Every AW forum page forwards me to PAYPAL!

[benbradley]

My work computer (XP, Firefox 3) wasn't doing this, but at home (Win2000, Firfox 3 AND Internet Explorer) an AW forum page load and in a second or two it goes to PayPal and wants me to log in there.

I'm guessing there was some small change in the board HTML code, and the paypal donate link gets picked up at the forwarding address. Or this computer is somewhat hosed...

ETA: For every new forum page I open, I have to hit the 'X' button to get it to stop loading within about one or two seconds, else it goes to paypal. What's going on...

[Fenika]

All your base are belong to paypal

[Haggis]

Maybe Mac's trying to tell you something. :D

[Rolling Thunder]

Some people just can't take a hint, even when it's thrust in their face. :D

[Medievalist]

Ben try this

1. log off AW
2. Empty your browser cache
3. Delete the AW cookies
4. Quit/Exit/Close your browser
5. Try AW again.

And merry Christmas

[Beach Bunny]

Ben try this

1. Empty your bank account through the paypal link
2. log off AW
3. Empty your browser cache
4. Delete the AW cookies
5. Quit/Exit/Close your browser
6. Try AW again.

And merry Christmas

Fixed if for ya'. :D

[benbradley]

Ben try this

1. log off AW
2. Empty your browser cache
3. Delete the AW cookies
4. Quit/Exit/Close your browser
5. Try AW again.

And merry Christmas
Well, that didn't fix it, and I had to log back into AW and I have this fear that I may have given a keylogger my AW password! <insert horrified smilie here> Do keyloggers save copy-and-paste info too? At least I use different passwords for different things...

I've got a list of running tasks I'm going to Google to see what I might have, and I'll run some malware scans as well.

This is an older computer I got a few months ago for really cheap (1.6 GHz, 18gig drive, still good for a "home computer"), and there were some odd programs on it that I removed, but it's been operating okay ... I'm enough of a power user I know not to "click on THAT link" or open "that" attachment and have never had virus problems, so I hadn't even thought to scan this machine when I got it.

Fixed if for ya'. :D
Yeah, "Your Welcome" ... ahem...

[Fenika]

An old, but possibly similar problem: http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/929.aspx

(Paypal traffic redirection- where it appears you are on the official paypal site)

[mario_c]

Ben, what antivirus do you use? Time for a thorough scan. The company I do support for, f-secure, offers a free scan off their website.
Anyway, also do a Disk Cleanup as well(Start>All Programs>System Tools) and ensure Temp Internet Files and the Recycle Bin are both checked. When you clear the cookies in your browser, also delete browsing history and form history. And change your AW password!
In Firefox you should use noScript to block all scripts from any website you don't know. No such program for IE at this time, although you can tighten up Pop-Up Blocking and Privacy settings in your toolbar.
Sorry to hear of your woes over the holidays, but crooks and vandals don't take holidays. It's unfortunate.

Have a safe and fun holiday!

[benbradley]

Well, yeah, a "thorough scan" is a no brainer.

I'll just wipe this disk (there's nothing important on it) and instal Ubuntu from a CD I'll make on my work computer. And there's no use changing my AW password while I'm running this crap now, is there...

[dpaterso]

Seems excessive! What anti-spyware/malware software have you got running? The right one would catch the nasty little piece of crap that's rerouting your browser to the PayPal thing.

-Derek

[mario_c]

Eek! Well, I hope your files are backed up. Your scan will hopefully be updated so it catches spyware that's dug in deep; if not go to the remote scan.
You seem like a sharp cookie so I hope I wasn't belaboring the obvious - trust me, I do this 40 hours a week so I had a flashback to my job...
Let us know how Ubuntu works, haven't played around much with Linux for some time and I'm curious.

[Matera the Mad]

An old, but possibly similar problem: http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/929.aspx

(Paypal traffic redirection- where it appears you are on the official paypal site)

But that only applies to redirection from a paypal link, not a redirection to paypal from AW. I would first suspect the cookies -- and then DNS caching...um...lemme Google this, it's too close to bedtime to think...

microsoft says: (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245437)
The actual DNS request is being sent to the local DNS cache. If the entry is listed there, Windows uses the entry and does not make the request to the DNS server. After the entry has timed out (based on its Time to Live, or TTL value), it is cleared from the local DNS cache. The next attempt sends the request to the DNS server.

To view the DNS cache, type ipconfig /displaydns at a command prompt.

To delete the entries in the DNS cache, type ipconfig /flushdns at a command prompt.
Then again, Ubuntu is nice ;)