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
d2jsa98b45howd.cloudfront.net? Yeah, I tried clearing out my files but it seems to be originating from TV Tropes, go figure. Anyone know what plug in or whatnot it works through?
edited 16th Apr '14 3:18:54 PM by IndirectActiveTransport
Lost in Space
It's happened nine times so far today. It seems to be related to the bottom square ad, because when I get a download attempt, the ad doesn't appear.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
For those who have no idea what we are talking about, here is a reference. Cloudfront is one of those knee jerk names or I otherwise would not care.
Lost in Space
Hmm, so Cloudfront may have injected malicious code into some ads that Chrome is resolving as an attempt to download an HTML file. Fortunately it's not being allowed to run.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
it's... HIM
There is an ad (unfortunately I don't know which one it is) currently that's trying to install an "overlay.html" it seems like an obvious attempt to install malware, the download starts without the user's permission. I will let you know if I get any more info.
edited 16th Apr '14 9:01:35 AM by rimpala
Oh look I mispeled somethink.
Lost in Space
Please read above. We know this and are looking into it.
Edit: On examination of the HTML that it's trying to download, it looks less like malware and more like it's trying to load a Flash movie and is using malformed code that's causing unintended side-effects.
edited 16th Apr '14 9:09:52 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
I just now clicked into this thread from my watchlist and that Save As thing you're talking about showed up. -_-
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
u wot m8
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That's good to hear. I just stopped by to ask about that. 7 attempted downloads over the last few minutes.
Lost in Space
I'm up to 23 for the day.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Keeps trying to "save as" in my end. This is really getting extremely annoying.
I now go by Graf von Tirol.
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
Yeah, I'm getting it every time I open a new page.
Reaction Image Repository
Same for me, unless I am NoScript-ing everything.
eta: Also, based on a Google search, cloudfront.net seems to be a proper malware thingy.
edited 16th Apr '14 11:58:50 AM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Lost in Space
In Chrome, I blocked automatic downloads from [*.]tvtropes.org. That seems to have done the trick.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Still getting images? I blocked cloudfront.net
Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
Seems to have stopped now.
Reaction Image Repository
Lost in Space
Yes, but now I'm only seeing some of the ads. That must mean there are quite a lot of them in the Cloudfront rotation. Someone should tell our provider...
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Thank you fast eddie.
it's... HIM
Thanks, I was starting to be worried about returning to the site because of this, gotta protect my computer after all.
edited 16th Apr '14 5:44:45 PM by rimpala
Oh look I mispeled somethink.
u wot m8
Thanks a bunch!
The Guy in the Capsule
Had an ad hijack the forum page I was on (Conception 2 page 3), redirect to a blank page, and then switch to the App Store. Can't tell you what app they wanted me to see, as after about a minute there was no sign of an app "page" being opened. Good news is, since the ad hijacked the original page instead of opening a new one, I got the URL:
cdn4711.net/ac.php?bannerid=347&zoneid=60&target=&withtext=0&source=&timeout=0&ct0=
Not sure how much help that will be, but, well, iPad. This is actually better than I can usually do.
Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer. — Unknown
I was on TV Tropes, no other tabs open, and I was suddenly redirected to the iOS App Store (not sure to what; nothing ever loaded). Link here:
ads.glispa.com/sw/47092/CD 30161/e790g0akwygc404
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Is it just me, or has there been instances where other people received a pop-up for "Please install the new Video Update (RECOMMENDED)" (adware).
I could provide a URL for this, but it changed on me so quickly.
I now go by Graf von Tirol.
Full screen "message from our sponsors" ad, http://sponsor.adverstitial.com/view/advertisement?loc=76984&adv=2804088&camp=654536&w=300&h=250&rnd=3173097932973030991
Vivé la cuddlevolution!
Earl of Sandvich: same here. Will try and grab a URL next time
"We are Libris. We will add your literary distinctiveness to our own. Collection is imminent. Resistance is futile." -Tuefel PM box ope
That "overlay.html" thing keeps popping up.
The source URL varies but has included the following:
edited 16th Apr '14 8:41:08 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"