hi,
i have been having a problem with google recently. when i do a search for a particular topic and click on the link from the list that is offered i get redirected to a site that has nothing to do with the link i wanted to go to, quite often its mobile phone smiley face graphics or anti virus software or a totaly different search engine or sometimes a porn site.
anyone else having trouble with google?
im thinking of binning my firefox browser and re installing it.

Try running adaware, spybot s&d and an antivirus app.

will do, cheers.
i use an applemac always thought they didnt get spyware and the likes, obviously not it seems.

what search terms are you using? If you can tell us, we can try them. It might not be anythign to do with your mac. What browser are you using?

hi,
the browser im using is Firefox 2.0.0.14. i run it on a G5 Intel Mac with Mac os 10.5.3

i have just got a friend to try his mac with firefox and he has no problems.

seems ive got a dose of the internet clap.

seems its just Firefox doing this, if i search using the Safari browser i get to the page that the google link should go to.
i dosnt matter what i use as a search topic in Firefox browser, the links in the google search results redirect me to auut.com then to some shitty page trying to sell something.

just found that mozilla firefox is now at v 3.0. Nice of them not to let me know,even though the browser is set up for updates. So anyway, after installing it my google searches are no longer being being redirected. seems like the older version i was using has been left to the wolves.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=135563

ive got ff3 and a few addons dont work. I particularly miss the recently discovered by me 'FireSomething' it allows a different name for ff each time it loads.
you can customise it too, so if you're not on ff3 yet, then give it a go.

It won't be Firefox's fault - it sounds like something might have affected your HOSTS file which tells the computer how to resolve into numerical addresses (in the form of 83.149.78.24) to go to from the name that you've typed (like uk420.com).

FF3 is better than FF2, BTW - it's faster and it uses RAM far more efficiently.

hi, well it seems to be still fucked, thought the problem was sorted.

scribble, i dont seem to get redirected from google search links when using a different browser, i know nowt about computers, would that still fit into the suggestion of my hosts file being infected?

¿Which ISP are you with? Apparently, some ISPs have been doing DNS redirection at their level, leading to behavior like this. If you completely uninstall Firefox, and then reinstall a fresh copy downloaded from somewhere totally trustworthy (like here) and it still behaves like that, then I'd say that it's gotta be something that your ISP is doing.

Just to add - something else you can do that will probably stop this behavior is to use OpenDNS as your DNS provider instead of your ISPs one - they're a lot better than nearly all ISP ones, anyway - they're quicker, and changes propagate faster with them, too.

Details on how to set it up for OSX Leopard here.

Seeing as how you're on a Mac - this is either down to one of two things - either your ISP is selling clicks to advertisers via DNS redirects, or you have picked up one of the few Mac trojans that exist - a DNS redirector one - either way, the change over to OpenDNS should fix both of them.

Let me know how you get on.

cheers mate,
i will have a good look at that in the morning, currently the g13diesel has impaired my vision and motor skills

well, im finding Firefox difficult to uninstall. i have followed various instructions for getting rid of firefox but when i install the new version all my bookmarks and passwords seem to still be there from previous.
i even searched my hard drive for anything with firefox and mozilla connected to it and binned that but the bookmarks and passwords are still there when opening the newly installed version.
also i get redirected to the usuall site selling shite or a crappy search engine.

a friend has a mac round here now plugged into my router and he doesnt get redirected when using his firefox.

at this minute Firefox sucks. wish i could find the owner and smash his smug face in!

dunno if this may help in diagnosing if i have a virus or whatever but if i copy and paste the link from a google search into my addressbar i get to the page it says it is but as mentioned if i just click on the link in any of the search results i get redirected to advertising hell. also its not just the google search its yahoo also.
by the way my isp is Orange and its to much of a pain to change isp as it takes forever to get the internet back on and i dont want to miss any bud porn.

suggestions appreciated, short of jumping out the window that is.

this seems to have worked so far https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/537
it does worry me that its hard to uninstall firefox completely. i followed the instruction to the letter and even searched my harddrive to make sure nothing was left, but all the passwords and bookmarks were intact on installing the browser again.
think im going to get norton internet security now. i used to think macs were safe for going online but now im not confident at all. just wish i understood more, im like a typical mac user, no idea how it works, just point and click and your away.

gonna have have to sooth away the stress now with a pipe...oh well...

You can uninstall Firefox completely by dragging it to the 'Trash' - you can then run a Mac app called 'AppZapper' (the uninstaller that Apple forgot) that will erase any leftover traces from your system.

Also, don't bother with Norton anything - it's a complete pile of shit that will cause more problems for you than it will ever solve.

