Competors' links being inserted in my websites

[rudypohl]

Anyone know what's causing this and what to do about it ?

On two of my clients websites, right below certain keyword phrases such as, advance you career, a hyperlink to a competator's website is automatically inserted. This links was only visible in IE 5.5, not in Netscape. When I altered a word in the phrase the intrusive link disappeared, when I restored the phrase the link returned.

Have my clients' machines been invaded? If so, by what, and what do I do the clear this up and prevent it in the future.

thanks a lot,
Rudy in Ottawa

[AdamGundry]

If you could provide a link to a page demonstrating this, I might be able to help you, but I can't think of anything without further information.

Adam

[rudypohl]

Hi Adam:

Here the site. My client now reports that almost all the pages have this invasive hylerlikn s on them.

http://www.jatcareers.com/

Thanks,
Rudy

[Jona]

Is it the link to www.iamcp.org? I'm using IE 6.0, and I don't see any links to any other sites. And I don't see anything misleading in the code.

[web-eagle]

I remember reading something about a browser add-on that puts these links on whatever pages show up on that browser, ostensibly for the purpose of making it “easier” to surf. Vendors can then purchase “words” so that wherever one of their “words” appear on a page, it will be linked to their site. I don’t remember the name of the add-on. It seemed very similar to Babelfish, but with a more commercial intent. If I’m right, your client may have this proggy running on his browser, which would explain why nobody else sees it.

[JackTheTripper]

Originally posted by web-eagle
I remember reading something about a browser add-on that puts these links on whatever pages show up on that browser, ostensibly for the purpose of making it “easier” to surf. Vendors can then purchase “words” so that wherever one of their “words” appear on a page, it will be linked to their site. I don’t remember the name of the add-on. It seemed very similar to Babelfish, but with a more commercial intent. If I’m right, your client may have this proggy running on his browser, which would explain why nobody else sees it.

Agreed. I installed something from cnet.com once and had the same thing happening. I was like WTF?!?!?!:mad: I think if you right-click the link some options come up which will tell you how to uninstall it.

[AdamGundry]

It looks like it is local. You could try running a virus-scanner on the affected machine and see if it picks up anything, or try Ad-aware:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Adam

[Jona]

There are many programs like that, some of which end up on your computer, and you do not realize how (happend to my dad... these porn sites popped up out of nowhere, how they got on there we still don't know... Thank goodness A-V programs come with porn-blockers!). But I do know that one of the programs was named $aveNow, and there was another one called RapidBlaster. If that helps any...

[rudypohl]

Hi Guys:

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like Ad-aware is the thing my client should get to eradicate this. Does this sound correct? Any suggestions?

Rudy in Ottawa

[neil]

Originally posted by Jona
There are many programs like that, some of which end up on your computer, and you do not realize how (happend to my dad... these porn sites popped up out of nowhere, how they got on there we still don't know...

JONA: "Dad, where did those porn windows come from?"

DAD: "I dunno, it was nothing to do with me"

:D ;)

but seriously though i hate these pop-up windows as well,

I'd like to get the people responsible and beat them to a bloody pulp somedays - they must cost the worlds economy millions each day due to lost working hours through annoying pop-up adds causing machines to hang.

[thevi]

some sites also have ActiveX popups that ask for confirmation to install 'utilities' on your system. Most of these are removable either in the Add/Remove programs dialog or via the internet options under Tools in IE.

Also you may want to make sure that ActiveX scripts are given the proper treatment in the security tab also via internet options under Tools in IE to prevent unknown or unauthorized installation of scripts.

[Chatmag]

It may be that you downloaded KaZaa, or another ad serving scumware, which will also do that. Here is a recent article regarding the "mystery links".
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/30/BU231339.DTL&type=tech

Dump KaZaa is my strong recommendation. And run Ad Aware and Swatit to locate and destroy any hidden ad serving scumware.