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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 6:42 AM
Default MediaFire
Earlier today, I was downloading some CC. A lot of the links were from MediaFire, and at some point, that site began redirecting me to random - and often shady-looking - websites whenever I downloaded a file.

My machine is clean, and MediaFire has been rather shady with their advertising practices in the past so this just seems to be the latest development. I'm tired right now but I'll look more into it tomorrow.

Just giving out a warning to fellow Simmers. Be careful.

EDIT: Realized I'm slightly mistaken - they aren't redirects, but rather popunders. I said I was tired.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
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Scholar
#2 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 12:13 PM
Adblock
I never get any redirects or anything now, but MediaFire does try shipping me crap every now and then

The drop off has been made. You've been warned.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#3 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 12:31 PM
I stopped using Mediafire when people complained about the adverts. Sims File Share is great for sim-related stuff. I use Box for work.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#4 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 12:40 PM Last edited by ihatemandatoryregister : 19th Aug 2016 at 12:51 PM.
It subverted my adblocker. I've mentioned before that I never disable it anymore. I'm curious as to how it bypassed it.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Field Researcher
#5 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 1:35 PM
And that's why I try to avoid Mediafire like the plague it is - the redirects/popunders et al are annoying as can be. I also use an adblocker and it gets around it somehow...though I sometimes wonder how much worse it would be if I didn't have the adblocker.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 1:37 PM
To bypass the adds without an add blocker is to right click on the big green download button and open in new tab and the download will just start downloading and no pop up show up.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#7 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 2:50 PM
Mediafire one of the banes of my existence. And I have gotten nastyware from these ads.

Doing the "open in a new tab" trick never worked for me. Ever. And I tried many times.

I have AdBlock, NoScript, etc. I tried entering EVERY filter I've seen, and I've seen many. Sometimes, it works once or twice, but I'm guessing Mediafire gets around it by using different redirects, and it changes them around. I've tried Poperblocker (Chrome). That worked for a long time, until Mediafire figured a way to skirt it. People suggested other services. Tried them all, except for one, which apparently doesn't work 100% either.

I tried saving rather than opening. I tried the other way around. Nope.

The Naruto one and the Roblox ones aren't bad. I can live with those. There is another ad that is annoying (not a game- or anime-related one) but not harmful. But some of the other ones? Awful.

I hate Mediafire. Immensely.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#8 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 3:29 PM
I've gotten ads from alibaba, ohmwrite, some online movie service, "PCKeeper" (looked like one of those sham scanners that detect 500 innocuous things and demand payment to 'fix' the supposed 'errors'), and cheap hotel deals. Did a scan with MalwareBytes, came up clean. My DNS is Google's public one, so it's not at ISP level.

MediaFire was great at one time. I even recommended it to people, back in 2007 or thereabouts. In the last few years, it's turned bad.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Scholar
#9 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 3:44 PM
I hate Box most of all, really

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#10 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 4:41 PM
Because of the dead links? Someone made a plugin for Redirector that fixed that:
http://digitalangels.tumblr.com/pos...link-workaround

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#11 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 4:51 PM
Don't open in new tab, but right-click and choose "save as..." - that always works for me.
Scholar
#12 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 5:16 PM
Anyone who uses only Mediafire to backup their files should consider backing up elsewhere as well. I heard of a creator of many handmade meshes getting their MF account shut down due to false copyright claims. They lost everything and quit simming because of it.

If possible keep a physical copy of your backups i.e. something other people can't come along and take away.


"It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled." - Mark Twain
Truth will not fear scrutiny.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#13 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 5:31 PM
MediaFire is rather lousy as a backup service anyways. I can attest to the false copyright claims - I once had a random file of mine yanked down because some bloody record company had it in a list of files they wanted removed. It wasn't even an audio file. Support pretty much shook me off.

For backups, I recommend what I call the 3-2-1 method - three backups, two different mediums, one off-site (either online or in a safety deposit box in the bank).

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#14 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 6:00 PM
Mediafire deleted all my files once, but thankfully I had an offline backup of most of the files, so I didn't lose too much. After that I haven't trusted them, and have only used Mediafire when downloading files from other creators. I mostly use Dropbox (out of free space) and box (not so much any more) for my older downloads, and simfileshare for the newer ones. I don't fully trust online sites, so I have at least one offline backup of the files, usually two (one on the computer, one or two on an external harddrive).
Mad Poster
#15 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 6:35 PM Last edited by gazania : 19th Aug 2016 at 6:50 PM.
Being rather afraid of ransomware, I researched the best preventative measures on site after site.

Most of these anti-adware/anti-virus services offer an anti-ransomware program. Of course, they push theirs first and pooh-pooh the others. I tried the MalwareBytes one as a trial, and kept getting blue screen after blue screen. Support wasn't much help. So much for that.

But the one thing all of the valid sites recommend (not talking about the scam sites) is an external hard drive that you do NOT leave plugged into your computer. If you get that fearsome notice, it will also hold your files on your external drive captive as well if you leave it plugged in.

You can get a 1 TB one for $60US or less. I paid considerably less. If you can get one online or during a good sale (I didn't have that luxury ... my hard drive was in its death throes and I had to back up my stuff NOW, so off to a local box store i went!), you can pay even less than I did. Back up your stuff at least a few times a year; more if you add and store a lot of important documents. If you have lots of stuff like I have, it can take a long time the first time, unfortunately. Mine took almost a day, but then again, my electrical company decided that of course, it was a great time to have brown-outs, and I had to restart the bleepin' backup every .. single ... time. And the corrupt files on my dying hard drive didn't help, either. But thanks in great part to a patient techie whom I had to keep e-mailing for help, we got it done. Subsequent backups are much quicker, but they may still take a little time. Don't plan to do anything big or time-sensitive during those times! While you can use the Net, it will probably run a lot slower.

