Links won't open

[mixture]

PPRuNe Pop,

Out of interest, who is your ISP ?

[BOAC]

Have you tried Nothing happens when you click a link in Internet Explorer ?

[areobat]

I think the problem you are having is that this site is infected with the viglink virus. Or at least, that's what I call it. Viglink is tracker the follows you to other sites and for certain sites, if you buy something or take advantage of some service, the owners of this site get a kickback via vigllink. It's a HUGE moneymaker for them. Most of the special interest BBS sites have the same infection. If you hover over a link, your browser will display the true destination and you will see that all external links go through viglink. Viglink runs a small javascript to ensure it can track you across many sites.

I refuse to be bought and sold and I don't permit people on our corporate network to be so either, so I have blocked access to viglink from within corporate network (people shouldn't be reading forums as work anyway) and I have blocked it from my home network. This creates a problem where links will fail (because they can't get to viglink) but I have fixed that with a Firefox/Greasemonkey script that removes the viglink redirection.

You should check to see if your anti-virus/privacy software is blocking the viglink redirection. I have also had people on other boards that I am a member of report that their ISP blocks viglink as well - this is especially true if you are with a non-US ISP. I showed them how to setup the script and all was well.

Good luck.

[Saab Dastard]

I showed them how to setup the script and all was well.

That sounds like useful information - is that something you could post here?

SD

[Keef]

I found a script on a Mercedes-Benz forum that claimed to remove viglink so that I could use links on PPRuNe, but it seems not to work. I still get the "viglink" stuff in the URL bar, and it stops there.

I'd appreciate that script if it works on here - it's a nuisance not being able to use links.

[areobat]

Yes, indeed, I had something to do with the script on the MB forum (I am a senior member there), although I did not write that actual script. Another member stepped up and did the heavy lifting because I kept procrastinating about it. I have adapted the script to various other sites, including this one.

For those not familiar with Greasemonkey, it is an add-on script manager for Firefox that lets you run scripts to control the behavior of the websites you visit. To use it, install Firefox (if you don't have it already) and then go to Get Add-ons, search for Greasemonkey, and the install it. Make sure Greasemonkey is turned on.

Then, copy the text below and paste it into Notepad:



// ==UserScript==
// @name viglink redirect remover for PPRUNE
// @namespace org.pprune
// @description Removes ad redirects that are added to links on forums.
// @include http: // * . pprune . org / *
// @grant GM_log
// ==/UserScript==


(function() {
var a = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
for (var i=0; i<a.length; i++) {
// Example: document.getElementsByTagName("a")[104].href
if (a[i].href.match(/apicdn\.viglink\.com/)) {
var realurl = /[?&]out=([^&]*)/.exec(a[i].search)[1];
if (realurl) {
a[i].href = decodeURIComponent(realurl);
} else {
GM_log("Hmm, maybe the parameter name 'out' changed and broke things");
}
}
}
})();


Note in order to prevent viglink from inserting itself in the "link" after // @include above (bolded) I have added extra spaces. After you paste this into Notepad, you must remove the spaces which I have inserted to prevent viglink from "parsing" it.

Save the file to someplace like your desktop with a file name like PPRUNE.user.js. Whatever name you choose, it MUST end with .user.js . Close Notepad. Then open Firefox and go to File | Open and navigate to the desktop and select the file you saved above. Greasemonkey will recognized is as an installable script and ask you if you want to do that. Say yes, of course. Reload pprune.org and viglink will be gone.


The link in this thread above without the script will look like:

http://apicdn.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=1e857e7500cdd32403f752206c297a3d&loc=htt p://www.pprune.org/computer-internet-issues-troubleshooting/528488-links-wont-open-2.html&out=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175775%23method1&ref=http://www.pprune.org/newreply.php%3Fdo%3Dpostreply%26amp%3Bt%3D528488

You can clearly see the viglink intercept.

After the script, it is:

Nothing happens when you click a link in Internet Explorer

Enjoy!

[BOAC]

Originally Posted by keef

I still get the "viglink" stuff in the URL bar, and it stops there.

and areobat - I have no idea what you are seeing! Whether it is something I have added to my machine or something 'on' yours I know not, but I do not see a whiff of viglink anywhere. At what point does the wording appear?

I believe viglink is a module that can be installed on vb by admins. This link (from viglink!) offers a way to disable it.

Opt Out of VigLink

I run both FF and IE.

[Keef]

Thanks, areobat. Installed and working.

[BOAC]

Keef - "Whether it is something I have added to my machine or something 'on' yours I know not, but I do not see a whiff of viglink anywhere. At what point does the wording appear?"

[areobat]

BOAC - The viglink "opt out" function sets a no-track cookie and so depends on cookie persistence to tell a viglink using site not to insert the viglink redirection. I do not permit cookies to persist (I set FF to flush them all each time I close it), so I would have to remember to "opt out" each time I fired FF up. Even then, it is not clear what kind of tracking vignlink still does based on the opt-out cookie.

