Fatwallet, XPbargains.com, etc links blocked by Immunize

[marccooper]

Since installing 1.5 and immunizing, I have had a problem where all links to items on fatwallet.com, a very popular internet deal forum for the USA that I visit frequently, fail to load. I also found a similar problem with links from XPbargains.com, another useful deal site. Yes, these sites operate by getting 'commission' when you click through the links, though fatwallet will give you back most of the commission with their cash back program if you bother to sign up for it.

Anyway, spybot is blocking these types of links, which I dont think threaten most users, and is a great inconvenience to many users who would like to immunize and block real dangerous sites through the host file.

I think the problem is that spybot blocks apmebf.com and emjcd.com and their www.* equivalents through the host file. I removed these entries and that fixed the problem for these sites. However, I would not be suprised if a few more such anonymous commission sites are being blocked. I am sure some spyware person has tried to use commission sites to make profit, but that does not mean those sites are only used for that.

Then again, maybe I am wrong and some horrible rootkit has hijacked my pc to steal commission from all my clicks to pay for terrorism. But anyway, if these are just commission gathering sites used legitimately by people seeking to keep their bills paid while informing the public of good deals, it might be a good idea to unblock them or break up the host immunize option into a few categories, such as malicious, popup advertising, and normal advertising.

I am just a college student, unaffiliated with these sites, and I took the time to register here and type this so I will not have to delete these few entries from my hosts file every time I immunize. I would appreciate it if others could look into this and help.

[Yodama]

Thank you for your information on this issue.

We checked this and will remove apmebf.com , emjcd.com and kqzyfj.com will be removed from the hosts and Internet Explorer immunization. The detection will be changed so that tracking cookies from these sites will be found, you can set Spybot S&D to ignore them.

The changes will be released with the next update scheduled for the middle of next week.

[Qonquer]

I would rather that they stay blocked personally, is there anynthing that would make you consider leaving them blocked ?

[jpw1116]

. . .

The changes will be released with the next update scheduled for the middle of next week.

Has this taken effect yet? I just updated but cannot find a means to allow apmebf.com, etc. . . . all necessary for sites like iGive.com, passwird.com and the like.

Since I don't have very much free time to get into the intricacies of your application's settings, is there any chance you could create a FAQ to help people like me deal with making the correct changes to allow these pass-thru commission sites?

Thanks!

[Yodama]

hello,

yes, the changes have taken effect.
If you updated before you unimmunized, you may need to unimmunize again, and remove the sites manually from your IE settings. To do that go to Internet Options and navigate to the Security tab, there scroll to the right to the Restricted sites, click on sites and remove the sites, reimmunize.



is there anynthing that would make you consider leaving them blocked

To have a site blocked, we would need evidence that it is really malicious, like a phishing site or a driveby download site for instance. Since the sites deploy tracking cookies, the cookies will be detected by Spybot S&D.

[marccooper]

I would rather that they stay blocked personally, is there anynthing that would make you consider leaving them blocked ?

There are only a few possible reasons to block those sites, and those reasons are not the reasons that people use spybot, so you should try to find or start a blocking program with different purposes.

One reason is that you are a communist and don't like commerce or commissions. In this case, you would need to find a blocklist to block everything commercial from these sites to amazon.com.

Another reason is that you don't like sites that could be used to make money for spyware or scams, in addition to more common legitimate uses. In this case, you would want a list that also blocks things like paypal.com.

Another reason is that you don't want anyone getting commission from your purchases unless it is extremely obvious to you. You might argue that although you are not being charged extra, the net cost is causing the retailer to have slightly higher prices and the site doesn't deserve some 1.5% commission or whatever, even if they gave you the link to the product, because they didn't tell you about their motives. In this case, many sites full of such links and tactics such as fatwallet, google, yahoo, slickdeals, etc should be blocked, not just the linking mechanisms they use. Google absolutely does similar things and takes commissions. Good luck with getting spybot to agree to block google and yahoo.

So anyway, I don't know what your motives are, as you didn't explain them, but these sites aren't the thing that spybot is supposed to block. If you want to block them, you can always add them to your hosts file yourself, and throw in paypal, google, and yahoo while you are at it.

[Qonquer]

Thank you for your reply Yodama.

marccooper, I think you ought to just calm down, take a vallium and stop personally attacking/prejudging people who simply don't agree with you. Yodama had already answered my comment which was sufficient, there was no need for that rant. If I find evidence that those sites are malicious, then I will report it, if not, then there's no problem is there?

