Why I love the Mac.. [ErrorSafe ads still appearing] [Archive]

Poff

Nov 8, 2006, 08:12 AM

I realize this might be in the wrong forum, if so please move it. I just thought the people interested in Mac basics might find this interesting, and I couldn't find a better place to put it..

I'm browsing Macrumors forums right now, and nothing else, on a XP PC with Internet Explorer. Suddenly the forum window minimizes, and I get a message box:
OBS! If your computer has errors in the registry or filesystem, this may cause unexpected and uneven PC performance, freezing, crashing and loss of data.
To repair these errors may improve the PC's performance and prevent loss of data.

Do you want to install ErrorSafe to scan your PC for free? (Recommended)

OK - Cancel

When clicking cancel, an internet explorer window resizes itself to be big and takes me to the ErrorSafe webpage, and I have to battle through a few dialog-boxes before it lets me go. Fortunately, Internet Explorer prevents what I suspect is a load of pop-ups.

..somehow I don't think this would ever happen on my Mac.

I'll leave an attachment for the norwegian-speaking of you.

spicyapple

Nov 8, 2006, 08:16 AM

I don't know how users can put up with Windows. It boggles my mind.

I recently had to service a Parallels Windows installation (yeech) and mucking through the system preferences was an exercise in frustration. Each change required an "Apply" which is so dumb. Macs make that whole process so easy and painless.

jessica.

Nov 8, 2006, 08:29 AM

I do love my mac but I'll admit I've always been really ok with windows, I just prefer to work in the mac environment. At work, I am tied to windows because that is all they let us have! And we're still on Win 2k...which I find super stable.

Greebazoid

Nov 8, 2006, 08:33 AM

I had that crap on my Windows 2003 server a while back - it was up todate with service packs and all was healthy till it somehow got adware and trojans

I eventually gave up trying to clean it, and am rebuilding it with Suse Linux.

Windows products good for games and nothing else.

dmw007

Nov 8, 2006, 09:04 AM

I don't know how users can put up with Windows. It boggles my mind.

Same here, I just can not stand to use Windows. :D :)

mick4394

Nov 8, 2006, 09:06 AM

I'm amazed that anyone still uses IE in this day and age. FireFox is the way to go, no matter what OS you use.
You're just asking for it if you use Internet Explorer.

dmw007

Nov 8, 2006, 09:15 AM

I'm amazed that anyone still uses IE in this day and age. FireFox is the way to go, no matter what OS you use.
You're just asking for it if you use Internet Explorer.

True, using Internet Exploder is practically like asking for trouble. :D

GimmeSlack12

Nov 8, 2006, 10:00 AM

I love Mac because of the free can opener.

steve_hill4

Nov 8, 2006, 10:15 AM

I love Mac because of the free can opener.

Oh, that's what it was. I've been using it to pick the mud from underneath my boots.

arn

Nov 8, 2006, 12:05 PM

I realize this might be in the wrong forum, if so please move it. I just thought the people interested in Mac basics might find this interesting, and I couldn't find a better place to put it..

I'm browsing Macrumors forums right now, and nothing else, on a XP PC with Internet Explorer. Suddenly the forum window minimizes, and I get a message box:

When clicking cancel, an internet explorer window resizes itself to be big and takes me to the ErrorSafe webpage, and I have to battle through a few dialog-boxes before it lets me go. Fortunately, Internet Explorer prevents what I suspect is a load of pop-ups.

..somehow I don't think this would ever happen on my Mac.

I'll leave an attachment for the norwegian-speaking of you.

this shouldn't be happening. not sure where it's coming from. I'll look into it some more...

arn

mkrishnan

Nov 8, 2006, 12:11 PM

True, using Internet Exploder is practically like asking for trouble. :D

Yes, to be honest, browsing in Windows in Firefox is slightly uglier than it is on a Mac, but otherwise not so bad.

Kolind

Nov 8, 2006, 12:22 PM

When clicking cancel, an internet explorer window resizes itself to be big and takes me to the ErrorSafe webpage, and I have to battle through a few dialog-boxes before it lets me go. Fortunately, Internet Explorer prevents what I suspect is a load of pop-ups.

First of all I'd just start using Firefox instead of IE (and OS X instead of Windows :D ), and second of all - don't press cancel in these cases, just close the window with the red X. What looks like a cancel-button is just a part of an image which links to the website.

I'd also run a virus/malware check after having been lured to any of those sites.

I can recommend the free online always up-to-date check at http://housecall65.trendmicro.com

dextertangocci

Nov 8, 2006, 12:23 PM

Winblows:rolleyes:

mkrishnan

Nov 8, 2006, 12:25 PM

First of all I'd just start using Firefox instead of IE (and OS X instead of Windows :D )

Now just replace that Dell hardware with a Mac and you're set! See? Only minor changes! :D

vouder17

Nov 8, 2006, 08:01 PM

MrSmith

Nov 8, 2006, 10:25 PM

I'm amazed that anyone still uses IE in this day and age. FireFox is the way to go, no matter what OS you use.
You're just asking for it if you use Internet Explorer.

