Posted on 12/31/2004 3:26:00 PM PST by BJungNan
My computer is set to advise me if a site I am going to is trying to download something onto my computer and gives me the option to download or cancel. I just went to Drudge's site and got a warning about an attempted download.
Drudge has been dumping at 3 to 7 spyware programs on my computer each time I visit - I've checked by clearing all spyware and then going to his site and checking again. That's bad enough. But, now to have direct downloads from from Drudge, that is not alright.
Likely it is from the same pop-ups and not specifically from Drudge's page, one of his advertisers. Some will say you a pop up blocker but those get in the way of the some of the functionality of sites I use on the net. I tolerate the pop-ups because it is less trouble to click them away than to turn on and off a pop-up stopper program.
The questions are these: Is Drudge being careful enough with the pop-ups he is facilitating through his site? Was there malicious code in the download that was attempted? Will Drudge address this? I have found no such instance on any other site I frequent except those in Asia that seem to love this practice.
One other question: Is anyone aware of any sort of malicious code that can be delivered through a site that wants to download to your computer just by visiting it?
Norton Internet Security includes the horrific Norton firewall program. It tends to cause problems getting online, and if corrupted, can result in a situation where Windows has to be reinstalled from scratch. Your best bet is to junk the Internet Security suite and get Norton Anti-Virus 2005 all by itself. You don't need the rest of the garbage that comes with the suite. If you're in cable or DSL, you should get yourself a router with a built-in firewall, which will work better than the Norton firewall without all the hassle and worry.
I don't go to his site at all since a visit managed to load Elite Bar without my permission and it took forever and a computer expert to finally get rid of the sucker. The repair guy said he spends 85% of his time cleaning out spy/malware from computers... and, yes, I have adaware, Spybot, pop-up blockers, etc... didn't matter, it changed my registry and that was that! So no more Drudge for me -- darn, like the site!
Drudge has pop-ups???
(Mac user...:)
When I reload a FR thread it reloads to a reply that is somewhere below the last reply before reloading: If the last reply is #19 and I reload, the new screen will be at a different reply, say #26. I try to mentally note the reply that I am on when I reload so that I can easily scroll back up, but I often forget and then have to go looking for the last reply that I read.
Very Cool.
Hmmm, here you are to the rescue again. Ok, there is an initial link on that page and then, just a bit further down, something that says "Download." I used the second one. Mistake?
No shame in it. But, there are thousands of Drudges right here. Sorry, Matt.
I, like many others here, use Firefox, but if you are really tired of all the advertising crap, another excellent way to get rid of them while making your computer much safer is modifying your hosts file. You can add domains that you know are "bad" to your hosts file. What's a hosts file? Its sort of like a lookup file that tells your computer where to look for content based on domain names. Your computer will look at your hosts file before it uses DNS to find where content is located out on the web. If your hosts file contains the lookup information, your computer will use it by default. Think of a hosts file as a map to the internet. By modifying the hosts file, you are effectively removing all the roads to the "bad" sites so your computer won't communicate with them. Here's a website that explains a little better and provides you a good hosts file and installer program. http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html
I also get that message, but thougt it was Internet Explorer, not Drudge.
Quite a few times going to Drudges page knocked me right off the internet. I don't know if my firewall or virus protector took drastic action, but it happens only when I go to his page.
For the firewall, try Sygate Personal Firewall, also free.
Thanks. I learned I had this "problem" by going to Drudge Report. I'd scan the stories and then actually scroll to the bottom looking for the FReepers' opinions on the matter.
I hear he's popular at the packing station...
az
I had to give up Drudge for that reason. The pop ups were locking up my computer.
In addition to the third question, you will simply have to download the Firefox version of bugmenot.
Free Download for Windows, English (4.7MB)
As said above, get Mozilla Firefox and abandon IE forever.
Just darn. That's the one I used, and it told me it was installed. Maybe I should uninstall and try again.
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