[pavan]

please help
i had installed spybot
after my cj links are not working
i visited there forum and found the resolution to unimunize and it will work
i did that than also it is not working
i suppose it is blocking apmebf(dot)com
after that i uninstalled it than also same problem is there
the links were working before i ad insatlled it
can anybody help me to solve this
i read that there is some host file i need to modify than it will work
is it like that. than how can i do that

i have uninstalled spybot than also i am having same problem

[md usa spybot fan]

Access to apmebf.com is blocked by Spybot's Resident "SDHelper" as a Blacklisted URL:


mm/cc/yyyy hh:mm:ss xM Blocked HTTP://WWW.APMEBF.COM/: /MediaPlex (Blacklisted URL)
To stop "SDHelper" from blocking this URL, go into Internet Explorer > Tools > select "Spybot – Search Destroy Configuration" > then in the "Spybot-S&D - Configuration" window in the "Settings" tab under "When encountering bad things" there are three options:
options:
Block all pages silently
Display dialog when blocking
Ask for blocking confirmation
Select "Ask for blocking confirmation" and click "OK".

When you encounter a URL that would ordinarily just be blocked in "Block all pages silently" mode, Spybot will issue a "Spybot-S&D Bad URL Blocker" dialog. The dialog allows you to either "Allow" or "Deny" the access and also to select among the following options:
Ask me again next time
Remember for this session
Always react this way
When you encounter a "Spybot-S&D Bad URL Blocker" dialog about a blocked URL for apmebf.com, select "Always react this way" and then "Allow" the access.
__________________

Additional note: Spybot's immunization process adds apmebf.com to the registry to stop the storing of cookies from apmebf.com. If you encounter any problems related to blocked cookies from apmebf.com:
Go into Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet options > Privacy tab.
Then in the "Settings" section click the "Sites" button.
In the "Per Site Privacy Actions" dialog section near the bottom titled "Managed websites", scroll down to "apmebf.com" you will see that it says "Always Block".
Highlight the entry by clicking on it and then click the "Remove" button.
Back out of the dialogs by clicking "OK" followed by "OK".
__________________

Also note: Since apmebf.com is no longer being placed in the restricted zone by Spybot's Immunization and only the cookies from that site are being blocked, I suspect that the URL being blocked by Spybot's "SDHelper" is an error.

[wzdprest]

Ok. So I have been dealing with this problem for about 3 months now. It really screwed up my holiday shopping. I tried every fix on this page and even the fixes on Ebates and Fatwallet. Still cannot solve the problem. HELP!!!! There has to be another way out there somewhere that will actually work. I am running Windows XP with the latest Security Pack. I have Lavasoft's adaware and Spybot installed as well as MacAfee security. Anyone have any suggestions??????:sad:

[marccooper]

I think http://www.kqzyfj.com/ is still be blocked. I have deimmunized and reimmunized but that doesnt seem to fix it. Can somebody check on this? I dont think blocking unsilently is the answer because then a million pages with ads and stuff will bring up dialogs. Thanks.

[md usa spybot fan]

marccooper:

The placing of was *.kqzyfj.com and www.kqzyfj.com into the restricted zone by Spybot's immunization facility was removed with the updates of 2007-10-24. Cookies from kqzyfj.com are still being blocked.

If you did not do an immunization undo after the updates of 2007-10-17 and before downloading the 2007-10-24 updates then the site may still be in the restricted zone because does not remove old entries.

Go into Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet options > Security tab. Select the Restricted sites zone and look at the sites being blocked. If you find *.kqzyfj.com and www.kqzyfj.com unblock them.

[dataark91]

I have the same problem with Upromise.com, and Citi Bonus Cash Center.

Fatwallet.com has worked fine for me without any modifications to the updates.

But, I cannot get Upromise.com to work at all. I tried all the suggestions on this page using Firefox and IE 7 with no improvement. (Deleting the three suggested cookies from being blocked, and temporarily putting the IE Spybot settings on "ask" before blocking bad items. Even with that option selected, there is no prompting before sites are blocked.

I spent a long time working on the settings, and still the cashback click through links will not work at all.

For now, I gave up on it because I needed to complete the online purchase, but I would like a fix for this problem.

[md usa spybot fan]

dataark91:

I don't seem to have any problem accessing www.upromise.com using Internet Explorer 7.

If the other URL is www.bonuscashcenter.citicards.com, I don't have a problem with that either.

[dataark91]

Accessing the two sites are no problem with me with either IE or Firefox, I only have problems getting through to the click through links for cashback opportunities.

A click through link will open a new window to the retailer's site (acting as a referral link). I just can't get the websites to load when I click on the weblinks to open up the new windows.

[md usa spybot fan]

dataark91:

Since you are not having problems accessing either www.upromise.com or www.bonuscashcenter.citicards.com, what are the URLs of the links you are having problems with?

[dataark91]

dataark91:

Since you are not having problems accessing either www.upromise.com or www.bonuscashcenter.citicards.com, what are the URLs of the links you are having problems with?


