# spyware from ReefCentral.com



## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

My security package blocks spyware attampts from ReefCentral.com many times during the day, everyday. I can go to various vendors or other websites and ReefCentral.com wants to follow what I am viewing. How can I stop ReefCentral.com from doing this?


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

You could try using a proxy? Otherwise, check to see if there's a setting in your reefcentral account's user control panel that can be turned off. I've never heard of that happening to me before. You should maybe do a scan and see if you just have some other, unrelated ip tracker running int he background...


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Anonymizers like anonymouse.org work. Makes the whole thing pretty slow though.


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## YSS (Mar 5, 2005)

May be you could post this at reefcentral.com and see what kind of response you get.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

What kind of spyware are we talking about? Cookies?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

It's just cookies. Nothing malicious, though it pisses me off none the less.


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## robbob2112 (Oct 7, 2007)

just set your browser to reject cookies from that website... then the security package won't gripe... that or turn of the visual indication that the security package is griping.. it still works, just doesn't show.


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

firefox 3 makes this super easy to reject cookies on a site by site base. unless i am wrong they can track anything you do with out it too. as your ip goes from page to page. i keep signed on to all these sites so doesnt bother me much.


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## youareafever (Mar 18, 2008)

reefcentral is becoming such a commercialized site that if you brought this up they prob ban you.


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Still...cookies are hardly spyware.^^


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

ReefCentral.com is the only site that this message appears. My security package wouldn't even let me register, but I got around it.

My protection includes PC-cillin Internet Security and Webroot Spysweeper. Yesterday, I added Windows Defecter and I'm using Firefox as my browser. I haven't had this problem at all with Firefox.

I' d like to find more info.


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## youareafever (Mar 18, 2008)

Aquarist_Fist said:


> Still...cookies are hardly spyware.^^


sarcasm, but no one would understand unless they frequent reefcentral.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

I just went the ReefCentral.com to log in and I got ths message. PS: Mt PC-Cilline: TREND MICRO PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 


Privacy Protection has prevented confidential information from being sent over the Internet. 

To allow this information to be sent:
- If the Antifraud Toolbar is available, click Manage Exceptions, and then select Allow private information to be sent to this address
- If the Antifraud Toolbar is not available, open the main console and add the address in the Antiphishing & Content Protection > Privacy Protection > Approved List


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Hmmm, thats weird. I go to reefcentral a few times a day...


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

clwatkins10 said:


> Hmmm, thats weird. I go to reefcentral a few times a day...


They know


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

I just went to a new post in the *General Planted Tank Discussion* section on this forum and I just received my first notification from Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security since switching over to Firefox. Here's is the message:


*Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security*








*Notification* 

*Privacy Protection (Web)* 
Privacy Protection has prevented confidential information from being sent over the Web. To allow the protected item to be sent to the address below, click *Add Exception*. 


*Action taken:* Blocked. 

*Address:* http://partner.googleadservices.com...java=true&u_nplug=17&u_nmime=50&flash=9.0.124 

*Item:* http://www.reefcentral.com/forum 

Add Exception Close Help



Notice that part of the *Address:* includes the following which comes from this site: _"www.plantedtank.net%2Fforums%2Fequipment%2F71426-how-often-should-i-clean-filter-2.html"
_ It is found in the *Equipment* section: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/71426-how-often-should-i-clean-filter.html 



What is going on :icon_ques :icon_ques :icon_ques


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

this might be of intrest....

Some Web Firms Say They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Left C said:


> What is going on :icon_ques :icon_ques :icon_ques


Looks like an adware cookie from ReefCentral is being triggered off your browsing behavior.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

yup, I checked my cookie list and I have 17-19 plantedtank.net cookies. One of it is stores my user id&pass but have no idea what the other ones are.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Look at the very bottom, left corner of this page that is entitled, "Posting Rules".

At the bottom of the list, it has Trackbacks, Pingbacks and Refbacks turned on.

Now read this: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/misc.php?do=linkbacks

Perhaps it's some sort of cooperative effort between this forum and Reef Central? But if so, it shouldn't affect regular browsing to unrelated sites.

Also, at the very bottom, middle of the page, the last line has "SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 ©2007, Crawlability, Inc.". I have no clue what that is, but when I see a reference with the word, "crawl", it makes me think of a web spider or some such.

This may have nothing to do with anything, but it caught my attention so I thought I'd throw it on the table for those who know more than I to check out.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

SEO stands for search engine optimization, so I would guess it has something to do with how high up TPT pages show up on searches. Maybe the advertisers would like the pages to be more highly ranked?


