OK. Let’s just be honest about it…there are a ton of bad folks out there trying to mess with our site, and every other site in the world. It’s in the headlines. It’s all over the web…and yes…you may be getting some of the same annoying Pop-Ups while others who go to the same sites do not.
You may be screaming…”WHY ME?????”
Well…as it turns out, it could be partly “user error.” If you are using any device in the iWorld (pads, phones, books, laptops) you are likely really OK when it comes to Malware. Apple actually does a pretty good job. HOWEVER…it doesn’t protect you from pop-ups on web sites. If you don’t have pop-up blockers installed in your browsers…you might consider it.
But there are actually a couple of common sense things you can do, to get rid of those nasty popups and “YOU MIGHT HAVE WON AN AMAZON GIFT CARD” notices.
READ ON!
It’s actually pretty easy.
Again…if you are using other devices, there are popup blockers available. It is YOUR machine that you are protecting…so it’s worth it. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR ANY SERVICE THAT APPEARS WITH THE POP-UP. They are phishing for info. Close out the browser. Close down your machine…and then search for a good program. (I use Avast!)
If you are using an iWorld device…. Here are some tips…
This is from a much larger article…
Can An iPad Get Infected With a Virus?
But My iPad Told Me It Has a Virus!
The distinction between viruses and malware is important because a virus simply cannot replicate itself onto an iPad because it cannot access files to do so. But other forms of malware simply trick you, the user, into infecting the computer or giving up personal information.
One of the most common scams for the iPad is the iOS Crash Report and variations of it. Phishing is an attempt to trick users into giving up information. In this phishing scam, a website displays a pop-up page that informs the user that iOS has crashed or the iPad has a virus and informs them to call a number. But the people on the other end aren’t Apple employees and their main goal is to trick you out of either money or information that can be used to hack into your accounts.
When you receive a message like this, the best course of action is to quit out of the Safari browser and reboot the iPad. If you get this message often, you may want to clear out the cookies and web data stored on your device:
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Scroll down the left-side menu.
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Tap Safari.
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In the Safari settings, scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data. You will need to confirm this choice. Unfortunately, you will need to enter any saved passwords again, but this is a small price to pay to keep your Safari browser clean and secure.
Congratulations Amazon User…
If you are constantly bombarded by pop-up advertisements in the iPad’s web browser that lock you into the page congratulating you for winning something, you’ve come across another common form of malware. The most common of these impersonates Amazon and hopes to lure you in with the promise of a free gift. Similar to the Crash Report scam, these pop-up adware scams are hoping to trick you into giving up personal information.
You can fight back by following the steps above to clear your web history and data. This malware exists in your web cache, which is data the Safari browser saves to help speed up a website by storing portions of it.
And HERE IS ANOTHER ARTICLE with even more information…
HOPE THAT HELPS!!
PLEASE NOTE-– we do not have malware/embeds/popups on our site by design. But WordPress feeds ads that often DO have issues. So…DON’T OPEN THEM.
Follow the steps above and you will get rid of 95% of your problems (the other 5% are political).
Note from Alissa: We have another post all about this and how you can report these issues directly to WordPress. You can find that post here.
I actually don’t have the option of installing an ad blocker on my work computer, due to configuration restrictions set by our system admins — but the flip side of that coin is that selected ads appear to be failing outright, based upon security settings; if the source of the embedded ad is a non-encrypted connection, it won’t render in my browser… because you guys appear to be doing security *the right way* on your end, and encrypt all pages by default.
I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if all of the phishing hacks are coming from those non-encrypted external sources.
I would have liked to read this article but I kept getting redirected to another site by pop-up ads.. 😥
This only happens when I use Facebook’s stupid browser they just added. So now every link I follow I have to take an extra step and open it in Chrome and pop-ups don’t happen. Dumb Facebook.
Uhm. So don’t use it?