¿Did you install OpenDNS, BTW - and if so, did that stop it from happening?

hi scribble,
i havnt installed OpenDNS yet, before i try it can i ask you, i share live recordings at the likes of dimeadozen.com using Transmission. will installing OpenDNS affect me using these kind of sites? also a friend shares my router, will he have to install OpenDNS also?

cheers.

Nope - it will be completely transparent to you, and won't affect anything, and it will only be for your computer - you can install it on the router itself, actually, using a different set of instructions.

nice one scribble,
im off out for a spot of real ale just now so i will try it sunday morning. i will let you know how it goes.

cheers mang

hi scribble,
i just had a look at OpenDNS. i couldnt clear the existing dns numbers that im using. couldnt work out out to get them to be editable, even following the guide. my system preference panel looks a little different to the one illustrated. mine has 2 ethernet connections and some other stuff, though i have no idea what it all actually does.
in the meantime as all seems to be working ok, im gonna leave it as it is. i must admit i have become very wary of adjusting any settings to do with my internet access, as i know only to well how it feels when it all goes on the blink.
i will have a friend of mine take a look midweek as he is a bit of a mac head.

cheers and thanks for helping out.

just a quick update,
i used the appzapper to remove Firefox completely, nice little app but they want you to pay for it after 5 goes, though it is only $12. anyhow i then downloaded the Firefox browser again from the link provided and the same problem occurs, all of Firefox search results be it via yahoo or google etc get redirected to the most worthless pages and search engines , even if you click on one of these obscure search engine results i just get redirected once again to crapsville.
the Adblocker add-on i posted a link for worked untill the other day but now it seems ineffective.
as you know i dont understand much about the inside of the internet and computers but i was reading that even OpenDNS are redirecting search results.
i have searched high and low for a solution without messing about with my DNS settings with no result.
i think it is a Mozilla Firefox issue as any other browser i use works fine.

what i have decided to do is to simply no longer use Firefox and stick to Safari as i do not get these issues with it.

and just to make myself feel a little better about this i shall go down on record as saying "fuck you Firefox!"
cor, i feel better already...

Well, if it makes you feel any better - it's still down to something that's infected your machine, and not Firefox.

I reckon that your DNS settings have been pissed about with, and the different browsers access the DNS that your ISP uses in different ways, hence the different behaviour.

OpenDNS only redirect you to *their* search page when you mis-type an address, or you type something that can't be resolved (coz it doesn't exist, or whatever) - and their alternative suggestions are usually pretty useful, actually.

I can't see why you can't try out using OpenDNS's DNS servers in your settings, and then if you don't like it, or whatever, then just make a note of your original settings, and type them back.

Personally, I would find it *really* hard to surf the web without the Firefox plugins I use, like AdBlock, FlashBlock, NoScript, Download Helper, Greasemonkey, Flashgot (using wget) and ImageZoom for example.

¿Who said that Macs were impervious to malware?

hi scribble,
i didnt install OpenDNS cos i couldnt work out how to remove my original DNS . but guess what, i have spent a little while trying to suss it out have literally just now and managed to install OpenDNS. and youll never believe it, actually you probably will, but i am now not getting redirected!
thanks for your help, its much appreciated, i am a bit behind with computer stuff but i learned something there.
so, do you think i had or have been infected with the mythical Mac OS X Malware? and if so is this proof that Mac users are now wide open to all sorts of attack? and if its true, what can i do about it?

also, i hope Firefox dont find out i told them to get fucked, they might pull the plug on me
i must admit i did feel better, though it was rather brief as i find Safari to be very clunky.

cheers man, im off to find out what those add ons you like so much do.

Yeah - with OpenDNS fixing the problem (like I thought it would), it would seem to indicate that somehow something's managed to piss about with your DNS settings, making it so that it resolves popular search engine queries to some bullshit 'advert affiliate' kind of place.

Now that you've put OpenDNS on there, I would imagine that it's reversed any changes that the malware made. ¿Could you post up what the original DNS settings were, before you changed to OpenDNS? This may help figure out what happened with them.

The only other thing that I can think that the malware might have changed is your HOSTS file, which you should be able to find here: /private/etc/hosts - if you could paste the contents of that into a post, that would be helpful in diagnosing what'a'g'wan.

hi,
i can post that info, but before i do, is there any security risk to me posting this info?

Nah - the (original) DNS servers will either be your real ISP ones, which will be shared by everyone using your ISP in your city/region of the UK, or they will be some bullshit ones put there by the malware.

Also, your HOSTS file will contain *nothing* that will be specific to you, or your computer.

Perfectly safe and anonymous to post this info, dude.

the DNSsettings were 85.255.116.102
85.255.112.229

having diffuculty finding the HOSTS file, where would i look? a search for 'hosts' spat out quite a few documents.

