Calm down Alkarion, use the AdBlock extension and you don't get the popup;
check out http://adblock.mozdev.org/ and http://www.pierceive.com/!

Regards,

Ronald

Ditto. I use Proxomitron + Gryphen filters + Opera = bye bye annoyances.

Still he has a point: the type and number of ads really detracts from the professionalism and usefulness of the site.

Thanks HunterZ, though I've calmed a bit down since I have Adblock installed by now. Indeed, the point is that The Underdogs is otherwise a rather nice site so it's irritating they use such agressive ads. There are other, more userfriendly ways.

(Just asked myself what you would think of your own website if you can't inspect it without a bunch of popups coming up. Must even be annoying to set it up like this.)

I run IE 6 on XP SP2 and have Google toolbar including enable pop-up blocker and I get no pop-ups at all on the site! I do have a custom hosts file with many thousands of ad sites blocked which is IMO the best way to stop the ads [at least those where you know where they're coming from, and if it's a new one, just add it] 😀

A large hosts file can substantially slow down your system. A better option is Firefox with AdBlock and Filterset.G. I mean, a much better idea.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Extremely critical

Microsoft Internet Explorer "window()" Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability
Unpatched. Secunia Advisory 9 of 15 in 2005

Release Date: 2005-05-31
Secunia Advisory ID: SA15546
Solution Status: Unpatched
Criticality: Extremely critical
Impact: System access
Where: From remote

Yum. Good shit. And only...oh...7 months old?

A large hosts file can substantially slow down your system.

Amen to that. I have seen a large hosts file slow down older, slower systems down to a virtual crawl.

collector wrote:

Amen to that. I have seen a large hosts file slow down older, slower systems down to a virtual crawl.

Hmmm. I wonder why a large ASCII look-up table in the guise of a flat file might slow down a system???

dvwjr

Hmmm. I wonder why a large registry lookup-table in the guise of simplification might slow down a system???

😉

Sorry had to do it.

I think the huge host file slowdown problem only affected Windows 2000 but I'm not sure. I've never approved of the whole host file blocking thing....since hosts files were never designed for that purpose. I just use Bind to perform the same function.

Indeed a hosts file was never meant for the purpose but it works and is a reasonable solution to the problem. I've not got a system that's running slow either so I guess the problem doesn't affect Windows XP.

One drawback it does have is the browser history is a pain in the backside. Each add gets individually logged and so 'back' becomes a drop down back history and select the real previous page rather than just click the button.

As for any/all security advisories. You have to go to some pretty dodgy sites to be hit by a lot [if not all] of these hijack scenarios. I've got no proof but I doubt that sites, even HOTU, would use ads from companies with such practices 😖

You mean dodgy sites like AtomShockwave, IDG, A&ETelevision Networks, MediaCom,Universal McCann, and The Register?

At least the only I site I visited (The Register) pulled the ad feed as soon as it had found out that it contained malicious code. Not much help if whatever came down had already taken over your PC I admit!

In the case of Flak eSolutions, it was a virus they inadvertantly let loose (silly tossers!) whereas the dodgy sites I was referring were of the 'underground' (if there's such a thing on the internet!!) variety like warez, porn, gambling, etc. where issues such as rogue dialers, constant pop-ups, etc. are a real problem. I'm speaking from experience of cleaning other people's PCs - always awkward to ask just where did they visit to get in such a mess 😀

Freeze.com. Or The Register. The point is that it's not safe to use Internet Explorer anymore, and anyone that does knowing this stuff is a damn fool and deserves what's coming to them 😀

I'm a damn fool and I deserve all I got coming to me.

Of course you don't account for my (or anyone else's) ability to revsere the effects of a hack *if* one should strike 😀

Tell me, how do you reverse having all your files encrypted?

ouch 😀

That's exactly what I am telling to a friend of mine who is a newbie and have just got her first virus/spyware. Do not use IE nor Outlook Express.
Everybody knows that recent versions of both FireFox (1.5) and Opera (8.51) are pretty secure against phishing and other malicious practices.

I really don't understand the mentality of "oh well if something infects me I'll just fix it later", even though you can proactively remove the point of infection by switching to a readily-available alternative -- and as a bonus, you get a bunch of extra features. It's very much along the same same mentality as "I don't get viruses, so I don't need antivirus software." Aside from the fact that without the antivirus software there to alert you, you probably won't even know that you've been infected with something, it's silly to rely on blind hope to keep you safe. Running a Win32 platform, even with StartupMonitor and other such things running, I'm still not so naive to think that I'll be able to keep myself protected all of the time, even though I probably could.

Do you drive the safest car on the planet or even does your house have in built in fire protection, etc. etc. These are the things matter more in life - a PC with a few files on is just something not really worth that much in the scheme of things. I do run virus protection and yes it does trap the odd attachment received from spammers. Would I have opened up the attachment if it hadn't of told me - doubtful given the content of the e-mail but hey ho 😀

If I felt the need to run something then I'd run it, simple as that. Firefox's feature set hasn't changed my mind but then again nor has any other 'replacement' browser's either. IE isn't the safest nor the most feature laden but it does it what it does (all badly if you're inclined to think that way).