several others. It comes in multiple versions to block different sorts of unwanted rubbish.

https://github.com/mitchellkrogza/Ultimate.Hosts.B...

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/edit-your-roo...

[Funk]

blueg33 said:

What’s it like for impact on load speed?

Very minimal, another reason I like it.