Chinese Pop-Up Ads Appearing

[snowman]

I'm having a strange problem where Chinese Pop-Up ads are appearing on the bottom right side of my screen when I read forums running XenForo. It seems to occur mostly when I am reading threads. The ads appear after reading a few pages of them. If I minimize it, it disappears but will pop up again. I have scanned my system multiple times with various virus scanners and malware programs and they do not find anything. This only seems to happen (so far) on Xenforo sites. I have noticed the behavior on my own site and Steve Hoffman's Music site. It did not happen on Audio Karma. This laptop is Window 8.1 and the latest security patches are applied.

A screen shot is attached. Please help if you have any suggestions on how to eradicate this. This is driving me nuts. Thanks!

P.S. - an ad popped up on my main forum page as well now - so it is not limited to the threads.

 

[whynot]

This laptop is Window 8.1 and the latest security patches are applied.

They don't help, even "various virus scanners" cannot find the cause because those popups seem legitimate.
You installed some program on your laptop, that one is causing those popups.

 

[Optic]

hi @snowman if you are 100% sure your OS is clean then your browser is likely hijacked with malware

Try resetting it to default settings (completely removes all extensions and cache):
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/8091?hl=en

 

[snowman]

hi @snowman if you are 100% sure your OS is clean then your browser is likely hijacked with malware

Try resetting it to default settings (completely removes all extensions and cache):
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/8091?hl=en

Thanks Optic. I've spent many hours now trying to eradicate it without success. I have reset the browsers, rolled back the system a week (before the issue), tried malware scanners and virus scanners and tools on malware help sites - nothing works. Here is something very puzzling. Now the problem has spread to my Kindle Fire Tablet! I do not install hardly anything on that device, download nothing really and only visit a few common websites. I am actually wondering if my router is infected. Not too long ago I got a new one at Amazon on sale. It was a unknown Chinese brand (Wise-Tiger). It seems very odd the Android tablet would have the same issue now. I don't share data between the laptop and tablet much (and not at all recently). I scanned the tablet tonight with AVG Pro and it did not find any problems.

The problem is getting worse by the way. Now I noticed it adds Chinese sales links to some photos on the bottom. And at the bottom of some threads on Xenforo, it adds tons of Chinese articles right below the footer. It does similar antics on some Wordpress sites.

The behavior happens in Chrome and Explorer. I haven't tried Firefox yet.

Apparently Chinese (and Korean) Adware is a big problem now from what I am reading, but I haven't come across many solutions. The articles mostly just alert people about it. Earlier this year "Chinese Fireball" was said to infect 250,000,000 people. And there are many others. And by the way, I not visit Asian websites as I cannot speak the languages.

 

[snowman]

I know the moderators moved this to "off-topic" and that is OK, but I am sort of alarmed about how this malware can attach itself almost seamlessly to Xenforo (and Wordpress) templates. Visually it looks like something that is intended to be there and that is troubling. It is obvious because it is in Chinese, but if the ads were English it might fool many visitors and get clicks. I'm not sure if Xenforo code could prevent these type of adware attacks, but it would be desirable IMHO.

 

[snowman]

The problem turned out to be the ROUTER. It was compromised or sent this way from the factory. The primary DNS was set to point to my ISP. However the secondary DNS was pointing to Chinese advertising company. Here is a helpful article about this situation in case someone else has these issues in the future.

https://www.howtogeek.com/227384/how-to-check-your-router-for-malware/

 

[Wildcat Media]

Wow, amazing. I run DD-WRT on my routers here, at least until I change them out for pro-level equipment in the next few months.

 

[babyzeenatsingh]

This problem was also happened with me while opening my website contentmart.com than i removed all plugins from browser and fixed

 

[Suzanne O]

Make sure you have the latest version of internet security and anti virus software installed. You need that to help prevent these malware ads pop up on your forums.