No more ads?

<p>This is for Josh and anyone else who has understanding of the problem<br>

I was thrilled to read, a few

weeks ago, that paid members would no longer see ads on the site with the exceptions noted. I am a paid

subscriber; however, I keep seeing ads. In fact, the ads are worse than ever! Browsing the forums, the ads keep

cascading one after the other. If my mouse barely moves, yet another pop-up appears. I was trying to browse

the critique forum but became frustrated after a series of pup-up ads kept opening whenever I clicked on an

image to view. At two different points, a political ad for Romany [uS presidential candidate] filled my screen

along with voice narration. The only way I could stop the ad was to close my browser. I don’t know if I&rsquo

;m alone in having this issue, but if there is any way to eliminate these highly annoying ads, I’d certainly en

joy the site much more. Thanks for any help you can offer! Oh – if it helps: this occurs on both my deskto

p and laptop computers. I use IE and Chrome as browsers and each sy

<p>If you are logged into your account and are a subscriber, you should not be seeing any ads. I have not heard from anyone else who is having the problem you describe.</p>

<p>To be honest, the cascading pop-up after pop-up issue sounds much more like spyware/adware than legitimately served ads. When is the last time you had your computer scanned for spyware or viruses? Can you post a screenshot of you were seeing? You WERE logged in when browsing the site, correct?</p>

<p>Thanks for the quick response, Josh. Yes, I am logged in when on the site. I also thought of “spyware/virius/adware, etc. However, I do run ESET (security suite) resident and it does periodic scans throughout the user day. I ran the software manually earlier today and it found nothing. If you folks don’t use cascading ads, then it has to be adware that somehow got by ESET. I have a secondary adware software on my desktop and will try running that tomorrow. If it finds something, then this means I carried it over to the laptop when I carry over data files – bummer! If no one else has complained of this problem, it points to something within my systems – another bummer. I’ll let you know what, if anything, I find. Thanks again for the help.</p>

<p>Irene, when I was seriously infected several years ago, I had to run multiple instances of both <a href="http://www.malwarebytes.org/">Malwarebytes</a> and <a href="http://www.superantispyware.com/">Superantispyware</a> before my system was completely scrubbed. You might want to try either or both of those programs. Good luck.</p>

<p>What you're describing is almost certainly due to malware of some kind.</p>

<p>Ditto Phil's suggestion to try more than one malware scanner. Some stuff is tough to detect and so far Malwarebytes seems to ferret out odd problems better than most.</p>

<p>Also be wary of any downloads - that includes reputable software and trial versions from sites that are considered reliable. This year I've found formerly reliable software hosts sneaking in toolbars and advertising oriented crapware that can be tricky to remove. For example, Cnet now tries to install AVG toolbar and a security scanner by default. This isn't pirated software - these are licensed, legitimate trial versions of software, shareware and free software. And while AVG used to be a useful anti-malware utility, the toolbar is low value and their site security scanner replaces the familiar Google search with an intrusive wrapper that is less convenient than WOT, McAfee and other site safety tools.</p>

<p>Other software download hosts are bundling even more intrusive crapware. Again, these are not sites that were considered sketchy hosting pirated software. This is licensed, valid software hosted by sites that used to be trustworthy. The worst instances I've seen this year bundled Babylon toolbar, Fun Moods/Fun Dialer and other outright scam-ware.</p>

<p>These are bundled as opt-out during installation. That means the crapware is installed by default unless you specifically refuse to install it. In the worst cases you cannot install the software unless you agree to install the crapware. In some instances the crapware installer is easily overlooked, but technically the download host can claim they're not liable. Once installed, your machine is vulnerable to seeing more ads and pop-ups.</p>

<p>If all else fails, sometimes the only option is to go back to a restore point before the problem occurred.</p>

<p>Thank you for the helpful advice. I run ESET active and have it programmed to scan throughout the workday; however, I realize that even the best security software can miss stuff. I have used Malwarebytes in the past and will try that again. The part that has me puzzled is why this issue would only appear in Photo Net and not at other commonly visited websites. Then again, technology often has been scratching my head! Thanks again</p>

<p>Just to be clear, I'm not 100% saying that it COULDN'T be something on our end, it's odd that you only see it on PN. But it really doesn't sound like something that is coming from us. Even when we've had bad-ads slip through, they haven't been like that. And no other subscribers are saying that they are seeing any ads when logged in. Which is shy I'm suspicious that it's something on your end.</p>

<p>I still see these ads.</p>

<div></div>

<p>Robert,</p>

<p>Please read the original announcement.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/site-help-forum/00ak02</p>

<p>Well, I have clues to what may be creating the issue, at least with my laptop. I ran Superantispyware for approximately the tenth time in a few days and this time it found a whole list of potentially harmful stuff. I removed everything, rebooted and now when I come to the site and sign in, the ads are gone. However, I did the same thing on my desktop, found no real issues, rebooted and signed in and the ads remain –decidedly odd.</p>

<p>Josh – to be clear, the ads I see are not the side ads that are listed as remaining on the start page and as “specials” on the announcement of which ads will be eliminated. I’m leaning in the direction of thinking this is something such as a hard to identify adware/malware that is unrelated to PN. My problem is that I do my photo editing on my desktop, but use for laptop for presentations, thus I move files back and forth constantly. If something is on one system, chances are good it is on both. I’ll keep plugging away on this and if I find something that may be of help to anyone else, I’ll post my findings. Thanks again, guys! <br>

Irene</p>

<p>Irene, my memory's a bit hazy on my experience, so if I "recall" something contrary to the laws of computer science I hope someone will come along to correct me.<br /><br /><br>

I had caught a particularly insidious bug. It even blocked the download of the Malwarebytes executable. I had to download the file under a different name and then restore the name once it was on my computer. If memory serves, it was also able to detect and somehow avoid the scan through my internet connection. My procedure included: disconnecting from the internet, scanning in Safe Mode, alternating full system scans between the two programs I mentioned.</p>

<p>After two and a half days (with a day job in there) of disconnecting, booting in safe mode, scanning, reconnecting, booting in normal mode, downloading updated virus definitions, rebooting in safe mode, wash, rinse, repeat, etc. my system was finally cleared. Sometimes both programs would find something, sometimes neither would, sometimes one would and the other wouldn't and vice versa. Once I had two clean scans from each program in safe mode, one clean scan from each in normal mode, and one clean scan from each while connected, I was satisfied the trojan was gone. Since that time I browse primarily with Firefox and the NoScript addon and my system has been trouble free.<br /><br /><br /><br>

As for restore points, in my case at least , the virus was able to regenerate itself, rendering the restore points useless.</p>

<p>I also believe, and am open to correction, that some viruses may be written to respond to a particular bit of code included in a site's programming. Hence, your system's adverse reaction to Pnet.</p>

<p>A little time, determination, and a bit of obsessive action and your system should soon be scrubbed clean. Good luck.</p>