Thanks for the help md usa spybot fan.


There may be more used by each but here is what I just picked up when trying the sites...

Citi Bonus Cash Center uses --
http://www.kqzyfj.com

Upromise.com uses --
http://www.apmebf.com (I also learned that Upromise does not use that redirect for all referral links, and the one's that bounce from upromise.com work)

Oh and I do have a problem with Fatwallet.com for links. The redirect bounce they use is --
http://www.apmebf.com (This redirect is apparently automatically inserted on all links on the forums)


I am already removed those sites from IE's restricted zone and Firefox's blocked cookies with no results. Is there anything else that I can try?

[md usa spybot fan]

dataark91:

Since both apmebf.com and kqzyfj.com are associated with Commission Junction the only other thing within Spybot that I can think of is the blocking of Commission Junction's cookie qksrv.com (although I believe the cookie may actually be stored as qksrv.net).

Do you use any other software or Hosts file add-ons that restrict access to sites? For example the MVPS Hosts file blocks access to www.apmebf.com, www.kqzyfj.com, qksrv.com and www.qksrv.net.

[dataark91]

This site was blocked before (http://www.anrdoezrs.net) but,
forgot about until it came up today when I did some more testing. And the url appeared for both www.upromise.com and www.bonuscashcenter.citicards.com.

I also removed qksrv.com from both Firefox and IE, but the sites still do not work.

I'll have to check if I have any other software that blocks host sites.





I just did a google search and found the following results:



"THE FIX
1) Do a search on your computer for a file called "HOSTS"
(i'm running XP home and its located: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC)

2) Open it in Notepad and search for any lines that contain the following domains:

linksynergy.com
bfast.com
qksrv.net
tkqlhce.com
kqzyfj.com
jdoqocy.com
dpbolvw.net
anrdoezrs.net
cc-dt.com
cj.com
commission-junction.com

Enter # at the beginning of the line. There may be several instances of the same domains.

3) Save and exit the file.

Close and reopen your browser and you should be good to go."

[dataark91]

Sorry, I've been to busy to reply. Other programs that could be causing besides Spybot could be Ad-Aware 2007, Norton Antivirus, and Webroot Spysweeper.

I'll try troubleshooting each of the programs.

[sabina]

I uninstalled SpyBot ages ago and today I've been searching online for an answer to the question about why I cannot connect to the sites that the OP opened this thread with.

I've tried every suggestion made here - my host file opened in notebook does not show the list in one of the responses here.

Does anyone know what else I can do to remedy this

Thanks..

[sabina]

OK, so I was able to edit the HOSTS file and I think it's working.

Thanks to the person who provided The Fix

[Mikey2810]

I just did a google search and found the following results:

"THE FIX
1) Do a search on your computer for a file called "HOSTS"
(i'm running XP home and its located: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC)

2) Open it in Notepad and search for any lines that contain the following domains:

linksynergy.com
bfast.com
qksrv.net
tkqlhce.com
kqzyfj.com
jdoqocy.com
dpbolvw.net
anrdoezrs.net
cc-dt.com
cj.com
commission-junction.com

Enter # at the beginning of the line. There may be several instances of the same domains.

3) Save and exit the file.

Close and reopen your browser and you should be good to go."

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

After many months and emails to support staff, this finally resolved my problem trying to get to Apple from Continental.com and Discover Card Shopping.

These were the three that worked for me, and they were grouped together in the Hosts file:

# 127.0.0.1 apmebf.com
# 127.0.0.1 www.apmebf.com
# 127.0.0.1 emjcd.com
# 127.0.0.1 www.emjcd.com
# 127.0.0.1 kqzyfj.com
# 127.0.0.1 www.kqzyfj.com

I was not able to save the edited file until I unchecked the READ ONLY box in the Windows/System 32/Drivers folder.

[Fundraiser]

I have spent the last three days trying to figure out why my commission junction links were not working. Turns out it was Spy Bots’ immunization. So I removed all my sites from blocking cookies and my commission junction links worked. I then read in this forum that the commission junction links were removed from the immunization list so I decided to immunize again because I want to be protected against malicious websites. I last updated Spybot on July 21, 2010, and when I immunized today the commission junction cookies were blocked. What is up Spybot? The cookie emjcd.com was blocked in Internet Explorer.

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

Please download the latest detection update (2010/07/28) (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html).
This should fix it.

Now please run Spybot-S&D and select "Spybot-S&D" --> "Immunize" in the navigation bar on the left. Please hit "Undo". Then immunize again.
If this doesn't work then open Spybot - Search & Destroy in the Advanced mode via the menu item Mode.
Now select 'Tools' - 'Resident' from the navigation bar on the left.
Please untick the checkbox in front of the 'SDHelper'.

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot