Every AW forum page forwards me to PAYPAL!

benbradley · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 24, 2008

All your base are belong to paypal

Haggis · Dec 24, 2008

Maybe Mac's trying to tell you something.

Rolling Thunder · Dec 24, 2008

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

Deleted member 42 · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 24, 2008

Medievalist said:
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'.

benbradley · Dec 24, 2008

Medievalist said:
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.

Beach Bunny said:
Fixed if for ya'.

Yeah, "Your Welcome" ... ahem...

Fenika · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 24, 2008

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 · Dec 25, 2008

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 · Dec 25, 2008

Bahamutchild said:
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:

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

Every AW forum page forwards me to PAYPAL!

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Fenika

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua

Rolling Thunder

Deleted member 42

Beach Bunny

The Provocative One

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Fenika

mario_c

Your thoughts are not real...

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

dpaterso

Patent pending

mario_c

Your thoughts are not real...

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint