rabbitoid: I'll check it out.

rabbitoid: On the other hand, the Login Page does not contain any banner ads or does it?

Fencer: you're right. It's not the login page. my bookmark points to the GameList page, and since I'm not yet logged in to the session, I'm in guest mode, with the login prompt on top. It's there where I have a banner, and sometimes the pest.

This ad takes over the whole browser so I can't log in, maximises the browser to more than the screen size (a nice gimmick) and adds a popup that firefox doesn't catch and that comes back when you first kill it. All in all, not the best publicity for brainking!

rabbitoid: You may be right, but the recommeded URL to bookmark is always the site entry point http://BrainKing.com

Fencer: I have the GameList page as bookmark, because the Brainking page asks every time for the password (even if it's only one click with password memorized), even if the browser stays open. The GameList bookmark does not.

rabbitoid: Is it? It works for me with no problems. Is it possible that the Linux version of Firefox shows some differences, compared to the Windows one?

Fencer: I don't think so. when, for example, while reading this forum, I click on http://brainking.com , it takes me to the login page, not the GameList page.

rabbitoid: Of course, where else should it take you? The URL with no additional parameters after the site domain always shows the login page.

Fencer: That's why I have as a bookmark GameList, not BrainKing. What do I need the login page for, if I can just as well log in from the guestmode GameList page?

At home I do what I want, I leave a tab permanently on BK. at work (OK, OK, I know) I just take a peek from time to time, then kill the tab. so a bookmark is useful.

rabbitoid: Why do you need the GameList in guest mode? You must click the Login button anyway, no matter if it happens on the GameList or login page.

Fencer: yes, but only once. If the browser stays open, the next click on the GameList bookmark takes you to your page, not the guest page.

rabbitoid: But if you are logged in, you should see no banner ads at all.

Fencer: it seems to happen to me while logging in
(from the brainking.com page)

Hrqls: Impossible. If you disabled all banner ads at the Settings, BrainKing simply does not generate any ad code for you. It's a server side feature.

Fencer: i havent disabled all banner ads .. as i want to get actions point (although i wont win by far .. its just fun ;))

the ads arent a problem .. but it did gave me a popup screen (or even replaced the brainking page by something else) .. while the ads normally dont do something like that

the main problem though is that it gave me a page with a virus on it .. it popsup and doesnt show brainking

i tried to get it again ... but failed
it showed when i logged in this morning (after being away from work for the weekend)
i cleared all and manually deleted all cookies .. it showed me the english login .. i logged in .. and all was fine

will see if i can find out more next time it happes
(probably this afternoon at home :))

Hrqls: hmm .. just got it again .. but while being logged in
i made a move in a game .. and arrived at the errorsafe page which asked me wether it could scan my computer

will check my system for any adware/spyware and see if it finds anything
(would be weird as this is my computer at work and all i do is work and visit brainking and dailygammon)

Hrqls: Maybe because your using BK during work hours , it is trying to tell u something

Oceans Apart: lol .. nah .. when its during work i have no problem .. it just showed when i was having a legal break :)

Fencer: Not when he's logged in. But the first time he visits the bookmark after opening the browser he isn't logged in and will see the ads. But since this is the case only once or twice a day, he doesn't want to keep an extra bookmark for that.
Anyway, the point is that one sponsor seems to behave really bad, and to even be a potential security issue for BrainKing users, which is somewhat very undesirable.

Gordon Shumway: I've just asked the ad provider to block all inappropriate ads for our site. It can take several hours to become active.

Fencer: thanks! that would be great!
it happened again to me today

yesterday i use adaware and spybot search & destroy to clean up my pc
after that i didnt use the internet anymore
this morning i used spybot s&d again and found nothing extra (as expected) (only that my antivirus was not controlled by microsoft which is correct :))

i then went to brainking and made some moves, the errorsafe ad took over my brainking window again when i tried to make a move in my dicepoker game

after that i ran spybot s&d again and it found some items:

Microsoft.WindowsSecurityCenter.AntiVirusOverride: Instellingen (Registerwijziging
., fixed)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\AntiVirusOverride!=dword:0
ErrorSafe: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

TagASaurus: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

ErrorSafe: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

DoubleClick: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

ErrorSafe: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

MediaPlex: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)


--- Spybot - Search & Destroy version: 1.4 (build: 20050523) ---
2005-05-31 blindman.exe (1.0.0.1)
2005-05-31 SpybotSD.exe (1.4.0.3)
2005-05-31 TeaTimer.exe (1.4.0.2)
2006-05-09 unins000.exe (51.41.0.0)
2005-05-31 Update.exe (1.4.0.0)
2007-01-15 advcheck.dll (1.2.1.0)
2005-05-31 aports.dll (2.1.0.0)
2005-05-31 borlndmm.dll (7.0.4.453)
2005-05-31 delphimm.dll (7.0.4.453)
2005-05-31 SDHelper.dll (1.4.0.0)
2007-01-02 Tools.dll (2.0.1.0)
2005-05-31 UnzDll.dll (1.73.1.1)
2005-05-31 ZipDll.dll (1.73.2.0)
2007-03-14 Includes\Cookies.sbi (*)
2006-12-08 Includes\Dialer.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\DialerC.sbi (*)
2007-02-07 Includes\Hijackers.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\HijackersC.sbi (*)
2006-10-27 Includes\Keyloggers.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\KeyloggersC.sbi (*)
2004-11-29 Includes\LSP.sbi (*)
2007-02-14 Includes\Malware.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\MalwareC.sbi (*)
2007-01-19 Includes\PUPS.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\PUPSC.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\Revision.sbi (*)
2006-12-08 Includes\Security.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\SecurityC.sbi (*)
2007-02-02 Includes\Spybots.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\SpybotsC.sbi (*)
2005-02-17 Includes\Tracks.uti
2007-03-14 Includes\Trojans.sbi (*)
2007-03-14 Includes\TrojansC.sbi (*)


i didnt use the internet for anything else than brainkin in between my 2 runs of spybot s&d

(ok i also visited google.nl as its my startpage)

i hope brainking will be without these nasty ads again soon :)
(i dont mind ads, but these take me away from the site (the brainking window is overtaken, and several programs detect threats, once even 3 virusses (viri?))

Fencer: i always use brainking.com ... it also gave me the bad sites

when i go to brainking.com i arrive at the login page .. no problem yet .. then i enter my username and password and login .. then the bad site will show

(it even showed a site which avg told me to contain a virus (or 3))

it doesnt happen to me the second time i go to brainking.com though

(maybe i am not logged in yet when i click on login .. so the site will show .. the next time when i enter the site via brainking.com it recognizes my cookie and doesnt show the bad sites?)

Fencer: Yeah, that's what I wonder as well. I also have the gamelist page bookmarked. That's the page I most often use. As long as I don't restart the browser, it brings me directly to the page I need. But after a browser restart the same page is in guest mode yet it knows my username and password. (And I have configured my browser to not remember the password for brainking.com).

I agree with rabbitoid, what's the point of bookmarking http://brainking.com when that's most of the time not what you want, and the gamelist page is what you want?

Fencer: On this computer I never have to click the login button, it logs in automatically. I'm not sure why it does that, because it doesn't on the other computer I play on.
Also, with firefox, I don't have any ads at all, with one exception, I let the google ads through, they are good. I find everything else annoying. I suggest looking into ads from google.

nodnarbo: Because you have this computer "set" to log-in automatically?

srnity: probably

Universal Eyes: its not a name of a person
its one of the ad companies

there is not a member on brainking causing trouble in this
i wonder what you are talking about, but please send it to me in a private message

i did the same test again, ran spybot, went to brainking, made a few moves (other games), closed brainking, ran spybot again

this time i didnt get a bad ad (which would take over my window or cause my antivirus to react) .. but spybot did find something again:


TagASaurus: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

FastClick: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

Tradedoubler: Tracking cookie (Internet Explorer: mamo) (Cookie, fixed)

Hrqls: Tracking cookie is not a spyware. It's just a cookie, nothing but a tiny harmless text file. I know that Spybot marks them as "problems" but they are not. Almost all sites on the web store cookies on your computer.

Fencer: true .. i know about that .. i just posted it because errorsafe is a problem

errorsafe takes over the window, and it requires quite some clicking to get rid off .. you can easily misclick and install some software from them

i had another ad which also took over the window and on which my avg detected 3 virusses .. i dont know which ad that was though, or which site contained the virusses .. will log it next case it happens

somehow something changed in the ads as this didnt happened about 2 weeks ago (i think), but now i get it about once a day

Fencer: i got a new one .. this time something called 'drivecleaner'

it loaded in the brainking tab (i have to admit i am using ie, didnt install ff on this new pc yet) .. made the window very small (not minimized) .. showed another window in the center of my screen . when i close the originally brainking window show another window of drivercleaner showing my pc (although they gave my drives the wrong names :)) .. showing i had threats on it .. and trying to make me download something (a cab file)

its quite nasty as i have to close down my ie .. restart it .. and login into brainking again

popups might be annoying .. but this is worse
(i might be able to live with popups alone :))

Hrqls: Why do you click on it? This is the basic rule - never click anything you don't trust.

Fencer: thats why i am bothered by it .. i didnt click on it :)

i might have hovered my mouse over an ad though .. not sure .. i moved quite fast

Hrqls: If you didn't click it, nothing could install a spyware on your computer. If you use a proper browser like Firefox, of course. Nobody knows what the Internet Exploder 7 is capable of.

Fencer: :) it didnt install it .. it just offered it .. and ie showed me its nice yellow bar telling me that i a website was offering me a download .. of course i didnt do that

but still the ad took over brainkings tab, made it small, popped up another window, which i could only close, then it showed the window in which brainking was with the drivecleaner site

i had to close that one .. and restart in brainking .. and .. within 10 clicks on brainking .. it happened again :)

now i am a few more clicks further and it didnt happen again .. but 2 times is quite annoying (1 time already is)

(just got this computer on friday, still in the process of installing all, will have ff on it again soon .. but still .. this ad is quite annoying)

Hrqls: That's the pest I was complaining about which started this thread.

The drivecleaner problem is back again (almost certainly from banner ad(s)). It took over the brainking tab - highly annoying.

kirsten:
funny has i thought all those kind of banner ads had been removed from BK

kirsten: Yea, all outside ad's have been removed from this site I believe.

So if you are still having problems, it is probable some sort of spyware that is on your PC and has nothing to do with this website.

coan.net: I had that same one come up on mine the other day too. I ran my Spywear and found 4 trackers out there. It did only pop up when I logged into BK tho.

coan.net:
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the the site is completely clean. Yesterday I pulled up brainking.com with internet explorer on a different machine (this time at work... one with commercial virus protection) , navigated around to my messages and back, and eventually was hit with ErrorSafe and WinFixer.

kirsten: I use Firefox & have virus protection through a major University & it still gets me too

PLEASE NOTE: I have continued this discussion over on the http://brainking.com/en/Board?bc=52 Discussion Board, in case anyone wants to follow it over there to continue the discussion.

Fencer: is there anything i can do to track it down for you ?
or to know more of its origins ?

Universal Eyes: could be .. but we will let fencer take care of it .. no need to create a hunt for the invisible (to us)