- unless you live in the Ukraine, those DNS servers were *definitely* evil, malware ones:



You could just open /private/etc/hosts in a text editor, and copypasta the contents into a post here.

fuckin 'ell scribble, im shittin meself now! how do you think the Ukraine underworld managed to mess with my DNSsettings?
im most definitly living in old blighty.

also, /private/etc/hosts i dont seem to be able to find this. any ideas?

Being a mac user this concerns me somewhat.



This may be of use
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26652...er-removal-tool

That's interesting - switching to OpenDNS has obviously manually fixed the DNS changes that the malware made, but it'd be nice to see if it'll find anything else that it might have left on his system.

I'd still like to see the contents of his HOSTS file, though, just to be thorough - ¿you don't happen to know where he's likely to find it on his OSX, do you?

I'm not too sure about that kind of thing Scribb|e what is the info Savage should be looking for?

Savage you could try going to
Applications folder > Utilities folder > Netinfo Manager
Launch Netinfo Manager.
Click "machines" in the centre column
you'll then have broadcasthost & localhost in the next column
Click localhost (I think)

In my case localhost has
Property Value
ip_address 127.0.0.1
name localhost
serves ./local


Is this the info you're after scribb|e

pezzie
i tried the app. from the link and it said it has detected a DNSchanger trojan horse, it asked if i wanted to remove it and it did..i think..

still on OpenDNS. think i will stick with that aswell

Fingers crossed for you Savage. Safe surfing

there isnt a Netinfo Manager in my utility folder. there is a Network Utility panel and has 'info' 'netstat' 'apple talk' 'ping'
'lookup' 'traceroute' 'whois' 'finger' 'port scan'

¿So, you've been trying to watch naughty porn using shady CODECs on your Mac, then?

Glad we got to the root of the problem.

No - a HOSTS file is a text file that contains addresses that are resolved before your computer uses the DNS server to look something up - in it's simplest form, it'll look something like this:



Sometimes malware will overwrite the HOSTS file, making it redirect certain sites to shady ones instead - kind of like the DNS one does, but using the HOSTS file on your computer, instead.

You should have, do you have Spotlight? Blue circle with magnifying glass top right of screen next to the Day/Time?
Click that and a box to type in will pop up type in netinfo manager and it will find it if it's on your comp.

As far as I'm aware you need to be root user and have the password to make changes to that, but like I say I'm no techie

Actually, come to think of it, with the Mac OSX being a BSD-derived system, the HOSTS file should be at:

/etc/hosts



e²a:
Yes - I'd say that you're right there, with the Mac being a *nix-type system, but I would imagine that you have to be root to change the DNS settings, too, but the malware managed to do that, somehow.

im always watching naughty porn!

i do remember trying to watch some clips that needed either 'x object player' or 'object x player' or something like that and i found out it was only available for windows systems. though i did try to download it.

looks like im gonna have to wear a rubber now when i go surfing

quote… "You should have, do you have Spotlight? Blue circle with magnifying glass top right of screen next to the Day/Time?
Click that and a box to type in will pop up type in netinfo manager and it will find it if it's on your comp."

just tried that..it said no results found..

¡Thought so - glad you're man enough to admit it!


That'll be what did it - ¿did you have to type your root password to do that, do you remember?




Your HOSTS file should be at /etc/hosts , I reckon - you might still want that checked.

yes i did have to type in my root password for that player....doh!
think im gonna have to stick to porn mags from the garage from now on!

still cant find /etc/hosts ive searched with the finder and nothing is turning up.

many thanks for the help..i shall keep my hands in my pockets from now on!

If you type less /etc/hosts in a terminal window - that should list the contents of your HOSTS file.

nope, theres nothing turning up

Right, sorry, it's in 'NetInfo Manager' which should be in your Utilities folder. When you open it, you'll be presented with a browser-type view of such information as hosts, users, etc.

Sorry mate you're on 10.5 aren't you and they've done away with netinfo manager, sorry I didn't know that, I'm still on 10.4.11
So yeah looks like you'll need a terminal session (don't ask me I haven't got a clue ) or try Directory Utility, but as I don't have it I'm not much help. It's supposed to be just like netinfo manager, but no guarantees.


Maybe scribb|e can understand this article better than me.
www.macworld.com/article/61097/2007/11/netinfo.html

no, there isnt a NetInfo Manager in my utilitys folder.
there is a 'Network Utility' the info there gives a 'Hardware Address' and the IP Address says 'Unknown'

gonna pop out for a beer now, will check back tomorrow.

Yeah - it *is* (still) in /etc/hosts, but like you say, Pezzie, they've done away with the NetInfo widget in 10.5 - there is an app that you can download, though - the HOSTS Widget to manage it using a GUI in OSX 10.5, elsewise there's a CLI command - dscl that you can use to do all the things that NetInfo did using the terminal.