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Why does my browser sometimes redirect me to sites that I didn't type in the address bar. Frequently, I type in Facebook and it goes to Myspace (more recently the Washington Post.com).

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Sometimes, when I try to go to facebook, it automatically redirects me to myspace.com. Yesterday, it redirected me to washingtonpost.com. Today, I tried to go to www.chicagotribune.com/sports and it redirected to myspace.com

URL of affected sites

http://www.facebook.com

Sometimes, when I try to go to facebook, it automatically redirects me to myspace.com. Yesterday, it redirected me to washingtonpost.com. Today, I tried to go to www.chicagotribune.com/sports and it redirected to myspace.com == URL of affected sites == http://www.facebook.com

All Replies (17)

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I need some information to know what's happening:

  1. What are you typing in when you try to go to facebook?
  2. What appears below the location bar (address bar) while you type this?
  3. Are you selecting anything from the dropdown below the location bar? (It's selected if it appears with a dark background)
  4. When you press Enter to load the site, what is typed in and what (if anything) is selected below?
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1. www.facebook.com 2. nothing/not sure 3. no 4. it usually starts to go to the site I typed (sometimes actually goes to the site), but then redirects to the alternative site.

This seems to happen randomly. For instance, yesterday was the first time I was directed to www.washingtonpost.com instead of myspace.com...Today, when going to www.chicagotribune.com/sports it went to the site but didn't finish loading and then automatically redirected to myspace.com.

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Does it work if you include the http:// in front? (http://www.facebook.com instead of www.facebook.com)

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Not sure...although it does happen when I use a bookmark, so I assume that doesn't make a difference. I'll try it next time, but either way, it feels I should be concerned about figuring out what the problem is and fixing it.

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Do a malware check with a few malware scan programs. You need to use all programs because each detects different malware.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page .......... See also "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked

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I'm running Windows 7, w(and Norton's Internet Security in the background) and using Google Chrome, and I have the exact same problem, and only with the same website www.facebook.com. I am continually redirected to www.washingtonpost.com. I can not replicate the error with any other website other than facebook. See attached screen shot. Fascinating.

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Again, same Windows 7 user here, I have replicated the same problem in Internet Explorer. The problem follows only this one site, and not the browser.

I highly doubt there is any malware on this computer, but I will run a scan.

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I ran a full system scan in Norton's, which only found and removed cookies. After removing all cookies, I rebooted, and problem was resolved. While loss of connectivity to Facebook is fine, even a good thing perhaps, I was more curious as to the cause. There are forums across the internet with people discussing being redirected from www.facebook.com to www.washingtonpost.com, so there is definitely something to this, that in my case, had nothing to do with Firefox.

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I have a mac and both Firefox and Safari do the same to me they redirect me to a myspace page when I type in my favourite newspaper's address...the funny thing is that this myspace page has a facebook address here it is: http://www.facebook.com/extern/login_status.php?api_key=96096d828cda2291eead753919ac3553&extern=0&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fantefatto.ilcannocchiale.it%2Fglamware%2Fblogs%2Fblog.aspx%3Fid_blog%3D96578%26fbc_channel%3D1&locale=en_US

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I was on Flightaware.com, and it redirects me to myspace.com. When I type in "www.facebook.com" in the address bar, it takes me to myspace.

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Same problem here -- kayak to myspace screen, facebook URL

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Same problem here. I type in http://www.facebook.com and it redirects me to www.washingtonpost.com

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all fb links redirect to washington post - unable to find the source of this problem.

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same problem, I have os x, using firefox 3.6.6

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possible solution found: update mac os x to version 10.6.4 update contains security update

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I have the security update on OS X and it doesn't help. Any links to malware protection sites for Mac? I can't even get to Google.

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I am having a similar problem. www.cnn.com redirects to www.washingtonpost.com, but us.cnn.com does not. I use Chrome and windows XP. I tried going to cnn.com on my mother's laptop (connected to the same wireless network, but using windows vista and IE) and got the same result. She said that fb had been redirecting her to myspace in the past.