But I admit ... it does feel good when it's done. And in addition to pictures and important records and documents, I also have my two Sims games backed up. Well, some people may not consider Sims files important, but ....

So I'd also recommend an external hard drive for one of the mediums. Also, keep your game backed up away from your game. (I would do that more than a few times a year, though.) That's two. Looking at other creator's storage methods, many today back up their files on two different online services. So there you go.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Scholar
#16 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 7:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ihatemandatoryregister
I've gotten ads from alibaba, ohmwrite, some online movie service, "PCKeeper" (looked like one of those sham scanners that detect 500 innocuous things and demand payment to 'fix' the supposed 'errors'), and cheap hotel deals. Did a scan with MalwareBytes, came up clean. My DNS is Google's public one, so it's not at ISP level.

MediaFire was great at one time. I even recommended it to people, back in 2007 or thereabouts. In the last few years, it's turned bad.


I was rigged with Unisales last year - it's the worst one there is. It just won't go.

The drop off has been made. You've been warned.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#17 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 8:31 PM
So I ran across another MediaFire link, and decided to do a test. I middle-clicked the green Download button to open it in a new tab and received the message that my browser (Pale Moon, a fork of Firefox) had blocked two popups. Make of that what you will. I'll test with Firefox and Chrome in a bit.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#18 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 8:58 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ihatemandatoryregister
So I ran across another MediaFire link, and decided to do a test. I middle-clicked the green Download button to open it in a new tab and received the message that my browser (Pale Moon, a fork of Firefox) had blocked two popups. Make of that what you will. I'll test with Firefox and Chrome in a bit.


Oh, another Pale Moon user! I *knew* I liked you!

/endthreadjack

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Mad Poster
#19 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 9:20 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 19th Aug 2016 at 9:41 PM.
I never leave my external harddrives plugged in. I move over the files, and disconnect when I'm done. That way, if anything bad should make it over to the computer, I have a copy of my most important files that isn't affected. Plus, it probably helps a bit on the wear-and-tear of the external harddrive's system to not have it plugged in 24/7. I've even got a 10-12 year old harddrive that I've kept in its original packing when not using it, and it still worked fine the last time I plugged it in. I also don't run files off of them, but copy the files over to the computer first. I've got a somewhat stuffed 2 TB non-powered one, and a new 2 TB one I got recently. Those are simply awesome, and are about the size of an Iphone. I've got 3 smaller ones (300-700 MB each, I think), but they're all powered and rather big, so they're a bit of a hassle.

I'm using most of the available settings for blocking popups, ctrl-clicking needed for popups and auto-open in tab, adblock, and whatever else the browsers and computer has to offer in the sense of protection. That, and scanning the computer regularly. So far I've managed to keep my computers quite clean. Can't be sure about the first laptop (it had some issues at the end, possibly a faulty power supply or some other important hardware), but I can't remember anything that the antivirus couldn't deal with.

Never heard of this Pale Moon. Does it have any advantages over other browsers?

As for opening mediafire downloads in a new tab, that's about as effective as left-clicking the download button. The right-click method doesn't cause any extra work for the popup blocker.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 10:47 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22

As for opening mediafire downloads in a new tab, that's about as effective as left-clicking the download button. The right-click method doesn't cause any extra work for the popup blocker.


That's what I was wondering.

I tried this new -tab method in Chrome, Firefox AND Pale Moon. (I have two machines. I don't have Pale Moon AND Firefox on the same one!) I've tried it many, many times. For a while, it did work, but I've been having trouble with it the last few months.

Again, NoScript and Adblock Plus are Firefox/Pale Moon. Adblock Plus is on Chrome. I tried this with other variations of AdBlock. People have suggested giving that a try. Nope.

And as a bonus, if I stop the pop-under before it opens, I can't download the file. Mediafire is just special that way.

There was a time before when Mediafire thwarted Firefox/Pale Moon, and the wonderful creators at NoScript managed to get around Mediafire's nonsense for a long time (years). It might be that NoScript managed to figure things out to a certain extent now. If I come across a Mediafire download again (I have no urge to ask for trouble), I'll give the new-tab method another try.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#21 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 10:53 PM
Pale Moon is pretty much Firefox with a lot of the extraneous junk stripped out; for instance, none of that Australis user-interface (which the Mozilla devs seemed dead-set on forcing onto the userbase). Personally I switched because I wasn't happy with a lot of Mozilla's decisions (Australis debacle) and i found it ran better anyways.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Undead Molten Llama
#22 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 11:07 PM
I have the Adguard browser extension (in my case for Chrome, because that's what I mostly use), and I have MediaFryer on my reverse whitelist (Meaning, it allows ads on all sites except those that I have on the whitelist). I have not had any ads or popunders when downloading from MediaFryer since I installed it. Perhaps MediaFryer has figured out a way to defeat Adblock. I think Adguard is less well-known and, therefore, works.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 11:11 PM Last edited by gazania : 15th Oct 2016 at 2:02 PM.
At least for a while.

Poper Blocker worked for a LONG time until Mediafire got around it. Honestly. I think Mediafire hires people to think of ways to circumvent methods that people use to avoid its crapware. But I'll give AdGuard a shot. I know my son loves playing with danger and downloading Mediafire items on Chrome. Thank you!

Well, the right-click method actually WORKED this time. Wowsers. Did the recent NoScript or AdBlock updates include a way to work around Mediafire? Time and at least a dozen or so downloads will tell.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 19th Aug 2016 at 11:36 PM
I really mediafire because of adverts and I also hate the authorisation process - it's being repeatedly required -_-
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