Please help! Problem with Google ads. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

alicat · 08-26-2004, 11:22 AM

This is driving me freakin' insane. Beyond navigating my computer and using the web, I know nothing about computers so please bear with me and I'll try to explain the best I can.

This started happening about two weeks ago. There's a cooking forum that I belong to and on most pages there are little paragraph ads from Google on the right side of the page. They automatically generate based on the subject matter (much like the same ads do on a page of search results on Googles site). Say if I'm reading a thread about herbs than the ads might be for spice companies. I hardly ever even gave them a thought, they were just there.

Now, my problem. Suddenly, when I go to a new page, the page loads fine but I can't use the page or even scroll it until a fucking "file download" box for the Google ads gets done loading. This can take a minute or more to happen everytime I click to go to another page. When they used to be there automatically (the ads), now my computer is asking me to download them (I think).

What comes up is a typical grey Windows "file download" box and in the "from" line it says "pagead2.googlesyndication.com". Whether I hit open, save or cancel, nothing happens, the ads don't show up but I can then (finally) use the page I am on. This is pissing me off so badly, it is making moving around the site next to impossible because of the long wait on every page for the "file download" box to load. The site admin. say it's not a problem on thier end. Yesterday on another forum I go to that has Google ads, the same damn thing happened on thier site too

.

Can anyone tell me how to stop this from happening? Is it possibly something in IE I can fix? A way maybe to block downloads from that Google address? I didn't do a thing to my settings when this started happening, one day I'm cruising the site as normal and the next this download crap started.

Please someone give me some ideas! I now can't use two of my favorite sites and lord knows how many others until this is fixed. I'm so pissed at Google (though it might not be thier fault) because I use thier site all the time and now they're a pain in my ass. Thanks to anyone who can help me!

BTW: I'm using IE 6.0 and Windows 98.
Ali

soopafreek · 08-26-2004, 11:58 AM

you could just block the domain.

IE6 > Tools > Internet Options... > Security Tab > click on "Restricted Sites" and add "pagead2.googlesyndication.com" or just " *.googlesyndication.com". Restart your browser.

That SHOULD fix it.

Redlemon · 08-26-2004, 12:17 PM

I did a bit of 'google groups' searching on this, and a number of people seem to be having this problem; some are Opera users, so this isn't an IE-specific problem.

A quick spyware check is probably in order; check the "Tons of Popups?" sticky thread at the top of this forum for more info.

Some people are also fingering Proximitron as a possibility.

I'll keep looking and post here if I find something more.

alicat · 08-26-2004, 09:25 PM

For your suggestions. Two idea's are two more than I got from the cooking site admin.'s!! My DH was trying to find a site to download a driver for our Epson printer (we couldn't find our disk) and the damn Google thing happened on yet another site! He does engineering on a computer but I'm assuming it's pretty specific because he had no clue what to do about this problem.

Soopafreek: I will do that right after I logoff! Anything to stop the madness!

Redlemon: I am soooo glad to hear I am not the only one on the "World Wide Web" that is having this problem. I was starting to doubt my own sanity!

I will check the "tons of popups?" thread. I hadn't thought of that because I didn't think my problem fell under the "popup" ads type thing. Someone suggested a specific spyware download to me on the cooking forum, but I followed her link to "download.com" and wouldn't you know it, the download didn't work

I don't know if it's good or not (or even if it's a net thing or software that we have) but we do have Proximitron that shows up every now and then. So, if people are stating that that might be a problem and we have it, then hmmm.... Thanks for taking your time to help me!

Ali

Redlemon · 08-27-2004, 05:21 AM

Hope it helped; please report back if it doesn't work!

alicat · 08-27-2004, 09:54 AM

If I could crawl through the computer to give you a kiss, I would!! The spyware suggestion was the ticket! I downloaded Ad Aware and ran a scan. It found a 107 files that I needed to remove

. I did so and went to the cooking forum.

No more "file download" problem, the Google ads are right back where they used to be and my computer hasn't loaded pages this fast in I don't know how long!

My Hubby is just gonna flip to see the speed we've gotten back.

We lost a memory card (chip?) about a month and a half ago and we just assumed the computer had slowed down because of that. He's going to be geeked to know that it was really bugs in the system!! I feel like I just got a new toy.

Can you tell that I'm happy?!

Can't thank you enough for the suggestion and such a simple fix!

P.S. I tried doing the restricted site thing that Soopafreek suggested and it did block the ads but I still had to wait about 20 sec. a page for my computer to recognize they were restricted. So, it did work, but didn't make that much of a difference.
Ali

Redlemon · 08-27-2004, 10:05 AM

Virtual kiss accepted.

And would you believe that 107 is a relatively small number of issues? Now that your system is clean again, I have three suggestions.

1. Firefox - The Browser, Reloaded. All the cool people are doing it. It'll cut down your spyware problem. There are other threads on here to ask questions about Firefox.

2. If you won't give up on Internet Explorer, at least run your new Ad Aware weekly, and be sure to update it with a new set of adware definitions each time (there's an option in there).

3. Before you install any freeware, do a Google search for the name of the software along with the word 'spyware'. Don't install anything that contains spyware.

