Lockergnome Problem With Google AdSense And QuickTime?
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Back on Sept. 6th I received a comment from Steve Hobberstad in which he described a problem he was having when he clicked on the links in the Lockergnome newsletter that Chris does. He stated:
Thanks for the heads-up, Ron, but do you know why I’m getting the browser message (paraphrasing) “This Web site wants to run… ‘QuickTimeCheck Scriptable Object’ add-on” when I come to this page? What’s different about this link from the other links I clicked on in today’s newsletter?
Thanks again,
Steve
After doing some research I responded to Steve’s problem with the following:
Hi Steve,
First of all it is not the links nor the site that is causing this. The error message you are getting appears to have something to do with Quicktime itself. If you have this on your system, I would uninstall and try a reinstall.
From what I have read this AM, it appears that the Google AdSense ads may be triggering this message.
I hope this helps. Get back to me and let us know what you find. It should be interesting to see if we can solve this, since I am sure you are not the only one who is experiencing this problem.
Curious. Are you using IE 7 by any chance?
Regards, Ron
It seems that Steve is still having a problem which now prohibits him from leaving any comment on the Lockergnome site. In his email he sent me he stated:
Yes, I do have QuickTime on my system — and the Pro version, at that! I’m a little pissed with Apple, though: after taking Windows Secrets’ advice in their recent newsletter article “Media players more dangerous than Windows” and using Software Inspector to look for updates for everything from Flash Player to Adobe Reader to QuickTime, QT’s the only one you can’t update for free…or even (as a registered user) for a discount. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of user reviews for the latest version are highly negative so I intend NOT to bite on that Apple.
Oddly enough…
1. The Windows Fanatics/Lockergnome newsletters are the only ones containing links which yield this result; and,
2. I’d swear it only began happening for those links after I’d already clicked on some of them WITHOUT that result earlier the same day (which is why I thought the link to your page was the only one doing it); i.e., it seems I’d clicked on several of the other links that morning WITHOUT receiving the pop-up/add-on message — then later that day when I clicked on your link I received it for the first time. After posting my first reply (above) I thought it was “just you”… but then, after RETURNING to some of the links I’d visited earlier that day, suddenly I was receiving the message for them, too.
Is there QT content on these Windows Fanatics webpages? — or are you saying that Google AdSense ads alone are the culprits? If the latter is the case that’d really suck: to have to install an add-on in order to view advertising content OR continue to be annoyed by this pop-up message…complete with beep.
Yes, BTW: I am running IE7. A vast improvement over 6, imho — for the fact that it defaults to saving pages in the .mht format instead of .htm …if not for the advanced security features as well.
I have my doubts that reinstallating QT would fix the problem since otherwise the application seems to be working okay. If Apple’s done something surreptitiously to require users to add on an add-on in order not to be annoyed by a recurring pop-up I suspect it’s buried in a registry entry that either wouldn’t get flushed by uninstalling the program or else would get added right back in the first time I visited one of these pages.
Thanks, Ron. Say hi to Jackie for me.
My first thought is this. We need to isolate the problem, which is easier said than done. I would recommend that Steve try another browser such as Firefox or Opera do see if he still has the same problem. If the problem doesn’t happen in one of these browsers, than a uninstall of QT Pro would be the next step. If there is a concern about registry entries being left behind I would use CCleaner just to clean the registry — nothing else. Make sure the Backup option in CCleaner is used and I would also make a Restore Point as well. Reinstall QT Pro and see what happens.
I could only find reference to QT having a problem with Google AdSense I personally have not experienced this problem myself.
Has anyone else encountered the same problem that Steve is having? If so, how did you correct it?
As always, comments are welcome. Lets see if we can help Steve with this.
[tags]google, adsense, quicktime, apple, pro[/tags]
10 Comments
Vic Laurie
September 9th, 2007
at 10:16am
.Steve is not alone. I also get the IE7 security message about an ActiveX QuickTime add-on whenever I visit a Lockergnome site on my Windows XP system. I just ignore it. I have no QT player installed. No comparable message in Firefox (which does not support ActiveX). I visit many sites with Google AdSense and I do not see the QT message anywhere else. I do see a diiferent message at PC Magazine, which wants to install some sort of other ActiveX.
On my Vista system, I do not get the security warning from Lockergnome or from PC Magazine, maybe because IE7 is running in protected mode.
My general practice is to block ActiveX except where a trusted site insists on it or to use Firefox with NoScript.
