Adds for scareware/malware (Mac)

EDIT: I have found an "official" website for MacKeeper, and although it seems at least barely legit, a lot of the graphics are too similar for me to not think this is related. I am also still troubled by the overlay ad's inability to "close" it apart from refreshing the page and hoping it doesn't pop up again (had it occur twice in a row a few times now). Clicking on "Skip this ad" in the upper right corner does NOT skip it, and will not get rid of the ad. It instead takes you to an outside website. I will copy the URL if it happens again.

So basically, even if this is a "legit" ad, it is behaving an awful lot like MacDefender has and is negatively impacting usability of the site.

Some additional info: It seems to only be happening when I am logged out, which is interesting. Here is the link it sends you to if you click "Skip this ad." http://lm.zeobit.com/17.34/index.php?affid=mzb_799033544&utm_source...ler=&trt=2

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Jeff, I realize that you don't really have control over what individual ads get served up by the ad services, but I figured I would let you know that it seems at least one of them is serving up an ad for a flavor of Mac scareware/malware, MacDefender (advertised as MacKeeper in this case). I know that this is scareware/malware, so know enough to not click on it, but it is still troubling that one of the ad services seems to be offering this up. It also is annoying from an ad standpoint not because of the pop-up, but rather an overlay ad that occasionally covers the site and offers no option to close it, forcing a refresh of the page.

The Mac user is probably not too big a visitor demographic for you, but it is troubling to me that this ad is being served up and in a way that severely impacts the user experience (being forced to refresh to get rid of the overlay ad).

Last edited by BlueStreak64,

Blue Streak crew 2007
ATL Matterhorn Tri. 2008
Three things you need to fix anything in the universe: duct tape, WD-40, and a hammer. Duct tape if it moves and it shouldn't, WD-40 if it doesn't move and should, and the hammer as the last resort.

Jeff's avatar

I mostly use a Mac, and I've never seen it. And yes, there really is no way for me to figure out where it's coming from.


Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - Blog - Music

Walt's avatar

I got the "skip this ad" link on CoasterBuzz earlier today. It took me to that MacKeeper site.


Walt Schmidt - Co-Publisher, PointBuzz
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Home to the Biggest Fans of the World's Best Amusement Park

FWIW, it seems to happen mostly when I am logged out (most of my time spent on PB is logged out), as I rarely get it when I am logged in. CB has it too, but it seems to be much less frequent (always logged in over there).


Blue Streak crew 2007
ATL Matterhorn Tri. 2008
Three things you need to fix anything in the universe: duct tape, WD-40, and a hammer. Duct tape if it moves and it shouldn't, WD-40 if it doesn't move and should, and the hammer as the last resort.

Jeff's avatar

There is no difference between the ad code served logged in or not.


Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - Blog - Music

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