Firefox is better than Safari? Why?

Poff

Nov 9, 2006, 03:38 AM

You are not going to believe this...it just happened on my Mac..Yes Mac OS X. Nothing windows...pure mac, not even intel. All of a sudden this error safe thing pops up and starts doing all funky stuffs. Gorsh, is this the beginning of the end...:eek:

Naaah! You're pulling my leg! :D

Really?? :confused:

I thought it was a windows-only thing. I'm at work and have to use IE. :(
It happened again right now, btw. I was on the frontpage and clicked MacBytes "Huge Interest In New iPod - Apple" transporting me to the forum, and then ErrorSafe came up.

When I did the same thing trying to recreate the above, nothing unusual happened.

Btw. Thanks for moving the post

seanf

Nov 9, 2006, 04:19 AM

I thought it was a windows-only thingIt's a Javascript advert, why would it be Windows only?

Sean :)

mkrishnan

Nov 9, 2006, 07:59 AM

Naaah! You're pulling my leg! :D

It's a pop-up. It's not *doing* anything besides popping up on a Mac (whereas it might try to install spyware / adware / malware on a PC). But some advertisers have been exploiting flaws in the way the browser environment is designed in order to bypass pop-up blockers. The most popular one is to embed the pop-up in a Flash object... I *think* that the latest Flash that was released a couple of months ago addresses this, but I'm not 100% sure.

Poff

Nov 9, 2006, 04:32 PM

It's a pop-up. It's not *doing* anything besides popping up on a Mac (whereas it might try to install spyware / adware / malware on a PC). But some advertisers have been exploiting flaws in the way the browser environment is designed in order to bypass pop-up blockers. The most popular one is to embed the pop-up in a Flash object... I *think* that the latest Flash that was released a couple of months ago addresses this, but I'm not 100% sure.

Doesn't seem to be a pop-up, rather a dialog box. It just hi-jacked Firefox on my Mac when browsing the forums. Seems to have a connection to this page : http://great4mac.com/store.html as the ErrorSafe page sent me to the great4mac page after I was done clicking all that stuff, without clicking anything. Seems pithelmet on Safari immobilizes the script.

I wish there was an option in Firefox to see how it actually happens. I'll attach how it looks, it's not a pop-up.

arn

Nov 9, 2006, 04:50 PM

What country are people in that are getting this problem?

And it is when browsing the forums -- correct? (http://forums.macrumors.com), not the main site?

arn

redeye be

Nov 9, 2006, 05:59 PM

What country are people in that are getting this problem?

And it is when browsing the forums -- correct? (http://forums.macrumors.com), not the main site?

arn

Just got one smacked in the face
belgium here, and it was surfing the forums (actually trying to load the next page of "new posts")
The url when clicking next page is something ... well see pic
The page does not load any further unless you click one of the buttons...

Good luck.

pic should be up soon
http://mr.yuru.be/pics/errorsafe.png

cc bcc

Nov 9, 2006, 08:14 PM

I just got an Errorsafe ad, I'm in the Netherlands. I was browsing the forums.

I hope you can fix this, it's pretty annoying.

Poff

Nov 10, 2006, 05:49 AM

What country are people in that are getting this problem?

And it is when browsing the forums -- correct? (http://forums.macrumors.com), not the main site?

arn

I'm from Norway. Got several browsing the forums. Never in Safari w/Pithelmet, though. Got one clicking a macbytes-article from the front-page, but that takes you to the forum, so I guess it had to do with the forum.

Sesshi

Nov 10, 2006, 08:20 AM

I realize this might be in the wrong forum, if so please move it. I just thought the people interested in Mac basics might find this interesting, and I couldn't find a better place to put it..

I'm browsing Macrumors forums right now, and nothing else, on a XP PC with Internet Explorer. Suddenly the forum window minimizes, and I get a message box:

When clicking cancel, an internet explorer window resizes itself to be big and takes me to the ErrorSafe webpage, and I have to battle through a few dialog-boxes before it lets me go. Fortunately, Internet Explorer prevents what I suspect is a load of pop-ups.

..somehow I don't think this would ever happen on my Mac.

I'll leave an attachment for the norwegian-speaking of you.

If you're familiar with Windows a degree of common sense would have prevented the clicking on that window, since the entire 'window' is an image with a link. Safari vs IE? A useless browser or an insecure brower - take your pick, or use Firefox. However, I have to agree that out of the box, the Mac caters for the clueless better than Windows.

Poff

Nov 10, 2006, 09:29 AM

If you're familiar with Windows a degree of common sense would have prevented the clicking on that window, since the entire 'window' is an image with a link. Safari vs IE? A useless browser or an insecure brower - take your pick, or use Firefox. However, I have to agree that out of the box, the Mac caters for the clueless better than Windows.

