Jun 05 2011
Zap2It Malware
The same computer I had to replace the case fan last week just got hit by a piece of malware. I admit I should be more proactive in keeping this system updated, but I’m disappointed in Zap2it’s inability to secure their own website. They’re owned by Tribune, an enormous company with a lot of IT professionals. I would think they’d be well equipped to combat any would-be hackers interested in planting code in their server.
Had I not had a second computer to look for help with the removal of this piece of malware, I may never have gotten it removed. The malware hijacked the web browsers on my PC, making it impossible to search for help on the infected PC.
I tried transferring the required removal tools via Google Desktop, but the file transfer was rejected by the malware. I ended up wasting a perfectly good DVDR on less than 1 MB of software because I couldn’t find my damn USB thumb drive.
Zap2it’s issues now have me looking for a new TV Listings site. They were by far the best listings site.
I wonder how that happened. An infected Flash ad maybe?
From what I read, some of the advertising agencies don’t actually screen the ads they run, so that can be a big problem when they’re Flash-based. Not to mention how annoying and CPU intensive they can be.
I use Flashblock in Firefox. It makes browsing so much better.
I suppose it’s possible for it to have been a bad flash ad. I use an ad blocker to keep most ads from displaying.
I got a Google warning when accessing Zap2it earlier tonight. I agree they have excellent TV listings, and fairly good entertainment ‘news’, but the ads on their site have become so invasive I am reluctant to use it. Now, it seems, they are so bad that they can infect your computer. Too bad. I’ve started using the Xfinity TV listing, which are not bad.
I’m getting a “Reported Attack Page” in Mozilla for Zap2It, too. This is the second time in a couple of years that Zap2It has been infected with malware.
You’re right — it’s a darn shame that they don’t have better security. I haven’t found another site that has as good TV listings that you can customize the way you can with Zap2It’s site.
Would something like this proxy auto config script designed to block adds help avoid these issues?
http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/
I love using it esp when using sites like zap2it.
James,
I got a warning from Chrome early yesterday morning. Yesterday evening, when I no longer got that warning from Chrome, I went ahead and visited zap2it.com yesterday evening. Instantly I got a blue screen and a strange error message from Windows. I restarted and a Microsoft Web page loaded with this headline and first sentence:
“Stop (blue screen) error caused by a device or driver
You received this message because a hardware device, its driver, or related software has caused a stop error, also called a blue screen error. . . .”
As the page advised I then used all of my normal anti-virus and anti-malware programs to scan my computer, but they did not find any problems. Just to make sure that I got it, I’d like to try whatever you used to get rid of the problem. Would you mind sharing that solution and the URL where you found it?
Thanks
websurfer337, I never received a blue screen so the piece of malware you encountered may be different than the one I did.
Here are the instructions I followed after encountering that popup they show in the first screenshot: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-win-7-antispyware-2011