We occasionally get reports of ads that trigger antivirus warnings or infect computers that are browsing the wiki. This FAQ is an attempt to consolidate all the information about such things into one thread. Please read the below before reporting any incidents.
This thread may also be used to report ads that violate our policies in other ways, such as being too "adult" or NSFW, automatically playing audio/video, etc.
REPORTING: try to get a screenshot of the console as well as this will help identify where it's coming from.
REDIRECTS: Its very tricky to get the first URL of a redirect trigger because they are designed to hide where it came from. So you need a redirect plug-in
active while the redirect happens so you can find the first URL, not the last. Where you were directed to doesn't help track down the source.
- TV Tropes, as a site, does not contain malware. We are a text-and-image wiki; viruses and malware cannot be uploaded to or embedded in the articles. As always, however, beware of any external link that you don't recognize, since we cannot automatically screen edits or posts for malicious links.
- 99.99% of the time, any suspected malware will be related to the wiki advertising.
- TV Tropes does not directly control the ads that are displayed. We use third-party ad providers and we determine things like the size and placement.
- We instruct our providers not to serve ads that redirect your browser, take control of the screen from you, forcibly scroll your screen, play audio without being clicked on, install malware, "pop up" or "pop over" your screen, or in any other way interfere with your browsing experience.
- We have custom software designed to detect ads that do these things and automatically block them.
- Malicious entities are constantly trying to sneak ads through the providers' networks in violation of these instructions. As providers have little incentive to proactively detect and block them, it's up to websites to report these sorts of problems.
- We rely on our users to report ads that get through these measures.
- Just because you see a particular ad doesn't mean everyone else sees it. Ads are customized by the ad providers to your location (by IP address), the content of the page you're viewing, and your browsing profile, which is tracking data accumulated by third parties over the course of all your internet browsing.
- Just because you get a malware warning or infection that seems related to an ad on TV Tropes does not necessarily mean that it is caused by one of our ads. Pre-existing malware on your computer can intercept ads and replace them with malicious ones.
- Ads containing malware, obviously.
- Misbehaving ads, such as ones that load a pop-up or pop-under, redirect your browser to another page, hijack your screen or automatically scroll it.
- "Adult" or NSFW ads. Scantily clad women alone may or may not qualify, depending on context, but we want this site to be work-safe.
- Ads that automatically play audio — that is, the audio starts without you clicking on the ad first. Video ads are acceptable.
- Note: Political content is not grounds for rejecting an ad. However, an ad that contains or implies hate speech, disinformation, or outright falsehoods may be objectionable enough to be blocked.
- First and foremost, maintain current, updated antivirus software, and keep your operating system and browser up to date with all patches offered by the software vendors. This includes Adobe Flash, Java, and other rich media plug-ins. Turn on your software's automatic updates if they are not already on and act immediately when prompted to install them.
- Never click on pop-ups purporting to have detected a virus, offering to "tune up" your PC, or otherwise inducing you to click on a link that you were not expecting. Any genuine message of this nature would come from your antivirus software and not from a web page.
- Be careful clicking on external links. These are identified with a small icon next to them. Example: Google. TV Tropes does not endorse or control the content of external links and you open them at your own risk.
- Never respond to any email or web page that asks for personal or financial information, including passwords, unless you have verified its identity. No reputable company will ever ask you for your password(s), other than to log in.
- You may choose to opt out of having tracking information collected by ad providers. This does not stop malware but helps you maintain your online privacy. See here for additional information.
- TV Tropes requests that you do not use ad blocking software while visiting us, as this site depends on advertising revenue to operate. If you do run an ad blocker, please add tvtropes.org to its exception list, or consider donating to the site to have certain ads removed.
- We (or the ad provider) place a "Report advertisement" link next to most advertising frames. Clicking on this will generate an automatic report and is the best way to do so. If you cannot click on this link or do not see it, continue for more advice.
- Try to identify the source URL of the suspect ad (see below). You can also use the target URL (if you are redirected), but note that this may be intentionally obfuscated by the ad provider to hide the source.
- Identify the ad provider. Some ads have a small area that links to the ad provider's page (like Google or AOL). In other cases, you can tell from the referral URL or you can look it up in a search.
- Go to the ad provider's contact/abuse page and fill out their form. Below are some links to common providers' abuse pages:
- Scan your computer for viruses. If your antivirus software will not operate (many malicious programs attempt to disable your antivirus software), you can download a scanning tool on a known clean system and run it on your infected machine from a read-only CD-R or flash drive.
- If you suspect that you've been tricked into divulging personal information to a phishing attempt or other fraud, change your passwords to affected sites immediately and contact your bank, credit card companies, and the credit bureaus to request a fraud alert.