Ron Schenone
September 9th, 2007
at 11:27am
Hello Vic Laurie,
Thanks for stopping by and providing this information to us. I haven’t used IE for over 4 years I’m just wondering in IE back in the Advanced section if turning off script debugging for IE & debugging for other would solve the problem? I just went to the LG site in IE with these disabled and had no problem.
Regards, Ron
Vic Laurie
September 9th, 2007
at 1:33pm
I always have script debugging turned off.
Steve Hobberstad
September 9th, 2007
at 2:39pm
1. Thanks, Ron.
2. I’m not so sure that Vic really doesn’t have a QT player installed since I’m fairly certain that the basic version of it gets installed as part of Windows (weird as that seems).
3. «I would recommend that Steve try another browser such as Firefox»
I guess this is getting to be an almost-inevitable conclusion/recommendation.
4. Are you listening, Mister Gates?
Mister Gates?
Mister Gates?
PS: Thanks again, Ron.
Paul
September 9th, 2007
at 2:47pm
Not the same but….
I get emails of ‘latest’ for lockergnome posts. I know - old fashioned. But hey I am 52 and although I use RSS I still like the email format for this site.
Anyway, why is it that some emails I open with Outlook Express pop up an activeX warning? Not all, just some.
Paul.
Ron Schenone
September 9th, 2007
at 6:13pm
Hi Steve,
You are welcome. I hope you get the problem solved.
Hi Paul,
Not a clue why. I use OE for LG newsletters and haven’t experienced any problems.
Thanks guys! Ron
Vic Laurie
September 10th, 2007
at 8:25am
@Steve; You are right that I have had QT on my system in the past. However, I have no file associations for QT or MOV files.Also, out of curiousity, I had renamed the Quicktime program folder, and the Registry entries for Quicktime and I still got the security message from Lockergnome sites.
Steve Hobberstad
September 10th, 2007
at 7:53pm
For what it’s worth: I’m also getting the ActiveX pop-up message (same as Paul) on about one in three of the newsletters. I asked Chris about it but he appeared not to know why it was happening.
I get this same message on occasion when I try to paste what appears to be straight ASCII text from one OE email to another. Even pages which appear to be devoid of “dancing baloney” will yield this unexpected ActiveX message.
Ron Schenone
September 11th, 2007
at 4:25am
Hi Steve,
I found this article about IE 7. Not sure if it will help or not but it covers add-ons and also active x problems. It is worth a try anyway.
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#tsie
Let us know if it helps or not.
Regards, Ron
Ron Schenone
September 12th, 2007
at 4:15am
I am posting this for Steve. Seems he is still having problems here on this site and now can’t post comments:
“Hi, Ron. I just tried to post to your blog at http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/09/09/google-adsense-quicktime-lockergnome-problem/ and it appears not to be working again. Don’t know if it’s some temporary problem with the hosting software (Jackie mentioned once that it’s happened before, that no one could post for several days) or if it’s got something to do with this new set of problems I’m having.
Here, in case it didn’t post (and I’m not seeing it posting) is what I wrote in reply to your last message…
Thanks very much, Ron, but I don’t have Vista.
Now guess what! Since yesterday smooth scrolling’s not working on the Lockergnome/Windows Fanatics newsletters anymore. Not only does attempting to scroll with the mousewheel or scroll bar yield herky-jerky motion, even the PageUp/Down keys are doing the same thing! This is the first time I’ve ever encountered this problem and Lockergnome/WF is the ONLY page that doesn’t work right on my system.
I just realized you’re on to something with this Google AdSense thing, Ron: for the first time I noticed (besides the notification to install the QT add-on at the top of the screen) a persistent “2 items downloading” message appears in the status bar at the bottom of the screen with AdSense as part of the URL. After a VERY long time (and I’ve got DSL) the message goes away, leaving the exclamation point icon in its place. Clearly these two items NEVER download (possibly due to the missing add-on)—leaving the page with faults.
I also noticed copious links on these pages to a Chris Short’s blog on Lockergnome relating to this AdSense.
What, may I ask, is AdSense? —and is it something Chris Pirillo has control over? If so, you can relate to him that it REALLY appears to be f***ing with our systems. Also, there’s no way I’m gonna install an add-on whose sole purpose is to display advertisements.
Thanks for keepin’ on this for us, Ron. You’re a gentleman and a scholar…and a darned fine geek.
Steve”