| Author |
Topic |
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G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 05:12:07
Yesterday, I clicked on a link to Expedia and the site automatically downloaded a nasty little bit of code and started running Softwindows. Must be Microsoft's own Switch campaign to forcibly make me use M$ crapware.G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 05:18:55
EWW! But...whats Expedia?"**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective 
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
The Balance Of Judgement
Senior Member
Ivory Coast
1006 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 05:40:32
Yuck.I hate when that happens. Time to get the bug spray out.
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G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 05:43:47
quote:
EWW! But...whats Expedia?
Its a travel site (cheap flights & hotels) that was owned by M$.I thought is was quite scary how quickly the code, agent.dll, downloaded and attempted to install itself. G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 06:18:17
YOU USE AN E-COMMERCE SITE RUN BY MORDOR$OFT!?!?!?!?!?!?Now THATS evil!  "**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 06:42:15
quote:
YOU USE AN E-COMMERCE SITE RUN BY MORDOR$OFT!?!?!?!?!?!?Now THATS evil!
NO! No! No! PLEASE don't get the wrong idea about me. I was just following a link from somewhere else. If the link had said, "DANGER, THIS SITE AUTOMATICALLY FORCES YOU TO RUN WINDOWS", then I would never have clicked on it.  Besides, I know that YOU use M$ on your Dell -- a far worse transgression in the eyes of the 68k faithful.   G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 06:49:08
Lol, G4, i KNOW that i run Windohze on my Dell, but the difference is that i have no private data on it (all that is at home spread around on my 8100, PB1400 and 68ks), plus the fact that i would never give M$ a credit card number!"**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
The Balance Of Judgement
Senior Member
Ivory Coast
1006 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 09:47:13
Tell me G4 what page you were at, I'd like to have a looksee what code they run and how they would have done this.Is softwindows setup to launch in the event you try and launch PC software? I'd like to investigate this.
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cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 10:55:14
wow...that's just evil...I don't have VPC set to run if I click on anything... :weird: I remember when I had this thing called "real intel hardware" of my own... it was kind of nice not to have to emulate windows to use this silly little webcam... but most of it was uglee, never wokred and took up too much room... Official 68k videographer
Official MLA TourGuide
"I'm just a normal computer geek who somehow landed a social life"
I have alot of posts... if you don't like it than I don't know what to say. |
G4from128k
Full Member
USA
873 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 11:58:30
quote:
Tell me G4 what page you were at, I'd like to have a looksee what code they run and how they would have done this.Is softwindows setup to launch in the event you try and launch PC software? I'd like to investigate this.
Actually, it was a Google search on Cairns hotels, but I think the link was taking me to a generic entry point into Expedia. I clicked on a Google paid link at the top which I now realize was for Expedia (I like to support Google by using their paid links when appropriate). The complete link for the download was http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll? qscr=dspv&itty=new&from=m&htid=18811& htsd=&flag=m&cadu1=1&&zz=1059346933904& (remove the extra spaces). And yes, I had my browser (iCab) autoamtically decompresses/opens downloads and it is possible that Softwindows is set to run PC software from a double-click. What I find interesting/scary is that if I had a Windows machine, it would have presumably downloaded and installed agent.dll without my even knowing about it (its only about 1900 bytes long). Fortunately, my SoftWindows install is a bit unhappy right now because I moved some things around. This gives me a chance to abort the launch when it complains that it can't find it's C drive. Although no harm was done, it was a shock to have my Mac try to switch to WIndows. G4From128k by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
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The Balance Of Judgement
Senior Member
Ivory Coast
1006 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 13:14:02
It probably is a malfunctioning site option or the link you used was not paid for by Expedia.Dll files in web pages are common, as many web site plugins are direct DLL's that are loaded into the Windows Server. Just like you see some sites that have http://www.something.com/bin/shopper.exe?random&rftp which queries the actual application that does the shopping cart, so a dll would query the DLL responsible for any sequence, and what might have happened is it tried to download it to your machine and run it. I'll try the url later in my mac and see what it does.
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raWr
Junior Member
Tuvalu
491 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 13:27:38
It's all about cookie control._r
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cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 15:29:00
I have safari set only to accept cookies from sites that you browse to if that makes any difference that is kinda surprising that a mac would :gasp: 'want' to go to windows! Official 68k videographer
Official MLA TourGuide
Editor of the MLAgazine
"I'm just a normal computer geek who somehow landed a social life" |
maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2003 : 18:12:53
Exactly, cory."**** em" - Jobs in regards to customers
Warrior maclover5
68kMLA
Official 68kMLA Detective
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7
Number of Contraband (PPC) Liberated from the Dumpster: 1 |
Microsoft tried to take over my Mac!
68k of the Week: kastegir's PowerBook 180.