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Michael Weber
07-04-2014, 12:54 PM
What's with the blue double underlined words on the computer screen that when you roll your mouse over them an ad pops up? Is there a fix for this? As an example the page I'm on filling this out on there are two blue underlined words. "New Thread" and "Forum". Both pop up an ad for monster.com. I have AdBlock plus installed and it's currently showing over 90 ads blocked from this page in the short time it took to type this. Opps now its 115. I also get unending blank popups titled "Ads By SupraSavings. I guess there blank because of ad blocker but they still cover things up. Have I got a virus? Thanks, Mike. PS, I'm also sometimes getting redirected to"www.domainsa.com/" when I click a new topic or button in this forum and others.

Jason Beam
07-04-2014, 1:01 PM
Scan your computer with something like Malwarebytes -- you've got some adware installed either via a program you downloaded, or by some website you went to.

Mike McCann
07-04-2014, 1:15 PM
yep you have avirus

Bruce Page
07-04-2014, 1:30 PM
A good malware removal tool is Spybot Search & Destroy. There are others.

paul cottingham
07-04-2014, 1:49 PM
Definite spyware. Spybot will very likely nuke it. Using Linux is the best solution.:D Can't help myself.

Michael Weber
07-04-2014, 1:53 PM
Thanks, I tried the Malwarebytes and it quaranted over 130 items. I still have the random blue underlined words that popup ads when moused over and the blank windows from SupraSavings. I'll try the Spybot too. Thanks for the suggestions.

Moses Yoder
07-04-2014, 1:59 PM
Go to your list of installed programs in the control panel (Add/Remove Programs) sort by date and see what was installed recently. Something like that you will probably need to find out exactly what it is then google how to destroy it.

Dan Hintz
07-04-2014, 2:01 PM
What you're seeing is called "in-text advertising". I hate it. One of my forums, meant for engineers, started using it a couple of years back. The trick is to find the companies that are serving up the keywords and block those servers... Vibrant was the biggest offender(and the only for that particular site).

Thing is, it was an option enabled by the website owner, so it is generally not malware or a virus (virus is an overused word that people ascribe to anything that doesn't operate the way they expect).

Michael Weber
07-04-2014, 4:51 PM
Well, neither of the suggested programs did anything. When I went to the source for the in text advertising on my computer the "Uninstall" option on the website was just another link to another adverting page. Talk about a Catch 22. I'm ready to ditch the PC and go buy a mac notebook. Just about had it with windows. Just seems to get worse and worse over the years. Used to be really into computers. I had a TRS 80 so been around them a while.

Mike Chance in Iowa
07-04-2014, 5:00 PM
Follow this guide to remove the Supra Savings. If you still have a problem, read the comments at the bottom of that page and there are new tips for removing it based on different names.

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/ads-by-supra-savings-virus/

Pat Barry
07-04-2014, 7:13 PM
Well, neither of the suggested programs did anything. When I went to the source for the in text advertising on my computer the "Uninstall" option on the website was just another link to another adverting page. Talk about a Catch 22. I'm ready to ditch the PC and go buy a mac notebook. Just about had it with windows. Just seems to get worse and worse over the years. Used to be really into computers. I had a TRS 80 so been around them a while.
Why is it that Mac wouldn't have the same problem?

Michael Weber
07-04-2014, 7:58 PM
Follow this guide to remove the Supra Savings. If you still have a problem, read the comments at the bottom of that page and there are new tips for removing it based on different names.

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/ads-by-supra-savings-virus/
That seemed to do the trick. Downloaded the adwcleaner link. It deleted a whole bunch of stuff and things are much much better. Faster as well. Thanks for that link Mike. And thanks to everyone for your suggestions
As far as why a Mac wouldn't have the same problem, I don't really know, I was just frustrated ;) Don't know much about apple computers although I have never had a problem like this with our IPad or IPhones.

John Fabre
07-04-2014, 9:07 PM
If you had the trovi virus, you haven't rid yourself from it yet, it hides.

Moses Yoder
07-05-2014, 4:39 AM
The way I understand it a lot of programmers hate Microsoft (Bill Gates) because of the way they do business and develop viruses/malware aimed at infiltrating Windows based OP systems and software. Not nearly as much stuff is aimed at the MAC, making it easier to prevent infiltration.

Jim Matthews
07-05-2014, 7:37 AM
Using Linux is the best solution.

