Dear SourceForge.net Staff,
There’s no need to reply and incase you don’t already know you have some type of malware hijacking your google link for here’s what happened after I googled "audacity forge" awhile ago:
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Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder
Audio editor for recording, slicing, and mixing audio. Site includes help, downloads, and developer information. (C++) [Cross-platform]
audacityteam.org/ - Cached - Similar
Download
Mac
Windows
Help
New features in Audacity 1.3
About Audacity
Mac OS X
Screenshots
More results from sourceforge.net »
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…And so I clicked on the first link which led to URL:
http://freesoftwaredl.com/audacity-free-music-editor/?ref=59279
and the design of the webpage subliminally makes a user automatically presume we’re on sourceforge.net and so I pressed the big download button next to your big Audacity logo and was surprised to find the download is only 321KB but figured perhaps by now you might’ve done what some other popular companies have eventually done by reducing users’ download to a mere amount until it becomes the time to install all the megabytes of the actual application(s) itself. But then I noticed it wasn’t your website on the URL and so out of curiosity I returned to the google search page and also pressed the "Download" link which led to your true website and then I downloaded both Audacity versions 1.2.6 and 1.3.10. Then out of suspicion I decided to see what happens by installing the 321KB download? It opened up a box and began downloading "Shoppers…" and "Hotbar…" and then began installing them. Then Windows Defenders began putting up alert boxes and so I started deleting the malware as fast as the alert boxes kept returning which occurred a few to several times despite having configured Comodo Firewall to deny the connections.
And now you know if not already.
Sincerely,
Your appreciative Audacity user.
[NOTE1: I'm resending this email alert because I received a suspicious pop-server error box after clicking the "Send" button but this time I'm using a new email message from my Outlook Express as opposed to the first email box which came out of the Firefox link provided from your "e-mail our feedback address" link. If I get another suspicious pop-server error box then I'll attempt to post a message on your forum because I don't know if they hijacked your address too? I doubt it but we'll see what happens next.]
[NOTE2: The second email was sent with no suspicious mishaps but I don’t know when someone can actually get around to reading it so I decided to post this on the forum after all and perhaps get the word out faster to your designated troubleshooter for your google link hijacker as I don’t see mention of it in this forum nor in subsequent google search of this current hijacking situation.]
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[EXHIBIT-B]
Re: A Google line for Audacity has been hijacked.
New postby kozikowski » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:03 am
I don't know that we have anything to say about it. This is the same problem as people trying to sell you free Audacity. Our software host goes out of its way to suggest that you should be loading and paying for AVS Editor instead of Audacity.
Perhaps if we can demonstrate to Google that people are loading viruses or trojans, there might be a chance. I don't think that just loading ads or commercials qualifies for a police action.
http://nytimes.net/
Koz
kozikowski
Posts: 8043
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 pm
Location: Los Angeles
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[EXHIBIT-C]
Gale Andrews
Saturday, December 19, 2009 10:29 AM
Thanks, but I can't replicate any of that, searching for "audacity forge"
(if that's what you meant). The search result and the links look like
your paste and come to us at:
http://audacityteam.org
Specifically which link goes to:
http://freesoftwaredl.com/audacity-free-music-editor/?ref=59279 ?
We may block that URL as a precaution from advertisements appearing in
Google AdSense on our site. However I would suggest you do a complete
boot-time virus and spyware scan. It may be that malware on your own
machine is redirecting URLs that you click on.
Gale
Audacity Team
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[EXHIBIT-D]
stevethefiddle
Posts: 8470
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Re: A Google line for Audacity has been hijacked.
Postby stevethefiddle » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:44 pm
Thank you for the report but the problem is not with Google.
Your precise description makes it very easy to reproduce your exact step (I wish everyone was as thorough and precise
I Googled "audacity forge", and sure enough got the page starting with:
Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder
Audio editor for recording, slicing, and mixing audio. Site includes help, downloads, and developer information. (C++) [Cross-platform]
audacityteam.org/ - Cached - Similar -
Download
Mac
Windows
Help
New features in Audacity 1.3
About Audacity
Mac OS X
Screenshots
More results from sourceforge.net »
The problem arises when you click the link - the link on the Google page is actually http://audacityteam.org/ but you were getting a different page - not good!
I've checked the link on Google and there is no problem with it - the link goes correctly to the http://audacityteam.org/ page.
What I suspect is happening is that your computer has been compromised and there is malware on your computer that is hijacking web links and substituting different links in your browser.
I would strongly recommend that you:
1) Run a full system scan with a reputable anti-virus program. If this is your personal computer I would recommend that you download and install Avast Home edition (free) as this does a full system scan on first reboot before Windows loads (thus it's able to detect viruses that are hidden by Windows). You can get it here: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html Do not just click on this link - type it into your browser.
2) Download and install "Spybot Search and Destroy" from http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
Do not just click on this link - type it into your browser.
After installing, update it to get the most recent definition files and then run a full scan.
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