I click on a link to get further details of an item. The correct web
page downloads but after it is about 90% complete it hangs with the
"loading" message still showing. In several cases the message the Status
Bar showed "Waiting for googleads.g.doubleclick.net" but I think there
were other similar "Waiting for .." messages.
I asked one of the websites and they said that no one else had reported
any problems.
Have I got a virus ? I have AVG virus checker and Outpost firewall.
Stuart
You have a privacy setting blocking ads, like the AdBlock Firefox
extension, for example.
--
KristleBawl
Stuart
It had a PlugIn - "Ads" which must have been installed in a recent
update. I never deliberatly installed it. I find looking at the Outpost
log that it had been doing all the blocking. The most common cause
"IMAGE". I have removed the plug in and the problem is cured.
Stuart
It's Google AdSense ads and the urls with googleads.g.doubleclick.net
you mentioned are specifically blocked with a good hosts file see and install
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
As for never completing a download, I can't test that as you did
not supply the urls that you were experiencing a problem with,
but being ads you get one thing that brings your system to it's
knees one day and the next day you get a different ad. And most
people won't get served the same ad as you get anyway.
I think you can protect your own web pages from Google AdSense
vandalism with the same mechanism that Microsoft provided to
avoid Smart Tag ( IntelliText) ads that they developed and had to drop.
<!-- prevent IE6 highjacking/replacing links/keywords with Microsoft adverts -->
!-- scumware/theftware: http://www.itpulse.com.au/Newsletters/Newsletter02.htm,
http://gnwda.org/smart-tags.htm -->
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If you want the read the first article above articles find it on the web archives
http://web.archive.org/web/20050616080641/http://www.itpulse.com.au/Newsletters/Newsletter02.htm
BTW, Google bought doubleclick in 2007, and doubleclick
continues to operate basically in the same manner as always serving
sponsored ads often with links to malware.