Endless Google redirects in Google News - Chrome browser, Linux.

[RKP5637]

Last edited Sat Nov 11, 2017, 05:33 PM - Edit history (1)

NOTE: Please be careful of permanent use of this extension because it could disable some of Chrome's protection from harmful websites.

Just FYI - I've started getting redirects from Google only when in Google News. Google will ask you if you want to go to this website or return. It appears to be a growing problem which Google has not addressed. Just FYI, I disabled all of my extensions and it persisted, cleared cache, etc., same. After much searching, I found people discussing an extension that stops it. Google link fixer in Chrome. There is also a release for Firefox which appears to have worked.

More on this: https://github.com/LittleLightLittleFire/link-fixer

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search-link-fix/

Google: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/link%20fixer

[Egnever]

1. You understand that google is doing that to try to protect you from malicious websites right?

Those come from sites that have been found to have malicious code on them. Often it happens simply from the add providers they chose to use, in most cases not intentionally, but google is attempting to protect you from infections.

You can always click advanced on the redirect and choose to proceed.

I would not advise anyone to try to get around those redirects without carefully considering each one. A shotgun approach like you are suggesting is a very bad idea IMHO.

Also it is not a problem they choose not to address it is by design and very much intended.

[RKP5637]

2. This is effecting all of Google News, and just Google News, indicating all major

Last edited Sat Nov 11, 2017, 02:50 PM - Edit history (1)

news sources require redirects. It is an intermittent problem. Google is going through a major redesign on how all of this is handled. I'll see if I can find the link, but no promises as it was sent to me sometime ago. Just found it, here's the link on the Google redirect problem. I have a feeling this will be worked out as the releases roll out. When this is settled, I doubt this extension is needed.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/8/16617794/chrome-redirect-blocking-announced-google

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/google-updates-chrome-to-prevent-unwanted-content-redirects/d/d-id/1330388?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanwhitwam/2017/11/08/google-is-finally-killing-annoying-redirect-ads-in-chrome/#a8e8e4d16506

Here is another indirectly related area wherein there are problems.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3236027/cloud-computing/google-can-read-your-corporate-data-are-you-ok-with-that.html?idg_eid=b959ac7c152e042b9cad78f7c2cf7a7c&email_SHA1_lc=60ac1b338bbda6986b6cc1ea39c4a30877a3952b&cid=ifw_nlt_infoworld_daily_2017-11-06&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=InfoWorld%20Daily:%20Morning%20Edition%202017-11-06&utm_term=infoworld_daily

[Egnever]

3. All of those links describe exactly what is happening

Google is attempting to protect you from malicious ads. If you are getting it all the time it is likely because your machine is already infected.

I just hit every link on the google news front page and did not get a single redirect. That said I also have an add blocker which would prevent most of those adds in the first place. And my machine is clean, I clean computers for a living my machines are always virus free unless I am testing stuff.

This is not a bug they need to fix it is an intended effect to attempt to protect you. Advising people to circumvent it is just horrible advise.

edited to add

I just disabled my add blocker to test if that was keeping me from the redirects and still not a single redirect on any link on the news front page. If I were you I would take a hard look at your machine and ensure you are not infected already.

I would suggest running these two programs at the minimum and removing anything found..
https://www.malwarebytes.com/


https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/

Again what you are suggesting here is very bad advise IMHO and I would advise anyone reading this to be very careful with following it.

[RKP5637]

4. Are you running Windows or Linux? n/t

[Egnever]

5. Win 10 pro x64

[RKP5637]

7. BTW, thanks for the discussion! I'm running Linux, but also run real time malware and virus

protection, although not really needed. I also did a rootkit scan, nothing there. This just happened with the latest release of Google Chrome for Linux. It's extremely intermittent, and ONLY with Google News. It's strange. My hunch is it will clear with the next release.

[Egnever]

6. Just tested with edge instead of chrome

and I did get a redirect from edge when trying to access the google news site itself but once on the page had no issue with multiple links I tried from there.


That said Edge is a horrible browser intended solely to advertise to you in the first place. I am almost always horrified every time I use it. I would not recommend using Edge as your go to browser to anyone.

[RKP5637]

8. Yep, it's weird, for me it comes and goes. Then, suddenly it clears. n/t

[Egnever]

9. out of curiosity have you cleared the cache recently?

[RKP5637]

10. Yep, also did that. I clear it automatically each time the browser closes. I'm going to

disable that extension now and see what happens. ... although maybe it was a permanent change. I'll be back.

[Egnever]

11. something else you might try

flushing your DNS it is possible it has bad links in it.

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/rhel-debian-ubuntu-flush-clear-dns-cache/

best of luck with it I will check the thread later but I am off for now.

[RKP5637]

12. Back again. I disabled the extension and reloaded Chrome. The problem has now 100% cleared.

Last edited Sat Nov 11, 2017, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Your mentioning of the DNS is interesting. I use a VPN DNS. If this occurs again, I'll switch over to
my ISP's DNS just to see what happens. I'm going to put a warning on my original OP about the extension could disable website protection ... Thanks! Just FYI, I did try enabling the extension again and then tested Google Chrome against a standard Malware Test Site and Google still detected it. So that is good, but I'm leaving the extension off as I don't know how it might affect the new releases of Chrome. I didn't mention the test site here on purpose because I didn't want anyone to get messed up trying it, I'm sure you already know it.

[RKP5637]

13. Problem Solved!!! Really!!!

When I start my Google Chrome browser, I have it set to bring up 3 tabs. Google search, Google News and the Yahoo home page.

I had Google News set as: https://news.google.com/news/

but was it really wanted to see was: https://news.google.com/news/headlines?hl=en

The latter is how Google brings it up Google apps.

So, it's now solid, no redirects and the extension is disabled.

Thanks for the discussion, really appreciated it!

[Egnever]

14. Interesting fix

Glad you got it sorted without the plugin. Nice work tracking it down.