To see what I am talking about with the links, go to the opt out and click to "op-in" Then view this site with FF and hover over any external link. At the bottom of the FF window, FF will display the true destination of the link. With Viglink running on VB, the link will always start with apicdn .viglink .com (spaces added to prevent parsing). If you hover and select copy link location and then paste the link into Notepad or Word, you will see the same thing but with UTF8 (e.g., percent) coding.

When this is coded into the page, your system must still be able to resolve apicdn .viglink .com in order to display the destination URL. Security software, local network policy, and even ISP policy can prevent it from being resolved. When that happens, often one will see the viglink URL in your address bar as the browser waits for it to be resolved.

I installed Greasemonkey and the script so that the links are removed real-time so I don't need to depend on a persistent cookie.

Hope this helps.

[BOAC]

Yes, I understand that, but I do not see anything like the URL keef talks about:

"To see what I am talking about with the links, go to the opt out and click to "op-in""

Where do I find this opt out/in when I do not appear to 'see' viglink at all? Why indeed should I 'opt out' of something I do not appear to be 'opted in' to - and why am I not?

[Guest 112233]

Re the the code

I'm using an add-on for Firefox called Ghostery - It actively blocks "viglink".

Its not perfect (it seems to slow down FF Ver 26 on Vista (business SP2) - V 26 Ubuntu 12.04 is fine ) but its certainly worth a try. {edited from earlier post]

Its blocking "viglink" as I type this: (Ubuntu-64 12.04 in use /Windows Vista 32 Bit (Business) - used too- P/C struggles)

I hope this helps.

CAT III

[NB Linux Bods - I don't have any experience of 13.04 yet but this will change]

[Saab Dastard]

I'm using an add-on for Firefox called Ghostery - It actively blocks "viglink".

Its not perfect (it seems to slow down FF Ver 26 on Vista (business SP2)

I certainly found that Ghostery was making FF unacceptably slow, so I'm not using it any more - no-script, ABP and DNT Me are what I run (and GreaseMonkey as of today!)

SD

[Guest 112233]

SD

Its an up hill struggle - I'm using the "Home made CAT III Ex Dixon's wonder Box MK II CAT III modified" - Secondary use as a toaster to try things out"

Being very serious - "Ghostery" function is very dependent on the ISP connection chain used - Thanks

I'm literally working on this ! [Edit: Using ISP Defaults - for Now ]

CAT III

[Keef]

Originally Posted by BOAC

Keef - "Whether it is something I have added to my machine or something 'on' yours I know not, but I do not see a whiff of viglink anywhere. At what point does the wording appear?"

It was there and hijacking my browser until I loaded the "opt-out" from viglink whereupon it disappeared from the links (as it did for you). Then I closed and reopened Firefox and it was back again. The first fix was to put viglink in my hosts file - that stopped it, but links didn't work. The greasemonkey fix seems to work, and as far as I can tell hasn't slowed down the PC.

I don't like hidden code that redirects my browser: I've been caught that way a couple of times before. I know that some redirects are said to be innocuous, but my attitude to them is the same as to telephone taps.

[BOAC]

Originally Posted by Keef

(as it did for you).

- my puzzlement is that it never 'did'! I am trying to understand what is causing this on your machine and not mine. How did it manifest itself in the url? Was it only there when you followed a web link or would a bookmark do the same? Did it show in the url displayed when you 'hovered' or only when you 'arrived' at the URL? Did you run HiJackThis to see if the redirect was listed?

[Tarq57]

aerobat, thanks for posting that script and instructions.
Works a treat. Far superior to my (non-operational) workaround, which was to disable viglink in the hosts file - which also rendered links unusable, of course.

Just a query about this line:

GM_log("Hmm, maybe the parameter name 'out' changed and broke things");

Is that intended to be included in the final script? Doesn't look so "scripty", but I wouldn't know.

[Keef]

Originally Posted by BOAC

- my puzzlement is that it never 'did'! I am trying to understand what is causing this on your machine and not mine. How did it manifest itself in the url?

It was in the link as shown within the post, when pointed at.

Where I might have put "try this link", pointing at the link would bring up the link address in the bottom "info bar" of Firefox with "something.viglink.etc" in front of the real link location, and the real link then coded with % signs and all sorts.

Following the "fix" it now shows the link without the viglink addition.

[Tarq57]

Originally Posted by Keef

It was in the link as shown within the post, when pointed at.

Where I might have put "try this link", pointing at the link would bring up the link address in the bottom "info bar" of Firefox with "something.viglink.etc" in front of the real link location, and the real link then coded with % signs and all sorts.

Following the "fix" it now shows the link without the viglink addition.

It still shows "something.viglink.etc" in my info bar. Except if I hover over the link having first opened a reply window. (That's interesting.)

I wonder if the greasemonkey script I installed from aerobats post was somehow flawed or otherwise "didn't take"?

[Keef]

Could be. When I point at any of the links up the page (apart from the viglink one) the viglink bit doesn't appear.

Try clicking on the "viglink opt-out" link above and see if that changes it!