Ah - 'real' computers.

John Coloccia
07-05-2014, 7:58 AM
The vast majority of Window's current problems stem from IE, which is a basket case of security holes, and people simply clicking on executable files in their e-mail. Window's architecture is more susceptible to attack as well. Unix-like operating systems are far more secure in that it's much harder for a virus to do any real damage, and since there's no IE, most of the common holes are sealed up from day one.

The best thing anyone can do is use IE exactly once....to download Firefox. Then never touch IE again for anything...ever. 90% of your problems will disappear overnight.

Still, Macs are more secure by design, and combined with a lack of Mac viruses anyway, there are very few Mac threats to worry about.

Brian Elfert
07-05-2014, 8:33 AM
The way I understand it a lot of programmers hate Microsoft (Bill Gates) because of the way they do business and develop viruses/malware aimed at infiltrating Windows based OP systems and software. Not nearly as much stuff is aimed at the MAC, making it easier to prevent infiltration.

The key is market share. There are many more Windows PCs than Mac systems so the bad guys write their stuff for Windows as they can hit a lot more PCs that way.

Dan Hintz
07-05-2014, 8:56 AM
Window's architecture is more susceptible to attack as well. Unix-like operating systems are far more secure in that it's much harder for a virus to do any real damage, and since there's no IE, most of the common holes are sealed up from day one.
It's not harder to do damage on a *NIX system compared to Microsoft and Apple, it's just that *NIX code is continually looked at by significantly more people than Apple or Microsoft code, so finding a hole to do damage through is harder. Of course, not having a hole-ridden application (IE) sitting on top of the OS helps significantly.


The best thing anyone can do is use IE exactly once....to download Firefox. Then never touch IE again for anything...ever. 90% of your problems will disappear overnight.
Agreed, 100%. Paying attention to where you surf and the links you click on will get you another 8-9%.


Still, Macs are more secure by design, and combined with a lack of Mac viruses anyway, there are very few Mac threats to worry about.

Mmmmmm, okay. It's a *NIX system, so you get the benefits of that... but it's a closed microcosm of *NIX, so it opens things up a bit more towards the Microsoft spectrum. Overall, generally better than MS, but not the panacea people think (want?) it to be.

Scott Shepherd
07-05-2014, 9:34 AM
There's a reason that most of the mainframes in the world that run banks, military, telecommunications, travel, etc aren't running MS OS's.

I started with a Vic-20. So go from a Vic-20 to today, where I have 5 PC's running Win 95, XP, and Windows 7, I'd say I've spent my fair share of time on computers over the last 35 years. That also includes running Sun360 Workstations running Unix, interfacing with IBM mainframes, and a number of other interesting projects.

Several years ago I decided to take a plunge and get a used Mac. It was my first one. All I heard at the time was how it was "only a matter of time" before they were hit with all the nasty stuff. That was 3 years ago, still nothing. What's that mean? It means 3 years of my life clicking anything I want, downloading most anything out there, not having to update any McAfee, Norton, or anything else. I come to work (and go home) and do what I want on the computer, use it all day long and never once give a split second of thought about anything regarding security.

While it's easy to theorize about what's possible one day if someone ever puts some really nasty stuff out there for Mac's, that day isn't here, and if I can get 4-5 years of never once having to deal with another virus or malware in my day, then I think it was worth it to me. Malware and virus' can be some nasty nasty things that can take many hours to get rid of. Not fun, joyful hours spent on things you want, irritating, frustrating hours spent trying to untangle a spider web of a mess.

You can say what you want about Mac's, but in my 35 years of computing, they have proven themselves to be the easiest, most hassle free systems I've ever used in 35 years.

Are they perfect? Not by any means. None are, but are they safer? Without question.

Duane Meadows
07-05-2014, 11:38 AM
Oh Mac malware is out there...

https://www.google.com/search?q=mac+botnets&oq=mac+botnets&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5597j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Problem is Mac uses think they safe, often have no idea they are infected.

Also one of the biggest threats today is so called "social engineering" threats. Basically, if you ask enough people for, oh say, their banking info, some will give it to you! That kind of stuff is operating system agnostic!

I have run Windows 7 since it came out and have not had a virus/malware issue with it. Not running as admin goes a long way to preventing a lot of stuff. Unfortunately Windows makes it too easy to do just that.

