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Not sure where else to post this, but here we go.

www.arcforums.com drops me off at a blank page, so I googled for arc forums, giving me http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?act=idx

Clicking on that drops me off at a url4short redirection. Going back and using the google link again takes me here as it should. I have tried this on several of my devices and they all show this behaviour like clockwork. Your servers are or have been compromised.

Googling the url4short gave me lots of people trying to resolve this assuming it is their machines that are infected, but I found this very useful link that should help you out :cheers:

http://peter.upfold.org.uk/blog/2013/01/15/cleaning-up-the-ip-board-url4short-mess/ :wave:

Oh and please fix www.arcforums.com dumping me off at http://www.arcforums.com/defaultsite ;)

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Not sure if this is relevant, but I get the 'url4short' thing when I use old ARC bookmarks (for referencing build threads, etc.) that pre-date the server change in 2013. I wonder if the url links returned by the Google engine are old ones that have not been updated since that event?

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I only get it when there is no cookie set for the forums. I would think (assuming the forums are patched as they should be) that this injection has been here for close to a year. Having googled around it seems to always hide in the cached skin_global.php and piggyback on that being decoded to be hard to find once people go looking for it. It seems to only do this redriect and nothing else but the damage done in reduced visitors from google alone, and over so long time, makes it really really nasty in addition to all the other implications... It is why I use disposable passwords for forums especially

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It has nothing to do with your IP (hence router at home or on the go does not matter), it has to do with the way (url/address) you use when accessing ARC. Using a bookmark like I normally would completely sidesteps the redirect, I only noticed because I am visiting my parents and browse on a Windows Surface tablet. It also only seem to display once, using cookies to make sure you only see it once, which I guess is for hiding purposes. So if you clear cookies it seems you get it right away, at least that is how I get it to redirect again on this device after having seen it once. Can also be javascript being disabled that blocks it from redirecting in one of your browsers

Edited by Sir Fondlebottom
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I have been geting that problem for months, and only when I am doing a google search for something, and I click on an ARC link in google. It ONLY happens for the ARC links, not for any other forum. I thought it was just bad links, now I know what the problem is.

Larry

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url4short is a malare. It piggy backs on your browser.

Sone ppl also get safe search witch give you grenn links on your goigle search.

Check in your cp/orograms and see if its on the list. If so first disable system restore then remove reboot and re enable sys restore.

Superantyspyware is also an excelkant tool for cleaning. The system restore pas should always be done when removing serious malware

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Well, as far as I can remember, I never entered www.arcforums.com by hand. Instead, I went to the ARC web site and from there via the link to the forums. The forum's URL changed a few time since that, and I just bookmark the forum's main page after accessing the forums from the ARC main site. Never had any problems exept my cookies expiring which requires me to re-enter my login once a year.

Now, when I type www.arcforums.com into my browser, I end up at the blank default page. Not url4short or anything else. Also, clicking on Google search results brings me to the correct forum page.

The only thing I can see could cause problems is that the forum's default page is not set up for direct access. Helps keeping some of the bad guys out. So no problem for me.

Oh yes, maybe I shoud say that my browser is blocking off anything which I don't authorize. No unwanted ads, no automatic scripts, and so on.

Edited by Lancer512
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I am not sure having a not-working default page should be considered a feature :rolleyes:

The redirect is javascript called by the html generated by the php, which has been tampered with by the php injection, so blocking scrips globally will stop that. Implying this is not a problem is like going "oh I have tapeworms, but it helps me slim my figure, right?"

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Sir Fondlebottom is right (I always wanted to say something like this in a technical discussion) : the url4short problem has nothing to do with a client-side virus or your browser settings. Steve (SBARC) should fix this on the server side.

Steve: You are losing valuable site traffic (and ad impressions) because of this. It has been ignored for too long - I would suggest fixing this as soon as possible

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Not sure where else to post this, but here we go.

www.arcforums.com drops me off at a blank page,

There is no webpage at www.arcforums.com...this is probably why when you go there you get nothing.

The forums URL is http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php There is also a link on the www.arcair.com ARC homepage go there and click "Forums"

so I googled for arc forums, giving me http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?act=idx

Clicking on that drops me off at a url4short redirection. Going back and using the google link again takes me here as it should. I have tried this on several of my devices and they all show this behaviour like clockwork. Your servers are or have been compromised.

I also got the redirection when I searched the forums on google. I will look into this further. Thanks for the link you included.

Googling the url4short gave me lots of people trying to resolve this assuming it is their machines that are infected, but I found this very useful link that should help you out :cheers:/>/>/>/>

http://peter.upfold.org.uk/blog/2013/01/15/cleaning-up-the-ip-board-url4short-mess/ :wave:/>/>/>/>

Oh and please fix www.arcforums.com dumping me off at http://www.arcforums.com/defaultsite ;)/>/>/>/>

The forums URL is http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php

I have never had anyone mention this issue to me regarding the URL www.arcforums.com not taking them to the forum homepage. It is a good idea and I will make this change.

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  • 2 months later...

Not sure if I'm the only one thats noticed the change in this, but url4short has been replaced by a rather lurid page wanting me to go to Adultfriendfinder, & I don't thing the adult friends especially want to discuss global warming with me but they're probably feeling hot cause they're not clad in much. :( Only happens when I come here from a google link & only with ARC, as soon as I go back to the google link page & select the ARC link again its OK then. :unsure:

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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Not sure if I'm the only one thats noticed the change in this, but url4short has been replaced by a rather lurid page wanting me to go to Adultfriendfinder, & I don't thing the adult friends especially want to discuss global warming with me but they're probably feeling hot cause they're not clad in much. :(/> Only happens when I come here from a google link & only with ARC, as soon as I go back to the google link page & select the ARC link again its OK then. :unsure:/>

Steve.

I have exactly the same problem. I'm used to it now.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I opened an ARC page off a google image search the other day, watched the URL load up as the ARC one when whoosh, all of a sudden it became adult friend finder. It is irritating but I guess I've learned to cope with it. A corruption in the forum software I'm guessing as its only ever ARC & others seem to get it so unlikely to be this computer. I could do without it though.

Steve.

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  • 11 months later...

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