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## JDowns (Mar 6, 2008)

It's more than likely Google Analytics tracking you. Google aggressivly tracks your movements to optimize their search engine and for advertisments. Google will track your outgoing whether its an ad site or not.

I won't post the fix since that reasoning should be obvious.

If you allow javascript to be installed without your knowing you probably have their file installed.

I'll leave my opinions on Google's coding silent


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

Left C said:


> I just went the ReefCentral.com to log in and I got ths message. PS: Mt PC-Cilline: TREND MICRO PC-cillin Internet Security 2006
> 
> 
> Privacy Protection has prevented confidential information from being sent over the Internet.
> ...


I know this is a little off topic but I love TREND MICRO Internet Security 2008. I had Norton Internet Security before on my desk top until I bought my laptop and the guy best buy told me to go with trend. So i installed Norton and then installed trend micro. Next I did the full PC scan and found over 50 spyware and 5 Trojan viruses. I will never go back to Norton. Also the laptop did an update for windows vista and caused some problems with the PC and trend micro installed it and said it would wait and see if a newer version would worked once it's released.


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## aug4you (Feb 5, 2008)

My favorite Linux and no anti-virus 4 years up and running not one problem and since it is free----more cash for fish and none for Bill.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Complexity said:


> Look at the very bottom, left corner of this page that is entitled, "Posting Rules".
> 
> At the bottom of the list, it has Trackbacks, Pingbacks and Refbacks turned on.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Complexity.

I've read your information about: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/misc.php?do=linkbacks#refbacks

I found out a little bit about SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 ©2007, Crawability, Inc. It's about $$. http://www.vbseo.com/f55/what-required-footer-linkback-options-vbseo-11974/


*Below are the posting rules at TPT and APC.*


Posting Rules @ http://www.plantedtank.net/
You may post new threads
You may post replies
You may post attachments
You may edit your posts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

vB code is On
Smilies are On
code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On 

At the bottom of the page at TPT, we find:

[CENTER]Copyright © The Planted Tank, LLC 2008
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright © 2000 – 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 ©2007, Crawability, Inc.



[B]AND AT APC[/B][/CENTER]



Posting Rules @ [url]http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/[/url]
You may post new threads
You may post replies
You may post attachments
You may edit your posts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


At the bottom of the page at APC, we find:

[CENTER]Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright © 2000 – 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.1.0
: © 2008 Aquatic Plant Central
All Rights Reserved
[B]Use of this aquatic plant forum is subject to the terms and conditions of the uses and our privacy policy[/B][/CENTER]


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

What really puzzles me is when I read a PM or send a PM; I still get the same message from PC-cillin. 

Why are they tracking my Private Messages?


*Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security*








*Notification* 

*Privacy Protection (Web)* 
Privacy Protection has prevented confidential information from being sent over the Web. To allow the protected item to be sent to the address below, click *Add Exception*. 


*Action taken:* Blocked. 

*Address:* http://partner.googleadservices.com/gampad/ads? ... 

*Item:* http://www.reefcentral.com/forum 

Add Exception Close Help


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

Your software is trying to block the cookie from the google ads. When you read/send a PM, it probably refreshes a page that contains those ads so you get the message again.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Thanks, Jake ... Hum ... should I block the cookie permanently or set my computer so that it passes it on through?

I don't know what to do.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Run CCleaner(cr*p cleaner) after every browsing session or after browsing at reefcentral. http://www.ccleaner.com/ This gets rid of any residual cr*p, be it cookies or anything else with malicious intent. Some web sites are setup so that you cannot log on unless your computer accepts a tracking cookie. So, the best is just use crapcleaner to get rid of the tracking cookies once you finish browsing. 

Also consider a dual boot system with Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP/Vista. using Ubuntu Linux vs Windows XP/Vista to browse the net will give you the best overall security and protection, even when you decide to use Windows XP/Vista with a boatload of antispyware programs and anti-virus. After many....many.... years of monkeying around with this stuff, being a mod on several security forums, and running simulated anti-virus, and anti-spyware on both Linux and Windows, I can tell you that Linux will offer you the best protection against hackers, spyware, viruses, worms, trojans, etc.,

I am currently running a triple boot latop with Vista, Ubunut Linux, and Mac OSX. I alternate between Ubuntu Linux and Mac OSX to cruise the net and use Vista for programs that require Vista. No spyware, no viruses, no worms, no updating anti-spyware programs or an anti-virus programs weekly and no fear of infection or being hacked. And yes believe it or not, I am running the Mac Operating system on a plain PC laptop. Who says you need to pay an arm and a leg and buy a Mac computer just to run Mac Operating system, lol...lol...


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