Apple redirect - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 03:55:49 am
content: Here's a little something to chew on. My son told me tonight that I should check what happens when I google the word "apple." Ok, I tried it and to my surprise, instead of getting a normal google page with tons of results, I get redirected through about seven domains to store.apple.com. I used the search bar in Firefox, which happens to be set to google, so I figured I should try it directly from google.com and see what happens. Same thing. Chrome address bar/search bar - same thing - Chrome set to google.com gives me the expected google results. IE bing bar takes me to the apple store too.What it seems is that my ISP is capturing the search word and sending it to at least 5 other domains and finally hijacking the search to the apple store. Any other word I search goes straight to google.com.Can others test this out and post results here? I can't imagine it's only happening here and I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds it really rude to advertise in that way.

author: JohnS_AZ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:11:27 am
content: Doesn't do it to me. Tried Firefox and IE on both my old XP-pro system and my new win 7 machine.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:18:19 am
content: No problemo.Firefox & Chrome on Win7Dave.

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:25:54 am
content: That's pretty disturbing. I'd even call that scary. If that isn't illegal it probably should be.Can not reproduce here with firefox on WinVista or Ubuntu. ISP is Cox in Omaha, Nebraska.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:27:34 am
content: sounds like you have a trojan... i guess.

author: EEwannabe
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:29:24 am
content: Apple site is number one in the bing search but no hi-jacking. I don't have any apple products installed.- Patrick

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:50:17 am
content: Just thought of something. I don't have QT (other than the firefox plugin) or iTunes installed (or anything else Apple that I can think of).Perhaps that has something to do with it?If you get seriously curious, you could try making a linux livecd and booting in to check. That should rule out a software problem.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 06:18:05 am
content: In the meantime, I've done a full system scan with both Avast and MBAM - clean bill of health. I also activated a program called Trusteer Rapport (from my online bank) which supposedly can block keylogging for chosen sites. This seems to have done the trick. It was happening on both my system, my son's system and a few people he chats with online. I've also scheduled a boot time scan for Avast. AFAIK, I don't have anything from Apple installed.The reason I suspect my ISP is that when I type apple into the google or bing search bar and hit enter, the first address to display at the bottom of the screen (lower left) is my ISP's, then there are addresses of five or six other websites flashing by in rapid succession - too fast to note down then it opens the apple store. It's definitely disconcerting.

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 05:50:56 pm
content: A few more things that might help.If you have a working knowledge of networking you could try using tools (like CurrPorts and Smartsniff) to get more detailed info on what exactly is happening. I haven't dinked with networking seriously in almost a decade, so the networking experts on the forums might know of easier software to use. This has a good chance if giving you the info you need, but might require some homework to understand it all.Also, google supports searching through SSL. Tryhttps://www.google.comand see if you get the same problems. You can read about the details at the link under the search bar. This encrypts your search and results, and should rule out non-local tampering. If you're still getting redirected it's likely to be something local to your computer.The last thing to try isrunning firefox in safe mode. This should disable just about everything, search bars and addons and the like, and can help you check to be sure that it's not an addon messing with you. I think this is the most likely explanation, but I'm just guessing wild, I've never seen anything like this.Hope that helps some.

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 07:07:50 pm
content: Rather strange, would using a different DNS help? I used to useOpenDNSbut now useGoogle. o2 (ISP) dns was terrible

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 07:32:44 pm
content: No such issue here too.sample from the motherland ...

author: JohnS_AZ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2010, 07:55:50 pm
content: @ logictom ... huge thanks !!I've been struggling with lagging browsers here for months. Just switched to the Google DNS and it's an instant fix!!Don't know if I'm too tickled about Google knowing every single page I visit, but I don't know if I really care all that much either. At any rate, thanks again!

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2010, 01:10:10 am
content: If you are worried about Google knowing, try OpenDNS. Which ever DNS you use, someone is going to know.

author: kaptain_zero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2010, 01:28:49 am
content: I'll second the OpenDNS suggestion, fast, accurate, built in correction for mistyped urls (but you get asked if the correction is what you meant) and it detects and blocks most (if not all) phishing attempts. I plugged OpenDNS into my router and everything goes through them.RegardsChristianAnd yes, all my search engine searches for 'apple' are executed correctly.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2010, 03:18:18 am
content: It was the DNS serverI changed the settings on all our computers to use google's DNS servers and voila! Problem gone. It also fixed some major speed issues I was having on this forum and elsewhere where I could click on a link and wait up to 10 seconds before FF would respond and take me to that address.So obviously Steve Jobs is paying Frontier (my ISP) to redirect searches to his site. The words apple, ipad, ipod etc would all take you there. I found the first in the chain of addresses that would come up and start the redirect process:http://service1.searchguide.frontier.com/search?qkf=apple&sid=001EiR6iD4rsBf1wBi&rg=DOM2&ri=GT02&encu=U2FsdGVkX18lx%2BUYLVNW5Dqj7vIuc03Yiw5EpqxUkA1okj2iekyaqgnoBm2f7dx%2F3z5C2xot3oNe%0AJSUx3rWL%2F6lhMf7KK25CWOJupyJzxr4%2BETqQkZaeXnebH3jgb2FF3GT11fLBqRdswjqSho9UM99U%0AI6AtmRARPgCKXooCgcc%3D%0AThere's a whole slew of these in FF's recent address list (one from each time I type in apple), each one a little different and it was initiated by typing apple into the google search bar in FF, the bing search bar in IE and the address bar in Chrome. Utter bullshit.

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2010, 04:53:40 am
content: I'm glad you found a workaround for that. That's an insidious bit of marketing.If you decide to have it out with Frontier, openly or covertly, you could post your story on Reddit or Slashdot and probably build a pool of fellow customers. I don't think it's widely known that this is happening (or legal).

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 20, 2010, 10:20:47 am
content: Quote from: JohnS_AZ on November 19, 2010, 07:55:50 pmGlad it helpedI had issues with o2 where speed tests would run great but general browsing was sluggish as hell and some pages just would refuse to open. Changing the dns solved it in an instant.Like you say I was pondering over google knowing my history but at least 95% of my browsing goes through the search engine anyway and now 100% through Chrome so I'm sure they already have all the stats about me anyway