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Google search virus?

J

jmfthatguy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2011
10
0
Well, I know it's not a virus, but every time I search for something in google (in Safari, not in Firefox), it at first looks normal, but then a new "result" appears at the top of the list named "Information about ____" or "Try _____" (the blank being whatever I search), but the link is ebates.com or kgbdeals.com or something like that. And, there's some sort of spam banner on the bottom of the left column. I tried to "Reset Safari", and that didn't work.

Any advice?
 
My DNS servers all look normal, they're all greyed out (I found on another forum that if they're black/bold to get rid of them).

I did install a video-watching software, I don't remember if I had to give a password or not. Perhaps. What could I do to clean that?

And why is it in Safari only, not Firefox? Not that I'm complaining :)
 
jmfthatguy said:
My DNS servers all look normal, they're all greyed out (I found on another forum that if they're black/bold to get rid of them).
Click to expand...
You don't get rid of them, just because they're black. They're grayed out because you didn't unlock the settings:
  1. When you first go to System Preferences > Network, click the padlock icon in the lower left and enter your admin password to change settings. Then they won't be greyed out.
  2. Under DNS Servers, make a note of your current settings, so you can change them back in the future, if you choose to.
  3. Select each IP and click the "-" under the list of DNS Servers to remove them all from the list.
  4. Then click the "+" and add two new ones: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google Public DNS)
  5. Click OK to change your settings.
Run with those settings for a while and see if you still get redirects.
 
And again, it's not a problem with the Network, as it's not happening in Firefox, just Safari.
 

Attachments

  • google search.jpg
    google search.jpg
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jmfthatguy said:
24.196.64.53
68.115.71.53
24.159.193.40
Click to expand...

Wait, are you talking about the Janesville Coupons link at the top of the search results? If you are, those are the result of Google AdWords. It's normal advertising that Google provides. There's nothing wrong with your computer. You likely have an ad-blocker on Firefox that you don't have on Safari.
 
Maybe. But the ads are designed to look like someting I want. For example, when I type google search "virus", I get a link called "Free Virus Information", but then it's just ebates.com, a coupon website. Try again and I get "Try Virus", which is yourgiftzone.com, they're all links to bogus surveys that want you to buy things.

If so, how do I set up that ad blocker?
 
jmfthatguy said:
Maybe. But the ads are designed to look like someting I want. For example, when I type google search "virus", I get a link called "Free Virus Information", but then it's just ebates.com, a coupon website. Try again and I get "Try Virus", which is yourgiftzone.com, they're all links to bogus surveys that want you to buy things.
Click to expand...

That's how Google's AdWords works. It uses your search terms to customize advertisements that are more likely to appeal to you. How do you think Google made all that money? All you have to do is not click on them. If you look at the green URL under each search result, you can easily identify whether the site is one you want to visit before clicking on the link.

As for ad-blockers, I use Safari AdBlock (not the extension, but the older version 0.4.0) and SafariBlock and the ClickToFlash plugin.

You may still see those links at the top of search results, but it's usually limited to the top 2 or 3 results.
 
Thanks. Yeah, it's only the first link each time. It's just weird that it started happening just last night. Any chance it's because I installed a third party extension?
 
jmfthatguy said:
Thanks. Yeah, it's only the first link each time. It's just weird that it started happening just last night. Any chance it's because I installed a third party extension?
Click to expand...
None. It's the way Google has operated for a long time. Perhaps you're just now noticing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
Ninety-nine percent of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs.

Google's AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website, and earn money every time ads are clicked.[104]
Click to expand...
 
No, I always had ads on the side, being what they claim to be. Just yesterday night I began to get fake ads at the top of my search. These ads are not what they claim to be. And half the time it's "Find sexy singles on facebook."

It all began when I saw on my facebook that there was a "dislike" option, which there wasn't before. That is a facebook virus, but did not fit the description of the virus I found information on online. I changed my password, that did nothing. Logging into Facebook on Firefox, it's fine. But on Safari, it's infected.
 
I have found a lot of information about this Facebook Dislike virus... however, those are all stories of getting a link "Hey, you can now dislike on facebook, click here to install"... but my facebook on safari just has the dislike buttons already there, I never "installed" anything.

Also, I just said that it has infected my Safari, and NOT my Firefox...
 
jmfthatguy said:
I have found a lot of information about this Facebook Dislike virus... however, those are all stories of getting a link "Hey, you can now dislike on facebook, click here to install"... but my facebook on safari just has the dislike buttons already there, I never "installed" anything.

Also, I just said that it has infected my Safari, and NOT my Firefox...
Click to expand...

As I just posted, the Facebook dislike button does not work on Safari, so your Safari cannot be infected with it. If you get in the habit of looking at the links below search results, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble:
ScreenCap 2.PNG​
 
I know what you posted... but when i log into facebook on safari, everything has the option to dislike. When I log into it on Firefox, it's normal. So my facebook is infected only in safari. You need to believe me that that is true.

Also, I do look under the links to see where the websites are coming from. And what I'm saying is just in the last 18 hours, I've started to have problems with them. I never have before, and it seems to coincide with my facebook (in safari only) having a dislike option.
 
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