I love cookies, almost any kind of cookies except those Fig Newtons my Daddy ate! 
Blogs I frequently read are listed on the side of my own blog. Sometimes when reading other blogs I will click on one of that blog writer’s favorites to access different blogs. Last evening while clicking on blogs from my own blog such as Wheeling It or Rick’s I noticed a strange address would appear briefly in the URL bar—vindicosuites.com then the bloggers normal URL address would appear. Hmmmm—that’s strange I thought so I had the cowboy click on a few blogs—same thing.
If we went to a blog directly from TinTeePeeLogCabin the URL would initially read vindicosuites.com then revert to the correct blogger address. It did not matter if the blogger used WordPress or Blogger. Then I went to The Bayfield Bunch—same thing happened, every blog I accessed from their site had that strange URL address including their own.
I tried clearing my cache and cookies—that did nothing except irritate me all over again this morning when I had to log onto every single site I visited. I ran a scan with Malwarebytes and with Microsoft Security Essentials—nothing, didn’t help. I Googled the issue and here is what Google had to say:
“This domain is owned by Vindico. The main business activity is: Video Advertising Platform. The main purpose of cookies set by this host is: Targeting/Advertising”
GRRRRR!!!!!
But, a general thread on several of the forums was the use of Sitemeter—if removed the problem with Vindicosuites.com seemed to go away. So, I removed Sitemeter from my blog and success—no more strange URLs----UNLESS you are visiting a blog which still has Sitemeter.
I also went to Amazon and disabled my browsing history—that was easy and I also checked the box in Chrome settings under privacy, “Send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing history.” I am detailing all these steps in case I really upset the apple cart and my computer goes downhill—then I can come back to this blog and see what buttons to unclick!!
I will let you know if the problem returns! Let’s go have some chocolate chip cookies or maybe some Snickerdoodles!!!
Posts
Anything chocolate gets my vote !!
ReplyDeleteKelly first noticed this Sitemeter thing a couple days ago. Seems Sitemeter has been bought out by another company & that company is running some kind of ads or something. I have not yet seen anything pop up while clicking on other people's posts. I've had Sitemeter since the beginning & would hate to drop it now at this point but if it's going to be a problem I'll have no choice...............
ReplyDeleteI have noticed the Sitemeter thing too... and the blogs are taking longer to open even with my fast internet at home. At first I thought it was just a slower data connection with tethering my verizon phone or tablet.
ReplyDeleteOh...I went to Chrome to enable the "do not track" like you did.. and this is what it said:
"Enabling "Do Not Track" means that a request will be included with your browsing traffic. Any effect depends on whether a website responds to the request, and how the request is interpreted. For example, some websites may respond to this request by showing you ads that aren't based on other websites you've visited. Many websites will still collect and use your browsing data - for example to improve security, to provide content, services, ads and recommendations on their websites, and to generate reporting statistics."
Soooo not sure if it will do anything or not, I checked it any how.
KarenInTheWoods and Steveio
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(Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
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In doing some research on this vindicosuites thing I wasn't able to find much at all. It's a bit of a mystery still as to what this site is and what it actually does except to annoy us all. Sitemeter definitely popped up as a possible culprit and lots of folks, including you, have reported that removing sitemeter resolved the problem.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that's probably true as its only blogs and personal websites that use sitemeter.
Anyway, I too prefer chocolate chip cookies....home made are best but if forced to, I'll always eat store bought cookies too!!
I noticed this too - every blog with Sitemeter seems to be "contaminated" so when you click on a blog they follow you get tracked by Vindicosuites before it goes to the blog you clicked. But this does not happen on "clean" blogs of people who do not use Sitemeter like Retired Rod, Travels with Emma, and Tin TeePee - I used to read several blogs and it was easy to just click sidebars to jump around but I won't do that any more. I am glad you cleaned yours up because I do enjoy reading about the Southwest and Montana !
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