Spam Links in other's comments

This is the third or fourth time I've found links within people's comments here.

http://plantsdatabase.com/go/1444/index.html

I'm always cleaning my HD for spyware, and wondering if this is a spyware program creating these links -OR- Do the rest of you see these links?

If so, Dave!!! Could you please remove them. Thanks

These are the words which are hyperlinked:

Terry - gro"wing"

siggyrose - "lovely"

Tawnygirl - "house"

I have NEVER see these kind of spam links anywhere else but here......

The Plant Database is a sister site to DG. People post the link to direct someone to more information about the plant they are discussing. It's not spyware... and it's not spam. I tend to direct people to the PDB all the time so they see pictures of the plant in question or read about it's growing requirements.

Show me one of the threads you are talking about...

It's linked above poppysue

I included the words which were hyperlinked

They are not there now...

I tested the link several times. Clicked the link above then closed the window. After a couple of times of clicking the link then closing the window, the hyperlinks disappeared.

For example the word "lovely" in siggyrose's comment (bottom of page) sent me to this page:

http://www.findromance.com/index2.php?affil=1550-textlink

see!!!! "text link"

I wonder if this link will be valid after posting it in this thread.....

You mean it's in the lilac entry? I'm not seeing the links. Maybe you do have some sort of spyware on the puter. What are you using to clean your PC? I've been using "Spybot" with good results.

That "findromance" link does work. If you hover over the link and observe your info bar below (bottom left hand corner) you will see the address says:

http://www ------------findromance.com/index2.php?affil=1550-textlink

I just looked at the hyperlink and all the words look normal. It may be something on your system.

I've been using Adaware

Having to use it quite frequently grrrrr.

Ostel- It freaked me out the first few times I saw it too!
I was all mad and yelling at my mum that someone invaded our computer with spammy spy ware! LOL She just rolled her eyes.hehe.

You can pretty much figure you wont find bad stuff on DG- Dave keeps up ta date on just about everything. :-)It is good you posted this though- can put some peoples mind at ease. :-)

Yep, its something on my system.

But I dont get those hyperlinks at another forum I visit.....

I wonder why?

Yup... you've got sumthin hitch hiking on your system. Those links should NOT be there.

crimsontsavo....You have seen hyperlinks like this??

I don't see those links either.

Yes I have them too! I thought it was a DG thing. K, now I'm freaking out.

Here is a link about these spam hyperlinks:

http://www.weathergraphics.com/text/spyware.htm

It IS SPYWARE.


I suppose I have obtained it by downloading some program....even though I haven't downloaded anything in a while....AND I have a firewall AND router.

This is mentioned in the above linked article

That is freaky. I've never seen anything like it, but if I did, it would bother me too. I do believe Dave's is safe, and it's our own personal computers, already corrupted that are doing things like that. If I saw something like that, I'd feel inclined to do an over-haul on my computer.

This is the Spybot that I use. It's a free download and has caught lots of junk on my PC. You might want to post on the computer forum to see what others recommend.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 27-05-2004 08-55-54.bckp)
======================================================

PEOPLEONPAGE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
obj[0]=RegKey : SOFTWAREEnvolo
obj[1]=RegKey : SOFTWAREApropos
obj[2]=RegKey : SOFTWAREAutoLoader
obj[29]=File : c:docume~1michel~1locals~1tempauf0.exe