Thanks so much for this, Patric! I haven’t gone through the steps yet, I need to make notes of all of my saved user names on my credit card, bank, etc sites before I do this as cleaning the history/cache will wipe out all of the auto user name log-ins. This problem seems to happen to me in spirts… I’ll go for days having trouble with these pop ups, and then I’m good for a month or so. Today has been brutal, though. I’m surprised I got on just now. I appreciate your help on this. I’m a true addict and have been having TSTO Addict page withdrawals. 🙂
Im still waiting on my new free iPhone…..
You’re just waiting for an iPhone? I’ll still waiting for that Nigerian royal family to send me my share of the $142,000,000.59! 🤣
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! I truly appreciate this info! I was looking for this info the other day. So glad you posted it! You guys are the best!
I’ve always bit my tongue instead of responding to user complaints with a solution because I wasn’t sure if it was acceptable to give suggestions to install an add-on capable browser + ad blocker.
uBO blocks 10-20 elements everytime I visit tstoaddicts and I’m guessing some are these phishing/malware popups that I’ve never seen.
My guess is that may be true!!
I use the WordPress app and never have any problems from my iPad to my android phone.
Thank you for posting this and the links Patric! I followed these tips, fingers crossed that I won’t see that annoying message anymore.
Ok I am not the only one. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I knew that but now it makes sense. This is great.
I have this problem constantly, always when I visit tstoaddicts. The problem is, clearing my cache, deleting my history and cookies, and then going into advanced settings and deleting all history, does nothing. After doing all of that, I power off my iPad, turn it back on, do a hard reset. The moment I try to view your site again, it happens again. Then I go through the whole process all over again, and again, as soon as I try to read a post on this site, the pop up shows up and I can’t view anything, only shut down again. I’ve also tried turning off java because I’ve heard that can cause the issue too, but I always have to turn it back on in order to view other sites. So, if I’ve tried everything that’s recommended and it doesn’t work, what’s my next option? Because it’s stinks that I can’t visit my favorite site for tsto. And please understand, I know it’s not your fault, and that you can’t do anything about it. I’m just hoping someone knows of a solution beyond what was listed in this post, a solution that actually works. I miss being able to read your posts!
Try contacting WordPress directly, it could be an issue with a specific ad showing up for you. If you report it to them they should be able to trace it. I’ve got more info on this post about contacting WordPress
http://tstoaddicts.com/2017/11/17/about-the-ads/
Ok, thank you Alissa. I’ve sent them a message to report the problem. I hope they give me a solution, other than doing all the things I’ve already been doing. I need my tstoaddicts! 😉
Thank you for taking the time to discuss this problem. Those messages can be annoying and/or downright disturbing.
Luckily, the only time I see these pop-ups on my iPhone is when I click on a site from Facebook. I just close the app and reopen it.
The first time I saw the “virus” pop-up I researched it via Apple, found out it was possible malware.
I don’t recall ever seeing these types of pop-ups on my Amazon Kindle or laptop.
Thanks again Patric for your research and hard work!
Also, the newest version of iOS (iOS 12) has a toggle in the general settings for safari…that can help combat pop-ups! Just toggle it ON to help block pop-ups…pretty simple.
I’m finding that mine only occur on WordPress sites with ads. Not blaming anyone, there are jerk people out there that hide stuff in ads. Usually a cleaning of the history/cache gets rid of them…for a while.
I’ve also seemed to find success in closing out odd looking ads by clicking X in the corner of the offenders.
Why are you guys giving us so many pop-up ads??? It’s annoying and not nice. You need to knock it off.
P.S. this was all sarcasm, but I know you guys will still get similar posts from other people.
Lol it’s fun when we get yelled at for what we cant control.
And why does my game redownload each time i open it? What’s the next event? can you mix my bug? Can I have free donuts? Jk, jk
Thank you so much for this specific newsletter. This is a problem I started having with the addicts websites and others for a couple of months now. I’m glad to know what I’ve been doing (immediately deleting history in Safari) is the best thing to do. So very frustrating to deal with this baloney. Almost as much fun as receiving spam from a bank telling me to call the bank give them my password and CVC number so they can unfreeze my account. Especially since I don’t have anything to do with that bank. Thank you Patric!
“the other 5% are political”