08-26-2004, 11:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
alicat Baffled Location: West Michigan	Please help! Problem with Google ads. This is driving me freakin' insane. Beyond navigating my computer and using the web, I know nothing about computers so please bear with me and I'll try to explain the best I can. This started happening about two weeks ago. There's a cooking forum that I belong to and on most pages there are little paragraph ads from Google on the right side of the page. They automatically generate based on the subject matter (much like the same ads do on a page of search results on Googles site). Say if I'm reading a thread about herbs than the ads might be for spice companies. I hardly ever even gave them a thought, they were just there. Now, my problem. Suddenly, when I go to a new page, the page loads fine but I can't use the page or even scroll it until a fucking "file download" box for the Google ads gets done loading. This can take a minute or more to happen everytime I click to go to another page. When they used to be there automatically (the ads), now my computer is asking me to download them (I think). What comes up is a typical grey Windows "file download" box and in the "from" line it says "pagead2.googlesyndication.com". Whether I hit open, save or cancel, nothing happens, the ads don't show up but I can then (finally) use the page I am on. This is pissing me off so badly, it is making moving around the site next to impossible because of the long wait on every page for the "file download" box to load. The site admin. say it's not a problem on thier end. Yesterday on another forum I go to that has Google ads, the same damn thing happened on thier site too . Can anyone tell me how to stop this from happening? Is it possibly something in IE I can fix? A way maybe to block downloads from that Google address? I didn't do a thing to my settings when this started happening, one day I'm cruising the site as normal and the next this download crap started. Please someone give me some ideas! I now can't use two of my favorite sites and lord knows how many others until this is fixed. I'm so pissed at Google (though it might not be thier fault) because I use thier site all the time and now they're a pain in my ass. Thanks to anyone who can help me! BTW: I'm using IE 6.0 and Windows 98. Ali __________________ 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

08-26-2004, 11:58 AM	#2 (permalink)
soopafreek Psycho Location: ask your mom	you could just block the domain. IE6 > Tools > Internet Options... > Security Tab > click on "Restricted Sites" and add "pagead2.googlesyndication.com" or just " *.googlesyndication.com". Restart your browser. That SHOULD fix it. __________________ aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

08-26-2004, 09:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
alicat Baffled Location: West Michigan	Thanx guys!!! For your suggestions. Two idea's are two more than I got from the cooking site admin.'s!! My DH was trying to find a site to download a driver for our Epson printer (we couldn't find our disk) and the damn Google thing happened on yet another site! He does engineering on a computer but I'm assuming it's pretty specific because he had no clue what to do about this problem. Soopafreek: I will do that right after I logoff! Anything to stop the madness! Redlemon: I am soooo glad to hear I am not the only one on the "World Wide Web" that is having this problem. I was starting to doubt my own sanity! I will check the "tons of popups?" thread. I hadn't thought of that because I didn't think my problem fell under the "popup" ads type thing. Someone suggested a specific spyware download to me on the cooking forum, but I followed her link to "download.com" and wouldn't you know it, the download didn't work I don't know if it's good or not (or even if it's a net thing or software that we have) but we do have Proximitron that shows up every now and then. So, if people are stating that that might be a problem and we have it, then hmmm.... Thanks for taking your time to help me! Ali __________________ 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

08-27-2004, 09:54 AM	#6 (permalink)
alicat Baffled Location: West Michigan	Redlemon you're awesome!! If I could crawl through the computer to give you a kiss, I would!! The spyware suggestion was the ticket! I downloaded Ad Aware and ran a scan. It found a 107 files that I needed to remove . I did so and went to the cooking forum. No more "file download" problem, the Google ads are right back where they used to be and my computer hasn't loaded pages this fast in I don't know how long! My Hubby is just gonna flip to see the speed we've gotten back. We lost a memory card (chip?) about a month and a half ago and we just assumed the computer had slowed down because of that. He's going to be geeked to know that it was really bugs in the system!! I feel like I just got a new toy. Can you tell that I'm happy?! Can't thank you enough for the suggestion and such a simple fix! P.S. I tried doing the restricted site thing that Soopafreek suggested and it did block the ads but I still had to wait about 20 sec. a page for my computer to recognize they were restricted. So, it did work, but didn't make that much of a difference. Ali __________________ 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

08-26-2004, 12:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	I did a bit of 'google groups' searching on this, and a number of people seem to be having this problem; some are Opera users, so this isn't an IE-specific problem. A quick spyware check is probably in order; check the "Tons of Popups?" sticky thread at the top of this forum for more info. Some people are also fingering Proximitron as a possibility. I'll keep looking and post here if I find something more.

08-27-2004, 05:21 AM	#5 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Hope it helped; please report back if it doesn't work!

08-27-2004, 10:05 AM	#7 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Virtual kiss accepted. And would you believe that 107 is a relatively small number of issues? Now that your system is clean again, I have three suggestions. 1. Firefox - The Browser, Reloaded. All the cool people are doing it. It'll cut down your spyware problem. There are other threads on here to ask questions about Firefox. 2. If you won't give up on Internet Explorer, at least run your new Ad Aware weekly, and be sure to update it with a new set of adware definitions each time (there's an option in there). 3. Before you install any freeware, do a Google search for the name of the software along with the word 'spyware'. Don't install anything that contains spyware.