Mmno... I'm pretty sure it was a dialog-box, not a pop-up picture. (ie. look above, the picture from Firefox where the same thing happened.)

Assuming people you don't know don't have a clue about something will give you many surprises in life.

mkrishnan

Nov 10, 2006, 09:32 AM

Mmno... I'm pretty sure it was a dialog-box, not a pop-up picture. (ie. look above, the picture from Firefox where the same thing happened.)

Assuming people you don't know don't have a clue about something will give you many surprises in life.

It could be a Javascript pop-up dialog... Although a lot of websites "fake" that dialog look (since its frame looks just like the frame of any other window) with pop-ups on Windows. It's really funny when those come up in OS X. :)

Sesshi

Nov 10, 2006, 10:01 AM

Assuming people you don't know don't have a clue about something will give you many surprises in life.

Not really. I'm not assuming much.

Poff

Nov 10, 2006, 12:34 PM

Not really. I'm not assuming much.

I don't really know why I'm joining this pissing-contest, but..

If you're familiar with Windows a degree of common sense would have prevented the clicking on that window

would mean to me that you're assuming I'm not familiar with windows or don't have any common sense. Well.. look at the firefox-post I made. At least there you can see it's a dialog box and not a pop-up window.

Sorry if I'm stepping on some toes here. I'm tired and probably shouldn't even post here. So if this is uncalled for, I apologize.

Sesshi

Nov 10, 2006, 02:46 PM

I don't really know why I'm joining this pissing-contest, but..

Neither am I. It's like a zit you keep picking at, ain't it?

would mean to me that you're assuming I'm not familiar with windows or don't have any common sense. Well.. look at the firefox-post I made. At least there you can see it's a dialog box and not a pop-up window.

It's a JPEG or GIF in a pop-up window without any scroll bars. The entire image is a clickable URL. re: Lack of common sense + Windows familiarity, I'm not necessarily talking about whether the window is a dialog box or a pop-up window but the content of the window. Why would it refer to a tool that you've probably never heard of before? And the phrasing of the message is a dead giveaway if you have common sense - they phrase it like that so that they can nominally get away with putting out ads like that.

The VERY first time I ever saw ads like that, I read the 'dialog box' and knew better than to click on it.

Sorry if I'm stepping on some toes here. I'm tired and probably shouldn't even post here. So if this is uncalled for, I apologize.

My flat toes are unsteppable so you can step away and it won't bother me one bit, unless you mention Applecare in which case I will fly off the handle pretty quickly :p I fully acknowledge I'm blunt, often to a fault online but I don't really see that as a major problem for me.

Poff

Nov 10, 2006, 03:10 PM

Neither am I. It's like a zit you keep picking at, ain't it?

hehe.. true- :)

Btw. can a dialog-box contain a picture? I really believe it's a dialog box called by java. why? if you look at the attachment, there's how it looks when you browse the forums in Firefox and get the same message. That's not a picture called in a pop-up window, that's a dialog-box called by java, without any picture.

You're probably right I should have clicked the "x", and not cancel, when in Internet Explorer. In Firefox I got no other option, I had to click either ok or cancel, so I'd get transported to their page anyways..

And yeah.. unsteppable toes are good to have on these forums. :)

Sesshi

Nov 10, 2006, 03:25 PM

A link for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFixer

The exploit is most probably browser-customised these days.

vouder17

Nov 10, 2006, 03:40 PM

What country are people in that are getting this problem?

And it is when browsing the forums -- correct? (http://forums.macrumors.com), not the main site?

arn

I am in The Netherlands, and i saw it on the main site, but it has only happened once, so hopefully all is well. :cool:

Poff

Nov 10, 2006, 04:13 PM

A link for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFixer

The exploit is most probably browser-customised these days.

from the wiki it seemed to me to not be a image, but javascript (remember, if you close the window it will still take you to their page. You'll have to try alt-f4, if that fails you'll have to disconnect from the internet before closing the window). In firefox it was definitely not an image, definitely javascript. We can argue that to our death, but if you look at the .pdf I attached you see it's not a seperate window. It's a dialog box.

I don't thing I'll continue discussing the pop-up vs. dialog, img. vs. no img. thing, as it really has nothing to do with the main subject.

The solution for me = Safari + Pithelmet. I notice no problems here.

Belly-laughs

Nov 12, 2006, 06:09 PM

What country are people in that are getting this problem?

And it is when browsing the forums -- correct? (http://forums.macrumors.com), not the main site?

arn

Norway here. I posted about this a couple of weeks back and yesterday I got the alert dialogue again. As the screen capture shows the top ad didn´t load, but it shows which thread I´m visiting.

From the address bar you can see it didn´t give me any options, it was ready to redirect me, even by clicking "Cancel".

As it does not do any harm I´m no longer worried, but it is of course quite annoying.

Last time it happened I believe I was browsing the main page, but after visiting forum threads.
http://www.retromacs.com/stuff/errorsafe.png