• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Malware/Privacy Intrusion Virus in P.M.'s?!?!

I've been using Vipre Premium for a while now and it's been pretty good about blocking everything that tries to squirm into my PC. I also recently installed that Malwarebytes script as well, but in the few days I've been running both of them together, not got a peep from either one about any malicious code being present on any pages here.

I think that if you keep your virus and malware definitions up to date, and keep your OS up to date as well, you can greatly limit your exposure. And NEVER, EVER click on ANY attachments or embedded URLs that come to you via email, no matter who they are from.
 
I got the vista version of this virus (It's the same for XP, vista and 7) and there are different versions other then the antivirus.

I didn't get it from here, however. I got it from NFL.com. I purged my system on the 13th when I got it. I got it again a day later at aprox the same time. After some extensive digging, I've learned that its caused by a cookie. Clear them out and then run the anti-malwayre program of your choice. (I'm using malwayre bytes pro, and spyware DR.) It took me 3-4 clearings before getting rid of all the root issues, but it still has some elements that neither program can fix. To see if you have anything still lurking around in your system, here's some steps you might want to take.

Open up a document, and input this:

C:\Users\(your name here)\AppData\Roaming
(my leftover was "WallpaperSS")

C:\Users\(your name here)\AppData\Local
and look for .exe files. (ex: vlr.exe, tbl.exe)

If you cant see hidden files, then go to:

Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization

Click on "Folder Options", then click on the "View" tab on the window that pops up.

You'll see "show hidden files and folders" click on that, and "Hide extensions for known file types" along with "Hide protected operating system files". (when you're done, click on them back if you dont want to see the hidden files) then click "ok" not "apply"

(hope I didn't confuse anyone lol)
 
Utta, Latest combofix will get it in one swipe. They had an update the day my work pc got it for the 2012 version. Takes about 15 min to repair on avg pc. I've used it on about 6 or 7 other 2012 antivirus pc's since then and it grabs everything. It will reboot your pc several times. Nice thing is, I had it going on 3 computers at once and all 3 one week later seem fine.
 
I read a large thread on the BP forums about this happening. It seems that most of these attacks occur while in the classifieds section. I had the same issue yesterday and while I don't remember the site it was from, I do remember that it was the same one listed in the BP.net forum. The admin gave the Op to that thread your contact info Rich. Thankfully Norton caught and stopped mine.
 
There are infections now that require only the display of a particular banner ad on your screen, no clicking required.
I've dealt with them on three occasions, but I have never known the mechanism of the infection. I tend to think the banner is remotely hosted, not stored on the site it is being displayed on. That would make it more difficult to pinpoint.
The biggest problem with the ones I have had to deal with is they must be completely cleaned in one go, many of the files installed are capable of replicating the entire virus on the next reboot, so if you miss one, you're back at square one.

The anti virus and malware programs are all well and good, but no real protection plan should be without a complete system backup done on a regular basis.
I image the C drives on all my computers regularly so when the really nasty infections come along I always have the last resort option of restoring the last good image with minimal loss of recent changes. I currently use Acronis True Image for this.
It has saved my bacon and kept me from having to do a full wipe and start from scratch on many occasions.
 
So, are these banner ads being passed through Google?
 
Yes they are remotely hosted and it could be google or other ad hosting. Flash is the biggest culprit. I fixed another pc last night and the people said they were on yahoo news when they got hit. Unfortunately they clicked to fix and got nailed.
 
Clay Davenport said:
The biggest problem with the ones I have had to deal with is they must be completely cleaned in one go, many of the files installed are capable of replicating the entire virus on the next reboot, so if you miss one, you're back at square one.
Click to expand...

As i have stated before, combofix will take care of it. If manually cleaning or using another program, You need to turn off system restore and delete restore points or it will come back on reboot.
 
JColt said:
As i have stated before, combofix will take care of it. If manually cleaning or using another program, You need to turn off system restore and delete restore points or it will come back on reboot.
Click to expand...

Well the thing that is interesting about this is that apparently the people trying to infect viewers with malicious code are willing to PAY to be able to do this. I would think that Google would require a payment account to be set up with them before accepting any ads.

Unless I just don't understand the vehicle being used in the delivery method. :shrug01:
 
WebSlave said:
Well the thing that is interesting about this is that apparently the people trying to infect viewers with malicious code are willing to PAY to be able to do this. I would think that Google would require a payment account to be set up with them before accepting any ads.

Unless I just don't understand the vehicle being used in the delivery method. :shrug01:
Click to expand...

It is done with out the knowledge of google or other advertisers. It is slipped in usually through flash, javascript or activex. You can read a bit about it here Webslave, http://www.malwarehelp.org/methods-of-infection.html
 
Also, I believe the most common of these infections is the fake virus/antivirus scam.
When you're infected, you begin to get incessant popups informing you you have a virus, usually even your desktop wallpaper is changed with a brightly colored warning message, and things like task manager are disabled.
Every popup you get about being infected also directs you to the program to "fix" the problem. The program of course costs 29.99 or whatever. That's where they make the money and why they would be willing to pay a small fee to advertise. Unfortunately people do fall for it, obviously, or it wouldn't still be done.
 
Clay Davenport said:
Also, I believe the most common of these infections is the fake virus/antivirus scam.
When you're infected, you begin to get incessant popups informing you you have a virus, usually even your desktop wallpaper is changed with a brightly colored warning message, and things like task manager are disabled.
Every popup you get about being infected also directs you to the program to "fix" the problem. The program of course costs 29.99 or whatever. That's where they make the money and why they would be willing to pay a small fee to advertise. Unfortunately people do fall for it, obviously, or it wouldn't still be done.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sounds plausible. And wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Google was getting a kickback as well....
 
WebSlave said:
Yeah, sounds plausible. And wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Google was getting a kickback as well....
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I think I am going to be calling this a scam more than a virus. I bet we would be shocked to know who was really behind this!
 
WebSlave said:
So, are these banner ads being passed through Google?
Click to expand...

It's google ads. Another site I visit uses only that ad service and lots of people are freaking out over all the infections they have been getting hit with..and the ad does not require you to click on it to become infect.. it just needs to show up on the site - forced malware. If you are on firefox, ad block plus seems to work well...people with that installed have not been having problems.
 
I've filed a complaint with Google about this issue. Obviously, though, this must be a widespread problem that they are already aware of...
 
The win 7 also got my computer last week. I am very computer ignorant, lol. But I was on most of the sites mentioned in this thread. My wife fixed the computer, some how. just wanted to add.
Dennis
 
working on one right now, lol
 
I received this in my emails (both of them that were formerly recorded on this site) Don't know if it has any significance to the topic, but thought I would put it up anyway.

From: Anita Dominic <[email protected]>
Date: December 26, 2011 7:25:36 AM EST

To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Hello
Reply-To: [email protected]



[email protected]
Hello Dear Friend,
I saw your profile today at
www.faunaclassifieds.com and some thing about you move my interest to communicate with you so how is life treating you. I want you to use this email address
[email protected]
so that i can give you my picture and tell you more about me ok.stay cool and enjoy your self.kisesssssssssss
Yours lovely Anita
Click to expand...
 
deborahbroadus said:
I received this in my emails (both of them that were formerly recorded on this site) Don't know if it has any significance to the topic, but thought I would put it up anyway.
Click to expand...

No that's just a spammer Deborah. Fake antivirus is coming thruogh flash and google ads for most part. The one I'm working on now the person was on espn website.
 
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