Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I keep getting spammed by hyperlinks that try to direct me towards aol.careerbuilder.com, it says the ads are by Video Player. This is incredibly annoying!

  • 3 replies
  • 14 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by vegaspatt

more options

Okay, here's my problem. I'm trying to study for college and I'm using a website called TexGrammar to study but this really annoying thing keeps happening. Some of text is hyperlinked (that isn't supposed to be) and when I hover the mouse over it it directs me to aol.careerbuilders.com and says underneath that "Ads by Video Player". Earlier today I had a problem with pop-ups by the same "Video Player" telling me that Firefox required that I update my video player. I assumed this could be spam so I closed it out and after that I noticed the hyperlink problem that I first explained. When I tried opening google chrome, the pop-up problem came back up so I went back to using Firefox. It's incredibly frustrating, please help.

Okay, here's my problem. I'm trying to study for college and I'm using a website called TexGrammar to study but this really annoying thing keeps happening. Some of text is hyperlinked (that isn't supposed to be) and when I hover the mouse over it it directs me to aol.careerbuilders.com and says underneath that "Ads by Video Player". Earlier today I had a problem with pop-ups by the same "Video Player" telling me that Firefox required that I update my video player. I assumed this could be spam so I closed it out and after that I noticed the hyperlink problem that I first explained. When I tried opening google chrome, the pop-up problem came back up so I went back to using Firefox. It's incredibly frustrating, please help.

Chosen solution

hello, this sounds like a problem possibly caused by adware on your pc.

please go to firefox > addons > extensions & remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc).
also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there.
finally, run a full scan of your system with different security tools like the free version of malwarebytes & adwcleaner.

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

Read this answer in context 👍 7

All Replies (3)

more options

Chosen Solution

hello, this sounds like a problem possibly caused by adware on your pc.

please go to firefox > addons > extensions & remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc).
also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there.
finally, run a full scan of your system with different security tools like the free version of malwarebytes & adwcleaner.

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

more options

Thanks for the reply. Shortly after posting this question I managed to figure out how to resolve this problem. For anybody who has a similar problem (and has Windows 8.1), I would advise going to Control Panel > Programs and Features and then searching your list of programs for anything that looks suspicious.

The program that I was getting spammed by was called "Video Player" and showed up in the annoying pop-ups and hyperlinks. Coincidentally, there was a program called "Video Player" that was installed on my computer with out me knowing. I'm guessing that it probably installed because I clicked on one of the pop-ups that appeared to be a Firefox update (but wasn't). After I uninstalled this program, the pop-ups and hyperlink issues were resolved with ease.

In addition to the method that I used, I also ran a full virus scan using Windows Defender and it detected 2 malicious adware files. I've had similar problems to this before and usually after running a virus scan they seem to go away. As a result of these problems, I'll be running virus scans on a day to day basis just to ensure that my stuff like this doesn't happen again.

more options

I've been having this same problem for over a week. I had already checked my add-ons and my programs in Control Panel and found NOTHING strange. I simply don't know what else to try.

I've also run MalWareBytes and SuperAnti Spyware and they found nothing. I don't know where else to look.

It has gotten very annoying and would appreciate any other ideas.

Thanks.