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Avg threat alert

D

DAYWALKER

Bronze Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
66
Location
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Just shortly after all the banner ads started to appear on the "what's new" section.......i'm getting a threat pop up for a tracking cookie. This has never happened before.....and could cause me a problem with my employer if i continue to visit the forum. Anybody else getting this......and who's doing the tracking?

And.....i'm compelled to say this......i find the threads difficult to read offset to the right due to the vertical banner ad.
 
OK, those logged in as a Sawhorse should not see the banners to the left, just the bottom. The rest of the people have the banners on the left, top and bottom.

Gotta pay for this site somehow. Contributions are certainly appreciated but they are down compared to last year, even though we are busier than ever with more than double the members last year this time.

We are now averaging over 1,200 visits per say M-F and about 500 per day on the weekends. We are close to 20,000 unique visitors per month.
 
DAYWALKER said:
Jar.........i'm still getting the avg threat alert pop up.......can you please explain this?
Click to expand...
It's so that people think AVG is doing something for them. Microsoft provides Microsoft Security Essentials for free.

Crapware distributors (which is what consumer anti-virus software has become) need to create the perception that they are adding value - while being in the business of tracking users surfing habits selling the data (the money from retail sales of the software is almost entirely pure profit).

That's why once you install consumer anti-virus software, the address of every single page you visit gets sent to their servers instead of providing a local database of white-listed sites on your computer.

Welcome to the internet 2.0.

I suspect that if they annoy you enough with warnings, you are more likely to go someplace with advertisers who avail themselves of the data AVG sells - they probably have A/B testing data to back it up.
 
I was checking out airfares last week for a project in Billings and then the pop up ad on this board starting showing "Fly to Billings with Delta"

Incredible coincidence or what!
 
Facebook Connect will do that, too.

Not to mention GoogleApis and googleanalytics, of course.

I turn off scripts by default using NoScript in Firefox.

Only downside is that I have to hard code in html linebreaks when I post.

Also use Ghostery to eliminate trackers.

My Facebook use occurs only in a dedicated VMware player virtual machine running Ubuntu.

Linkedin earned it's own VM following the IPO.

I've got another one for gmail.
 
Brudgers, would you like to translate that into English, using really small words a dino like me could understand?

Or, should I just ask my kids.
 
What you guys are describing is not happening to me and it is not because I am the administrator. That has nothing to do with it. I use Firefox at work (now) and Safari with a Mac at home and have not problems and NEVER had a pop-up. We have never designed anything like this to happen and it sounds as though Brudgers knows significantly more about this than I do. I will have our IT people review it and try to give a layperson answer. I am just apprehensive to do so because we are on a tight budget here to begin with and every time I call them, a bill gets generated.
 
Coug Dad said:
Brudgers, would you like to translate that into English, using really small words a dino like me could understand? Or, should I just ask my kids.
Click to expand...
1. If something is free on the internet, it is probably provided as tool for capturing your personal information, linking it to other information, and trying to sell you stuff. 2. You can restrict the way in which website's interact with your browser to limit the amount of data which might be collected - this varies by browser. Not allowing Javascript to run by default is a good start, but you pay a price in terms of convenience. Other tools limit the ability of sites to use cookies to track you.

3. Some popular companies, such as Facebook and Google have such a strong presence on other sites that quarantining your logged in activity is probably the only way to minimize the data collection and cross referencing they do.

4. I quarantine by using separate virtual machines. This works because IP correlations don't lead to good advertising results - e.g. you don't want your wife to see flower advertising around your aniversery and she doesn't want you to see Craftsman Tool ads, and neither of you wants to see Adam and Eve ads because of your daughter's browsing habits.

Really smart, well educated people, backed by large stacks of cash, and with a fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder value spend all day, every day, thinking of ways to identify you, profile you, and sell your information.

The web is a convenient way for them to do so.

TANSTAAFL.
 
jar546 said:
What you guys are describing is not happening to me and it is not because I am the administrator. That has nothing to do with it. I use Firefox at work (now) and Safari with a Mac at home and have not problems and NEVER had a pop-up. We have never designed anything like this to happen and it sounds as though Brudgers knows significantly more about this than I do. I will have our IT people review it and try to give a layperson answer. I am just apprehensive to do so because we are on a tight budget here to begin with and every time I call them, a bill gets generated.
Click to expand...
Maybe daywalker can white list the domain in AVG and the problem will disappear for him.
 
= =

Google has recently brought alot of this "tracking of everyone, about

everything" to the forefront with their statements about consolidation

of their security policies......The fact is, unless you have some type of

software installed on your internet accessing computer & devices

[ work, home or smart devices ], then you are being tracked,

catalogged, and advertised to 24/7 !.......You will have to be very

aggressive and diligent to fight this onslaught, but it can be done.

Talk with some knowledgeable folks about setting up various

protection levels on all of your "stuff", ...unless you do not mind

the pop-ups, ads and constant monitoring of your internet activity

and telephone calls, ...texting too!

Welcome to " 1984 " !.......Big brother is always [ and I DO mean

ALWAYS ] looking and monitoring.

FWIW, Not trying to promote any particular site, or form of

media, but at least one radio program has some very insightful

information on topics that will never be broadcast in the

mainstream media, ..." Coast To Coast AM " might be worth

listening to. Just sayin' ...

= =
 
north star said:
= =FWIW, Not trying to promote any particular site, or form of

media, but at least one radio program has some very insightful

information on topics that will never be broadcast in the

mainstream media, ..." Coast To Coast AM " might be worth

listening to. Just sayin' ...

= =
Click to expand...
Don't stay up that late much any more, but I always wondered what happned to Art Bell - any idea?
 
"Don't stay up that late much any more, but I always wondered what happned to Art Bell - any idea?"

Art Bell and his family are alive and well in Pahrump, Nevada.

He has no plans to return to radio.
 
brudgers said:
It's so that people think AVG is doing something for them. Microsoft provides Microsoft Security Essentials for free.

Crapware distributors (which is what consumer anti-virus software has become) need to create the perception that they are adding value - while being in the business of tracking users surfing habits selling the data (the money from retail sales of the software is almost entirely pure profit).

That's why once you install consumer anti-virus software, the address of every single page you visit gets sent to their servers instead of providing a local database of white-listed sites on your computer.

Welcome to the internet 2.0.

I suspect that if they annoy you enough with warnings, you are more likely to go someplace with advertisers who avail themselves of the data AVG sells - they probably have A/B testing data to back it up.
Click to expand...
Solution, use an OS that there is no viruses for.....

Now... Just need a good secure, fast Java operating system...... For a good boot to start.
 
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