TRACKING COOKIE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
obj[3]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@2o7[1].txt
obj[4]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@ads.addynamix[1].txt
obj[5]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@advertising[2].txt
obj[6]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@atdmt[2].txt
obj[7]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@bfast[2].txt
obj[8]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@bluestreak[1].txt
obj[9]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@centrport[2].txt
obj[10]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@cgi-bin[1].txt
obj[11]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@counter2.hitslink[1].txt
obj[12]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@doubleclick[2].txt
obj[13]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@fastclick[1].txt
obj[14]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@gator[1].txt
obj[15]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@hg1.hitbox[2].txt
obj[16]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@hitbox[2].txt
obj[17]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@maxserving[1].txt
obj[18]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@mediaplex[1].txt
obj[19]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@qksrv[2].txt
obj[20]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@questionmarket[1].txt
obj[21]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@realmedia[1].txt
obj[22]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@servedby.advertising[1].txt
obj[23]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@statcounter[1].txt
obj[24]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@tribalfusion[2].txt
obj[25]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@valueclick[1].txt
obj[26]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@web4.realtracker[1].txt
obj[27]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@z1.adserver[1].txt
obj[28]=File : c:documents and settingsmichelle fikkicookiesmichelle fikki@zedo[2].txt



These are spyware "files" I just quarantined on my system.

Folks!! If you see hyperlinked words, dont click on them! Run your spyware application immediately!!

Kimberly needs to see this (gardenwife). I'll link this to the computer talk forum.

"adserver" That's the location server for the "find romance" link I posted above.

This makes me sooo mad!

Makes me mad too! :-| GW we need youuuuuuuuuu! lol

And our fearless leaders let this go on, and on, and . . .
but you need a permit to put up a dog house in your yard!

Ulrich, dont even get me started on the danged building restrictions!!! LOL. Grrr

Osteole, Dave can confirm it with absolute confidence, but I'm 99.999999% confident what you found is NOT originating or residing on our system ;o)

It's practically impossible to imbed anything in the text here - Dave only allows VERY limited html tags to be used (italics, bold, underline) I just opened up the comments as though I were editing them - nothing is there. Just the straight text you can read.

Sorry you're experiencing the problems you are - spyware is no fun :(

Let's have a forum on Politics, hahahah

I noticed that all url links are in same format. No imbedded as you mentioned.

that's why I was surprised when I saw links in the comments section of the plants database. That's the ONLY place i have see the "text links"

Hmm...I just typed Plants Database....hehe imbedded link

No politics ;o)

Osteole, yes - the words Plants Database or Garden Watchdog or Garden Bookworm will create an automatic hyperlink. That's about it...

Sounds like there's some nasty tidbit on your system, Osteole...Whatever it is, it must have its own database of keywords and their associated hyperlinks; when you go to any webpage containing such key words (even words which comprise parts of other words), the malware creates hyperlinks in their place.

Nasty Nasty Nasty!!

I just ran adaware and spybot. Seems I'll have to run this every week or so. I dont download anything (lately) so I dont know how the program reinstalls itself. *sigh*

Osteole,
first do your updates on Adaware and Spybot S&D 1.3 (1.2 is not updated anymore), then disconnect from the internet and make sure it cannot reconnect (unplug), disable System Restore (if applicable). Run Adaware and Spybot, reboot into safe mode, run them again, reboot into normal mode and run again.
The above may help getting rid of tough spy/malware but no guarantees.

Don't forget to clean out your cookies as well. Uh, you do remember all the usernames and passwords, don't you? :-)

Sounds like Ezula.

I've had this before. It is spyware, and Spybot Search & Destroy will detect and remove it. Adaware never detected it.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

Make sure you are current on your Windows Updates, the critical updates, anyway. And please download and install ZoneAlarm personal firewall program from http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=zaskulist_download

After you install it and reboot, it will run a brief tutorial showing you how it works. A firewall keeps hackers from being able to access your system when you're online. It will also ask your permission before allowing programs to access OUT to the internet, letting you know if something odd is wanting to contact the mother ship.

I've had Zonealarm running now for about a year.

Installed and ran spybot last night. It found some 54 "infections" that Adaware didn't find.

thanks alot for the info

Was Ezula one of the ones it found? You can check it in your history log.

I dont remember seeing that name. I've heard of it tho...

Here's more about Ezula:

http://sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.ezula.html
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/appezulaa.html

Nice quote from that last one: "It's installed with a number of consumer software packages."