- Please note that TV Tropes cannot assist you with the specifics of maintaining your computer. That's your responsibility. You may request general help in the appropriate forums, but please don't post new threads in the forums dedicated to wiki operation (Wiki Talk, Frequently Asked Questions, etc.).
- Sometimes, the wiki administration can get better results from the ad providers in dealing with malicious ads. If you can identify a malicious ad by referral URL, you can post the link in this thread, but please omit the "http" component so it doesn't create a hyperlink that someone might click on inadvertently.
- For image ads, right-clicking (or a long tap on mobile devices) should give you the option to view and copy the URL that clicking on it will send you to.
- For Flash, Java, or HTML 5.0 ads, it may be difficult to identify the source or the URL by right-clicking. In these cases, you need to view the page source to identify the ad so we can report it.
- In Internet Explorer, you can right-click in a blank or text area of any web page, and choose View Source from the context menu. Firefox also has this option. In Chrome, you can use the Inspect Element menu option, which interactively highlights the portion of the page whose code you are hovering over. You can use this to identify the ad frame and its source URL.
- For embedded ads, there will be a "frame" element with a "src" parameter. Drill down until you get to the lowest level. All we need to identify the ad is the "src" URL from that frame.
for more information or to discuss the service.
Edited by kory on Nov 15th 2023 at 10:36:27 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I have a similar issue with those ads. I went and paused the sound for the Spain one but it kept playing the audio from the earlier ad I just waited to end a second time.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Also reporting these auto-play ads. One for Nyquil, i think, that didn't even have the option to pause.
Sorcerer in training
Got an autoplay ad at the bottom of The Lost Lenore for Home Depot. Clicking on it led me here. www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Content View?pn=small_projects_big_values&cm_mmc=ola|carat|6849747|93123631|267905909|55319174 (External link.) I probably got Home Depot because I was looking at their site earlier.
edited 9th Aug '13 1:20:01 AM by Candi
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
Good to know I'm not the only one getting an auto-playing ad. I got it three pages in a row; first on UsefulNotes.British Accents, then on UsefulNotes.One London Thirty Three Boroughs, and finally on Main.Evil Brit. For me, it always starts with an un-pauseable, non-muting video about a guy building a fancy playing card city that leads here, then it goes to a video about Spain, with video controls, and- I discovered this when I muted the Spain one instead of pausing -it then goes to a third video about Ceasar brand dog food.
Lost in Space
Found this by inspecting the element:
<iframe frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" hspace="0" vspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" width="300px" height="250px" src="http://optimized-by.rubiconproject.com/a/8777/14415/29993-15.html?&cb=0.6553447965998203&tk_st=1&rf=http%3A//tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFPSGuns&rp_s=c&p_pos=btf&p_screen_res=1680x1050"></iframe>
Digging into it seems to have this as the actual ad:
<iframe id="injectedFrame" src="http://tag.mediashakers.hiro.tv//iframes/MediaShakersSyndicator/US-Auto-SiteTargeted-TM.php?serverUsed=mediashakers.hiro.tv&sendPublisherEvents=false&companion_method=none&parentURL=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FStandardFPSGuns&syndicator=MediaShakersSyndicator&publisherExternalID=US-Auto-SiteTargeted-TM&parentDomain=tvtropes.org&browserName=Chrome_28.0.1500.95&samplingPerc=1&lastEventTime=1376081799385&width=300&height=250" width="300px" height="250px" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;position:relative;border:0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"> </iframe>
edited 9th Aug '13 2:03:19 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Lost in Space
Here's another one:
<iframe id="injectedFrame" src="http://synd.travelplus.tv//iframes/SitescoutSyndicator/ATV-SC-US-RON4.php?serverUsed=elb2.us1.hiro.tv&sendPublisherEvents=false&affiliate=${PUBLISHERID}&companion_method=none&parentURL=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FAdministrivia%2FWelcomeToTVTropes%3Ffrom%3DMain.WelcomeToTVTropes&syndicator=SitescoutSyndicator&publisherExternalID=ATV-SC-US-RON4&parentDomain=tvtropes.org&browserName=Chrome_28.0.1500.95&samplingPerc=1&lastEventTime=1376083654327&width=300&height=250" width="300px" height="250px" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;position:relative;border:0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"> </iframe>
edited 9th Aug '13 2:33:29 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
I've been running into these same ads periodically, at first it was just the vacation-in-Spain thing but there have been more ads that behave similarly of late; the frame includes the video and the progress bar only, no way to pause or mute the ad.
Lost in Space
Eddie has made a change to block the video ads. It may take a few hours to propagate to the distributed caches. I'm now seeing a survey come up in that spot. Please report if you continue to see any.
edited 9th Aug '13 4:29:18 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
There's a video for 2013 Fords I noticed playing on the bottom of a page.
Always 3:00am in the Filth
For future reference, how can I get that block of information Fighteer? There's obviously some sort of Java source or something I can't find.