The biggest thing , as Dan said is market share. With less than 10% market share Mac OS/X just isn't that big of a target. Linux is even smaller.

No OS is bullet proof, if you keep your head in the sand, thinking your safe... well good luck with that. You may even already be wrong and not know it!

By the way, posted from Linux!

Scott Shepherd
07-05-2014, 11:52 AM
Oh Mac malware is out there...

https://www.google.com/search?q=mac+botnets&oq=mac+botnets&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5597j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Problem is Mac uses think they safe, often have no idea they are infected.

Also one of the biggest threats today is so called "social engineering" threats. Basically, if you ask enough people for, oh say, their banking info, some will give it to you! That kind of stuff is operating system agnostic!

I have run Windows 7 since it came out and have not had a virus/malware issue with it. Not running as admin goes a long way to preventing a lot of stuff. Unfortunately Windows makes it too easy to do just that.

The biggest thing , as Dan said is market share. With less than 10% market share Mac OS/X just isn't that big of a target. Linux is even smaller.

No OS is bullet proof, if you keep your head in the sand, thinking your safe... well good luck with that. You may even already be wrong and not know it!

By the way, posted from Linux!

I didn't say it didn't exist. I said in my every day travels, it's not a concern for me. As long as you keep your OS up to date, it's a VERY VERY small threat. I stand by my statement, 3 years or so of clicking on what I want, no virus scanner to keep current, no subscriptions to manage. Just sit down, use it, and move on. But, had I listened to all those that said how bad things would get on the Mac "soon", I wouldn't have had 3 years of event free computing.

Michael Weber
07-05-2014, 11:55 AM
Should have mentioned in my original post that I'm using Chrome on a Windows 8 computer (another reason to hate it). I'm pretty careful about downloads Problems seemed to be solved for the time being anyway. I used to joke with my co-workers that I missed DOS because you knew what was on your computer, how it got there and what it was supposed to do. Really appreciate all the help. Mike

Dan Hintz
07-05-2014, 3:13 PM
There's a reason that most of the mainframes in the world that run banks, military, telecommunications, travel, etc aren't running MS OS's.

Probably not the reasons most think...

Telecomm equipment usually runs on uncommon processors... MIPS processors take the lion's share. Open your average wireless router and chances are it's a MIPS. This means *NIX as Windows was never meant for MIPS chips.

Banks are still running COBOL and PASCAL in some places, simply because the transition over to a new language on a standard OS would be too costly in the short run (and for a field that measures returns in quarterly earnings, a project that lasts multiple years before it can even be tried out isn't going to happen).

Military is all over the place, from Windows to *NIX. More than once a military vessel has been towed into port due to a Windows Blue Screen of Death, and *NIX builds are often decades old. Trust me when I say most military systems are not thinking "We can't run that OS because it's vulnerable to viruses"... that thinking is WAY down on their list.

Scott Shepherd
07-05-2014, 6:03 PM
Telecomm equipment usually runs on uncommon processors... MIPS processors take the lion's share. Open your average wireless router and chances are it's a MIPS. This means *NIX as Windows was never meant for MIPS chips.

Banks are still running COBOL and PASCAL in some places, simply because the transition over to a new language on a standard OS would be too costly in the short run (and for a field that measures returns in quarterly earnings, a project that lasts multiple years before it can even be tried out isn't going to happen).

Military is all over the place, from Windows to *NIX. More than once a military vessel has been towed into port due to a Windows Blue Screen of Death, and *NIX builds are often decades old. Trust me when I say most military systems are not thinking "We can't run that OS because it's vulnerable to viruses"... that thinking is WAY down on their list.

The telecommunications might have changed, but my professor was straight out of Bell Labs that was teaching the Unix classes I took years ago. At that time Unix was the only thing running anything. If it was a mainframe, it was running Unix. At the time he told us that one could certainly hack into Unix systems, but the problem was the people that were smart enough to do it were smart enough to make so much money working in Unix, that it wouldn't be in their best interest to hack them.

