FOG's odd behavior when clicking topic links

[Straightlines]

Greetings Tech, I am experiencing odd and frustrating behavior when clicking some, not all, topic links within FOG search results.  Some links properly go to the desired resulting topic, whereas many others go here:  https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/errorhandler?hspart=gt&hsimp=yhse-gt&q=search&type=0

I am using latest Firefox on a MacBook Pro, running AdBlockPlus and No-Script, but No-Script is only blocking Google Analytics.  My default search engine is DuckDuckGo, not Yahoo.

Any ideas??

-- TIA, Bradley

 

[AlexThePalex]

To see if I could replicate your problem with my set-up (firefox on win 7) I've done some searches on the FOG and opened dosens of pages.

All opened up fine on the FOG, no referals to other sites. Which makes me think there is nothing wrong with the URL's the FOG provides to your browser.

I think malware might be in play on your side. Some types of malware hijack your links and send you to wrong websites. This happens a lot with search sites.

 

[TylerC]

Thanks for letting us know. We haven't experienced this on our end. I agree with [member=5277]Alex[/member] that it is likely a malware issue on your end. I recently had this happen with something non-FOG related.

 

[Bohdan]

[member=44778]Straightlines[/member] What you are describing happens on my computer with one difference. The redirects are all via a Google advertising site. Google has infected my computer with their own malware that places Google site addresses into my Host file. When you click on a link it often redirects you to the Google site which then redirects you to a commercial site that, I think, must pay Google by the number of hits.

I have found the Google addresses in my Host file, they are several screens down the file and don't appear unless you scroll down thru an apparently empty file. I have deleted them and they magically reappear the next time I reboot.

I have asked my IT friends but they don't appear to know how to get rid of what I call the "Google virus".

 

[Shane Holland]

[member=36526]Bohdan[/member], Google isn't messing with your hosts file. But some malware might be.

If your (meaning anyone) computer is acting strangely, it's more than likely a virus or malware. There are plenty of free anti-virus programs out there that are very good. I use AVG Free Version.

As for malware, download, install and run an anti-malware program. Again, several freebies but I would suggest the one below.

Anytime you get a "hit" on a virus or malware, you should remove it, reboot and run the check again. Wash, rinse, repeat until it's all clear.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

Good luck fixing things, [member=44778]Straightlines[/member].

Shane

 

[tigger]

I'm having the same redirect to yahoo. I'll do a scan of my pc now.

 

[Bohdan]

[member=36526]Bohdan[/member], Google isn't messing with your hosts file. But some malware might be.

If your (meaning anyone) computer is acting strangely, it's more than likely a virus or malware. There are plenty of free anti-virus programs out there that are very good. I use AVG Free Version.

As for malware, download, install and run an anti-malware program. Again, several freebies but I would suggest the one below.

Anytime you get a "hit" on a virus or malware, you should remove it, reboot and run the check again. Wash, rinse, repeat until it's all clear.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

Good luck fixing things, [member=44778]Straightlines[/member].

Shane

I have several virus and the malware program that you suggested but none of them can find anything wrong.

These are the entries:-

This is a cut from a Hijackthis scan that shows the virus IPs. I checked the host file and they were not there but Hijackthis says that it can’t access the host file and can’t delete these entries.

O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O1 - Hosts: 95.141.32.73 www.google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 95.141.32.73 google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 95.141.32.73 connect.facebook.net.
O1 - Hosts: 212.83.162.102 www.google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 212.83.162.102 google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 212.83.162.102 connect.facebook.net.
O1 - Hosts: 89.163.213.143 www.google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 89.163.213.143 google-analytics.com.
O1 - Hosts: 89.163.213.143 connect.facebook.net.

 

[AlexThePalex]

[member=44778]Straightlines[/member] What you are describing happens on my computer with one difference. The redirects are all via a Google advertising site. Google has infected my computer with their own malware that places Google site addresses into my Host file. When you click on a link it often redirects you to the Google site which then redirects you to a commercial site that, I think, must pay Google by the number of hits.

As Shane said, it's not google who does this, but other people's malware, people who try to exploit google's advertising program, by making you generate clicks for them.

And I agree with Shane Malwarebytes is the best program to get rid of malware, it is very thorough.

If your problem is with google specifically, it is worth contacting them. I've had a problem with malware that tried to exploit my google play account, contacted google about it, and they were very helpful to solve the problem.
 

 

[Shane Holland]

[member=36526]Bohdan[/member], have a look at this link.

http://techvts.com/google-redirect-virus-removal

I also forgot to mention that a lot of viruses/malware will actually prevent your virus or malware software from being able to get updates. Updates are very important because they have the latest information on what to tell your computer to look for. There are methods for manually updating these programs' should you have trouble with them updating automatically.

PS - Those IP addresses point to random internet providers in France, Germany and Italy.

Shane

 

[JonSchuck]

[member=36526]Bohdan[/member], Google isn't messing with your hosts file. But some malware might be.

If your (meaning anyone) computer is acting strangely, it's more than likely a virus or malware. There are plenty of free anti-virus programs out there that are very good. I use AVG Free Version.

As for malware, download, install and run an anti-malware program. Again, several freebies but I would suggest the one below.

Anytime you get a "hit" on a virus or malware, you should remove it, reboot and run the check again. Wash, rinse, repeat until it's all clear.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

Good luck fixing things, [member=44778]Straightlines[/member].

Shane

Shane
This wasn't free for me.  I got half way into it and they wanted $30.

 

[Shane Holland]

This wasn't free for me.  I got half way into it and they wanted $30.

They have a premium version that you have to pay for. There's an option at the end of the installation to enable a free trial of the premium version. I usually uncheck that. See attachment.

But I just installed this on my notebook as a test and was not require to pay for anything. It's working completely free.

Shane