|
|
Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 27, 2015 11:43:15 GMT
This is an issue which affects my browsing experience on this Board - as well as accessing Google and Yahoo mail etc.
Recently I have searched for and purchased some items from AliExpress. This placed tracking cookies onto my computer without my knowledge or permission. Now I am getting Google sponsored ads all of the time for AliExpress including images of kiddie porn such as naked babies, etc., for God's sake. Why? I shall not purchase anything else from AliExpress ever again.
However I could be arrested for having kiddie porn on my computer - kiddie porn that AliExpress and Google ads. whatever have put there via this Board (and others). This is absolutely disgraceful.
And I can't seem to find any contacts for either company to try and get this crap stopped or removed.
|
|
|
|
Post by Greg H on Dec 27, 2015 13:26:04 GMT
If you are being served adverts for illegal material it is time to contact the police, in short. Let them deal with it. As for getting rid of tracking cookies etc, download and install Ccleaner: www.piriform.com/ccleaner/downloadYou may be surprised at how much rubbish this cleans from your computer! I think advertising helps pay for the running of forums such as this, but the moderators would be the people to ask about that  |
|
|
|
Post by John Green on Dec 27, 2015 17:47:26 GMT
|
|
Simon Collis
Member
I have started to dream of lost things
Posts: 536
|
Post by Simon Collis on Dec 27, 2015 23:16:34 GMT
It actually sounds like you have malware replacing the ads on your pages. I'd download Malware Bytes and let that do a full scan. I don't work for them but my employer uses them (plus another antivirus) on ALL corporate computers, and the BOFHs I know swear by it (rather than at it). Malware Bytes is here: www.malwarebytes.org/ |
|
|
|
Post by Greg H on Dec 28, 2015 0:51:40 GMT
Yeah, Simon could be right about it being malware serving you weird adverts. Malwarebytes is a pretty decent piece of software, much better than some of the pay software I have used. AVG is worth a mention too.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 29, 2015 13:05:59 GMT
Thanks - I'll try the suggested apps. I also have to delete the appalling images. But I don't know how to inform any authorities. The local SNT is useless where I live.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 30, 2015 12:00:02 GMT
OK - Malwarebytes showed no threats. SuperAntiSpyware also showed no threats. However CCleaner stopped the tracking cookies from displaying the unwanted images. It seems that the images were indeed coming from AliExpress.com - due to my purchase of a few items some months ago. They were appearing via Google ads and AdSense (whatever) on this Board, on Yahoo Mail, Google, and I might have guessed on Facebook. There was one AliExpress trader who defaulted on sending what I had ordered and paid for, and I had then requested a complete refund. Then I had given the trader maximum negative feedback. Maybe this was some kind of perverse payback. But certainly Google ads were displaying images of a very unsavoury kind - all linked to AliExpress.
|
|
Simon Collis
Member
I have started to dream of lost things
Posts: 536
|
Post by Simon Collis on Jan 4, 2016 22:31:58 GMT
If you're happy doing so (i.e. feeling technically minded and/or brave enough) you could block their site altogether by replacing it in your hosts file - if you're on Windows you need to go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open the file "hosts" with notepad and add a line:
127.0.0.1 aliexpress.com
(presuming aliexpress.com is their address - you can also add other names at the end of the line).
This will cause any requests for their domain to loop back to your computer and be permanently ignored.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tony Walshaw on Jan 6, 2016 9:08:58 GMT
CCleaner stopped the tracking cookies from displaying the unwanted images. There was one AliExpress trader who defaulted on sending what I had ordered and paid for, and I had then requested a complete refund. Then I had given the trader maximum negative feedback. Maybe this was some kind of perverse payback. Yes, very possibly this was the cause. I agree, I have found AVG Free to be good, and is recommended by Which? magazine etc. To get the best out of it, run your own scans. If you merely let it do its own 'scheduled scans', it may miss things, e.g. tracking cookies. |
|
|
|
Post by Richard Marple on Jan 6, 2016 13:31:24 GMT
I used to use AVG but it seemed hit & miss finding problems.
|
|
|
|
Post by Greg H on Jan 8, 2016 23:00:39 GMT
If you're happy doing so (i.e. feeling technically minded and/or brave enough) you could block their site altogether by replacing it in your hosts file - if you're on Windows you need to go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open the file "hosts" with notepad and add a line: 127.0.0.1 aliexpress.com (presuming aliexpress.com is their address - you can also add other names at the end of the line). This will cause any requests for their domain to loop back to your computer and be permanently ignored. I was going to suggest editing the hosts file to block their ip(s), but I thought it might possibly confuse people! A place I worked at back in the day had a problem with inappropriate adds appearing across the staff network (relatively mild). The IT team were of the opinion that nothing could be done about it, lazy bleeders, so I added the ip range of the advertising pest's servers to the hosts file and all stuff from them was blocked. Yes, an astonishingly slack IT staff, I know. I didn't hire them. |
|
Simon Collis
Member
I have started to dream of lost things
Posts: 536
|
Post by Simon Collis on Jan 10, 2016 13:21:15 GMT
The IT team were of the opinion that nothing could be done about it, lazy bleeders, so I added the ip range of the advertising pest's servers to the hosts file and all stuff from them was blocked. Yes, an astonishingly slack IT staff, I know. I didn't hire them. An astonishingly ignorant IT staff, too. Any standard firewall has a way of blocking sites before they get on the corporate network. Even the very first proxy I ever used (back in 1995, using a 28.8K modem on a dialup connection on Windows NT 3.51) had that ability! If anybody gets stuck with trying to do this because of my post then please feel free to PM me and I will do my best to help you. |
|
|
|
Post by Greg H on Jan 12, 2016 18:02:52 GMT
Yeah Simon, the IT staff at that place were shocking. I did a bit of penetration testing just for the sake of it and any tom, dick or Harry could just waltz in really and access whatever they liked. Private staff records, finance, people's salaries etc. The manager didn't think it was that big a deal when I told them just how vulnerable it all was.
Thankfully I haven't worked there in a while and I am in a position these days where the IT team are very much accountable directly to me and I run a considerably tighter ship in terms of security!
|
|