"But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." - O'Brien, 1984
Browser's source viewer, or an element inspector if it has one (I know Firefox does, but no clue about others)
Lost in Space
For Chrome, you right click anywhere on the page and choose "Inspect Element". For IE, you use View Source. Not sure about others.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Always 3:00am in the Filth
D'oh, that should have been obvious. It's right click, view source for Firefox.
Will keep that in mind for the next problem ads.
"But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." - O'Brien, 1984
Sorcerer in training
@275, Septimus Heap:
There's an easy way in Chrome if you don't mind refreshing every suspect page.
Select 'View Background Pages' from the control menu (three little lines or a wrench.)
Scroll down until you find "Plug-in: Shockwave Flash". Highlight. Click End Process on the lower right.
That'll crash every thing active that uses Flash. (Including Youtube.) Then you go through suspect pages one at a time and see if the ad reloads when you refresh. (Which it might not, but...)
I find it especially useful since I don't use adblock programs, because I feel guilty about messing with the revenue of sites I like. 
And inspecting elements is still possible.
edited 12th Aug '13 3:05:40 AM by Candi
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
Not sure what our ad agreement is, exactly, but I just got one of those really annoying, quickly flashing "You are the XXXX vistor! Click here!" ads which seem like they ought to be seizure inducing. This was on the left in the FAQ main list.
The address given in the ad itself was my2013rewards.com. Digging into the elements showed a stack of two addresses for the ad, and I'm not entirely sure which one is important, so here they both are, from outermost to innermost:
optimized-by.rubiconproject.com/a/8777/14415/29991-9.html?&cb=0.2651506797164397&tk_st=1&rf=http%3A//tvtropes.org/pmwiki/conversations.php%3Ftopic%3D0000000000000000000000dg&rp_s=c&p_pos=atf&p_screen_res=1366x768
secure.serving-now.com/serve?size=160x600&referer=tmipb.com&ch=weather
edited 12th Aug '13 3:10:12 PM by Nocturna
Lost in Space
As annoying as those are, I don't think they violate our agreement with the ad provider.
The "rubiconproject" URL is the provider. You have to dig deeper into the frame to get the ad source.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Lost in Space
Incidentally, I updated the FAQ with instructions for finding the ad source.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Got one of those autoplaying video/audio ads on the Home Page (of all places). Source is http://gslbeacon.lijit.com/beacon?viewId=6500ce5a56984887a3aa794a92e0e7c4&rand=701&uri=http://www.lijit.com/users/tvtropesorg&informer=8972242&type=fpads&loc=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FHomePage&v=1.0&rr=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FHomePage
edited 13th Aug '13 5:21:18 PM by Nocturna
I got a weird popup leading to something called 'directord.info', because that was all I could get out of it. Relevant screenshots here.
I'm currently on an iPhone, browsing with just TVT tabs open on Chrome. Suddenly, this (NSFW) ad for a porn app just opens up out of nowhere. I even copied the URL, but Chrome reloaded the Add Post tab where I left it while working with Imgur and wiped it out after the Imgur link already overwrote it. I'm sorry if not having the link won't help anything, but this really shouldn't be happening.
edited 10th Dec '13 2:56:04 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Hmm...it seems that other people using phones have encountered porn ads from that name as well, if Google results are to be trusted.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I posted a bit earlier about a popup and got it again just now, same text, look, and everything, so I started experimenting with it. I could move the popup window itself around, but the taskbar showed that it wasn't an actual window, more like a Javascript thing. I clicked OK and it brought me to the same bogus Java download page as before, but it had a different source- "http://tartd.info/".
I was browsing TV Tropes when this happened
◊.
If you can't see the image for some reason, the page went dark and it gave me a popup saying "The page at http://lamew.info says: WARNING!!! Your Java version is outdated, have Security Risks. Please update now!" and then there's on "Okay" button.
EDIT: Seems this same issue has already been reported. Leaving mine up as corroboration, though.
edited 22nd Aug '13 7:21:32 PM by Knight9910
Not hugely disconcerting, but a few ads don't seem to be loading correctly. ABP is turned off (figured I owed it to the site) and NoScript isn't blocking anything, but where I would expect a banner ad, I instead get
The number of the c5 parameter changes, from what I can tell. Doubt that matters much.
Moon◊
I experienced an auto-playing video ad on the bottom of Metal Gear a moment ago. It was looping with other ads, it started as make up and moved to vacationing in Spain. I couldn't get any other information out of it, it didn't even link off site, just a video window.
Got it to pop up again, Hiro Version 3.01.6~ is all I have. It appears to be playing two ads at once after the first ends. This time it started with dog food, moved onto Spain but there was another string of audio behind that.
edited 8th Aug '13 12:46:26 PM by Rotpar
"But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." - O'Brien, 1984