Open or save ?.

It's a curious one, and not limited to this forum.

How up-to-date is your installation of Java?

If you don't use Java disable the plug in the browser.

Make sure too that your anti-malware (SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes and CCleaner) have run recently.

I cannot repeat enough times, some ads are actually spoof ads.

Just pressing the little red box to delete them is what unloads the virus/malware, then it can be in there for a couple of weeks before it send stuff to everyone who you've ever sent e~mails to, with junk spam and all sorts of rubbish.

Be particularly careful of what appear to be flashing banner ads telling you that you have won an iphone or free business cards. They are designed to look like genuine ads, rather like the ones that pretend tobe from the HMRC telling you thatyou have a tax refund due to you. Best ignore the ad altogether or swich off and sign in again.

Wow !.Now I am confused but many thanks for the replies.
I have allowed all the recent Java updates but had a message along the lines of 'you already have the latest version installed.
Ran a complete virus scan this morning and nothing found (Macafee) and will run registry etc cleaner this aft,dont do that too often as it deletes all my passwords that I have difficulty remembering.There is another rail forum with a similar thread going but I've not had a problem there.Again,many thanks for the replies.

Not the best AV by a long chalk - Avast! is the current best of the free crop.

Worth looking at a malware program too (as mentioned upthread).

Secunia will scan and patch most potential security exploits.

Please note that the Forum Staff do not condone the use of Adblocking Software as it is against the Proboards terms of service.

Downloaded secunia and found nothing so will just put this down to a failed attempt by unknown.Regarding ad blocking software,I has been explained to me in another thread that basically,no ads=no DD ,so the ads stay.

Downloaded and scanned,this exposed a major prob with a programme I'd forgotten was on here (errorwiz) which I have deleted and many other things like Google freezing have dissapeared with it.Many thanks !.

You may find KeePass useful as a repository for all your passwords. One master password is needed. You can also set it to generate passwords, which means you can have super-secure passwords for things like Facebook, email and Banking. And when your AV software deletes all remembered passwords, you can just copy & paste them back in, from KeePass.

It is probably not as simple as that as advertisers pay per view as well as per click. So if you have an adblocker, which means the advert won't be downloaded and displayed, Proboards won't get any money.

Some confusion over technicalities in the first few posts, so to clear them up.......
".js" is a JavaScript (or more correctly an "ECMAScript") file. It is NOT related to the Java language and runtimes as distributed by Oracle (and formerly Sun). Javascipt and Java re two ENTIRELY different things.

JavaScript (in the context of this query) is BUILT INTO browsers. Whilst there may well be security holes in it they should be patched with browser updates. Without JavaScript, the modern consumer web browsing would be practically unusable. It is used for many small automations on web pages.

".js" files can also be used outside of browsers to automate Windows based systems. Microsoft have also used the name jscript for this use of this technology).

Hence .js files can be a legitimate part of a webpage, an attempt execute an exploit in a browser, or an attempt to execute malicious code outside of the browser.

Java, is a separate language that needs to be download from Oracle. A few sites use it for more complex web applications (games or web consoles for hardware are common uses). Most of the internet will function without it. Java has continually been beset by serious security issues and my recommendation would be that if you have it installed. Assess if you REALLY need it and uninstall it if you can without serious impact to your needs. If you DO have it installed be VERY careful to keep it up to date. Jave does ingrate with browsers through plugins, but is NOT part of the browser.



In answer to magnicon's OP... It does sound like either a poorly coded advert, or a malicious advert.

The "pixel" part of the offending site name suggests that they are trying to use a small one pixel image as a carrier for their tracking cookies or malicious code. My comments are:

1) set your browser to reject "third Party" cookie (ie those not originating from the site you are actively browsing).

2) if you are using IE and have concerns about a particular site or domain, you can add it to IE's "restricted-sites" security zone. This will severely limit what Active content originating from that site can run/do. The may be other ways of blocking such malfunctioning sites in different browsers (being careful to phrase that in a way that does not advocate the use of ad blocking sw).

3) Use a reputable AV package that scans web content. I'll not get it discussion on this point, but I do feel that certain paid AV offering are better than the free ones. In addition occasional scans with Malwarebytes are good....

4) A Fourth possibility is that somehow you have configured your browser to handle ".js" files in a non standard way. But if this were the case, I expect that you'd see many more issues than just the particular case you mentioned.

This isn't the first discussion I've seen suggesting that hidden nasties are sometimes included on adverts that appear here (and I fully appreciate that the adverts are part of proboards and not within the control of DD admins / mods)

It strikes me that if Proboards are going to prohibit the use of ad-blocking software, then they ought to have considerably higher standards about the advertising they allow.

@ puddytat

There was another nasty on here yesterday. It was attached to a youtube vid somebody posted in all innocence. Again, it was the pulsating "you have won an iphone" ad. NEVER delete this as the virus is also in the 'delete' button. As has been said, proboards have no control over this.