In my pages searched in the Internet, the texts are changed by double sublined words in blue or red which point to different webpages. How can I get rid of this unrequired publicity? Is this Malware?
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In what pages? Do you mean in a Google results page? Can you provide a screen shot! – Dave Oct 22 '13 at 14:24
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Are you referring to the double-underlined colored text that appears in some articles and generates ads when your cursor passes over them? – Blacklight Shining Oct 22 '13 at 14:31
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Yes, please provide screenshots. – MDT Guy Oct 22 '13 at 14:36
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This is not malware if its what I think it is. What you describe is easily handled by a combination of cookies and JavaScript. – Ramhound Oct 22 '13 at 14:46
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"Adware" is the term that I think best applies.
There are various Internet Explorer and Firefox add ons/toolbars that cause this type of behavior. Frequently they piggyback on installers of free programs. Oftentimes you can decline to install the toolbar or addon by unchecking a checkbox, other times the installer gives you no choice but to include the adware.
If this is IE, go to Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Programs -> Manage Add-ons and disable any addon that isn't signed by Microsoft, Adobe, or Oracle. You may need to go to Control Panel -> Programs and Features and uninstall related software. You can sort Programs and Features by date, look around the date you first noticed the problem to find the offending program and remove.
I believe some adware of this type may embed itself more deeply, you may need to scan with an antimalware tool (Malwarebytes is a good free one for a "one-shot" cleaning) if the above doesn't help.
For Firefox, simply disable/remove any add-ons that you don't know what they are there for or don't want.
Some sites do this via Javascript in place of ads (I think LinuxQuestions.org does this unless you sign in) - this isn't malware/adware but a behavior of the site itself. If it only happens on specific sites then it's likely the site itself doing that. You can try using Firefox and Adblock or NoScript in that case.
LawrenceC
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