At the time Unix was superior to most everything and stayed that way for a decade or more. I have no idea what W7 or W8 is now. I know they were a horrible mess from the beginning. I would imagine quite a lot has changed and evolved, but I'm still content not having to worry about much of anything on a daily basis.

paul cottingham
07-05-2014, 6:17 PM
Macs and unix are not less vulnerable due to a lack of market share, most (at least 50%, I think is is closer to 70%) web and email servers run unix, so they are everywhere. Macs and unix are safer because they have a much more secure and robust security model than windows do. Windows security is a mess. It comes from the compromises necessary from adding security as an afterthought, rather than building it in from the beginning.
Most processes run as a hugely privileged user in windows, making them very vulnerable. In fact, many windows apps wont run properly unless they are run as a privileged user. Unix admins who know their business wont do that. Believe me, we ran a unix mail server in a rack at an ISP and it got hammered. But no one ever got into it. The windows based servers in the same place? Got compromised all the time.

John Coloccia
07-05-2014, 9:06 PM
It's not harder to do damage on a *NIX system compared to Microsoft and Apple, it's just that *NIX code is continually looked at by significantly more people than Apple or Microsoft code, so finding a hole to do damage through is harder. Of course, not having a hole-ridden application (IE) sitting on top of the OS helps significantly.

Oh sure, it's much harder thanks to the Unix micro-kernel model. The core "problem" with Windows (though I'll argue that it allows for a VERY nice programming environment...maybe the best) is that every time you want to do the most mundane of tasks....I don't know, make a button for instance....you will eventually tickle large portions of the operating system. Unix is much different in this regard. The Unix kernel is very basic and compact and as such it is far simpler to create a Unix free of exploitable bugs. There can still be exploits due to poor system management or necessity, but when you combine a very solid kernel with the usual practice of NOT running day to day activities as root, it makes for a more difficult system to attack.

In Windows, on the other hand, just about everyone has administrator privileges by default so Trojans can basically just run amok. Then you add garbage software, like Internet Explorer, that has a bazillion security problems, and making calls into other libraries that have potentially exploitable bugs, and the more ambitious programmer that writes more traditional forms of viruses also has a way in. So for example, it would be difficult to do something directly to get into bits of memory that you're not supposed to get into, but it's possible to find ways to get the API to do things in a way that will then cause things in the kernel to run wild. I think it's gotten much better in this regard, but there is just too much code kicking around to ever really lock it down. It's much much easier to create a Unix style operating system that has a minimal amount of these kinds of exploits.

paul cottingham
07-05-2014, 9:43 PM
Oh sure, it's much harder thanks to the Unix micro-kernel model. The core "problem" with Windows (though I'll argue that it allows for a VERY nice programming environment...maybe the best) is that every time you want to do the most mundane of tasks....I don't know, make a button for instance....you will eventually tickle large portions of the operating system. Unix is much different in this regard. The Unix kernel is very basic and compact and as such it is far simpler to create a Unix free of exploitable bugs. There can still be exploits due to poor system management or necessity, but when you combine a very solid kernel with the usual practice of NOT running day to day activities as root, it makes for a more difficult system to attack.

In Windows, on the other hand, just about everyone has administrator privileges by default so Trojans can basically just run amok. Then you add garbage software, like Internet Explorer, that has a bazillion security problems, and making calls into other libraries that have potentially exploitable bugs, and the more ambitious programmer that writes more traditional forms of viruses also has a way in. So for example, it would be difficult to do something directly to get into bits of memory that you're not supposed to get into, but it's possible to find ways to get the API to do things in a way that will then cause things in the kernel to run wild. I think it's gotten much better in this regard, but there is just too much code kicking around to ever really lock it down. It's much much easier to create a Unix style operating system that has a minimal amount of these kinds of exploits.

John, thank you. You put it in words much better than I ever could. There is no comparison in the security models of the two operating systems. (I use the word security with regard to windows very loosely indeed.)

Brian Elfert
07-06-2014, 11:39 AM
I continue to use Windows largely because I use a lot of programs that simply don't exist for the Mac. I also don't like the high cost of Mac PCs versus Windows PCs. I like to have a laptop with a real dock. Apple doesn't make such a thing. There are third party docks, but my employer has had bad luck with them. My Windows PC at home simply runs and runs. I very rarely have issues with it, but I am also a Windows and Unix administrator as my job so I tend to be a little more careful.

The Windows desktop OS needs a top to bottom rewrite to make it more secure, but Microsoft will never do it because of backwards compatibility. People still run Windows 95 programs on Windows 7. Apple was able to transition to a new OS, but their market share at the time was pretty small and there was still plenty of people complaining.