Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, David, mac_h8r1, Nelliesboo

 
TheEmrys
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2529
Joined: Wed May 29, 2002 8:22 pm
Location: Northern Colorado
Contact:

Phone gives random popup ads

Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:52 pm

My wife needed a new phone, and having fond memories of the HTC Incredible and Incredible 2, we went with an M10. Ever since we got it, we keep getting popup ads, and not while the phone is in use. So far, the worst offenders have been when it launched a popup at 3am and woke us both up, and then again at church. Neither time, the phone was being used. So far, I have done a fair amount of deep diving to rule put what I can. The ads are a mix of Play Store apps as well as run of the mill popups. This was not a phone that was purchased "with ads" for a lower price. So far, I have tried:

Disabling suggested ads in the Play store (how is this even a thing?)
Disabled ads and the app itself, Blinkspace (stupid name) - why not UranusHertz?)
Ran malwarebyes just in case
Checked all 7 of my wife's apps she uses (she only has 7, which were all fine on the old phone as well)
Removed all the bloatware from Yahoo and whoever else

Still we are getting ads. Any suggestions?
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
DancinJack
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4494
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:21 pm
Location: Kansas

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:16 pm

Without looking at the things installed it's gonna be hard to tell. I have a Pixel 2 XL and literally never, and I mean never, get pop-up ads. Typically using the actual Google services (Messages/Phone/Gmail/Contacts/etc) cut down on the BS. Maybe give it another once over and make sure you're not using any of the "duplicate" HTC apps instead of their Google counterparts?
i7 6700K - Z170 - 16GiB DDR4 - GTX 1080 - 512GB SSD - 256GB SSD - 500GB SSD - 3TB HDD- 27" IPS G-sync - Win10 Pro x64 - Ubuntu/Mint x64 :: 2015 13" rMBP Sierra :: Canon EOS 80D/Sony RX100
 
bthylafh
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4320
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 11:55 pm
Location: Southwest Missouri, USA

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:48 pm

I would sometimes get hijacking popup ads on my phone when I visited a website with Chrome, so I've switched to Firefox with some extensions that violate rule #12; this seems to help.

You might be able to flash a third-party ROM to your phone:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/development
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/pme/install

Another option might be to root your phone and then install a hosts file.
Hakkaa päälle!
i7-8700K|Asus Z-370 Pro|32GB DDR4|Asus Radeon RX-580|Samsung 960 EVO 1TB|1988 Model M||Logitech MX 518 & F310|Samsung C24FG70|Dell 2209WA|ATH-M50x
 
DancinJack
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4494
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:21 pm
Location: Kansas

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:19 pm

bthylafh wrote:
I would sometimes get hijacking popup ads on my phone when I visited a website with Chrome, so I've switched to Firefox with some extensions that violate rule #12; this seems to help.

You might be able to flash a third-party ROM to your phone:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/development
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/pme/install

Another option might be to root your phone and then install a hosts file.

I'm not saying these aren't good options in a lot of cases, but I'm guessing he doesn't want to void the warranty on a brand new phone. I think tracking down the offending application might be the best course of action until resorting to something like third party ROMs or rooting.
i7 6700K - Z170 - 16GiB DDR4 - GTX 1080 - 512GB SSD - 256GB SSD - 500GB SSD - 3TB HDD- 27" IPS G-sync - Win10 Pro x64 - Ubuntu/Mint x64 :: 2015 13" rMBP Sierra :: Canon EOS 80D/Sony RX100
 
TheEmrys
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2529
Joined: Wed May 29, 2002 8:22 pm
Location: Northern Colorado
Contact:

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:22 am

We will return it before we root it. We have had it less than a week.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
bthylafh
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4320
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 11:55 pm
Location: Southwest Missouri, USA

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:04 am

Firefox doesn't need root, at least. Another non-root option is the NetGuard firewall: you can choose which apps get network access and which don't. Only real gotcha is that it uses the VPN API and so if you want to use a real VPN this won't work.
Hakkaa päälle!
i7-8700K|Asus Z-370 Pro|32GB DDR4|Asus Radeon RX-580|Samsung 960 EVO 1TB|1988 Model M||Logitech MX 518 & F310|Samsung C24FG70|Dell 2209WA|ATH-M50x
 
TheEmrys
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2529
Joined: Wed May 29, 2002 8:22 pm
Location: Northern Colorado
Contact:

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:11 am

If it were just webpages, I might try it. But half are stupid Google Play ads.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
kvndoom
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2758
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:47 pm
Location: Virginia, thank goodness

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:19 am

List of all installed apps please?
A most unfortunate, Freudian, double entendre is that hotel named "Budget Inn."
 
demolition
Gerbil First Class
Posts: 123
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:27 am

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:29 am

I'd go for a factory reset just to make sure any malware is cleaned out, and if it still happens then return it as faulty. While a stock ROM should not contain malware (which it sounds like it is), it is not completely unknown to happen. If it is a known 'feature' from the vendor, then I'd replace it with a different model..
 
Ricefields
Gerbil In Training
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:15 am

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:46 am

I suggest doing a factory reset and get something like NordVPN with CyberSec turned on (which blocks ads and malware) or Blokada.
 
TheEmrys
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2529
Joined: Wed May 29, 2002 8:22 pm
Location: Northern Colorado
Contact:

Re: Phone gives random popup ads

Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:29 am

It was a fresh install. I got it down to no apps at all, and it still had pop up apps. Sent it back.

I highly doubt that it was an app she uses, as she uses very, very few apps. Generally, facebook, kindle, and Google Maps. That's about it.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On