Site tabs only working rarely.

[RedbeardRages]

So I have recently begun experiencing issues when using the Skyrim Nexus to download mods after a longish absence from the game. When I attempt to click on tabs (General, Articles, Files, etc [underneath the mod's infobox and in the blue bar,) nothing happens the majority of the time.

I can usually get the links to work after 7-10 full refreshes of the page (CTRL+F5 method,) but even after making the tab work, the download links (button driven, as in the green buttons that trigger an NMM download,) do nothing. Even when attempting to download manually, if the window soliciting a direct monetary confirmation to the author of the mod pops up, the green button to advance to the download does nothing.

In the interests of brevity and to save any potention answerers' respective time, here are the specs of my hardware and various other possibly related software bits:

HARDWARE:

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro

MoBo: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB VRAM

RAM: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Corsair Vengence

HDD: 1TB WD Blue 7200RPM

PSU: EVGA 500W

SECURITY/PRIVACY SOFTWARE:

Anti-Malware: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 2.2.1.1043 (Tested disabled)

Antivirus: Avast! 11.1.2253 (Definition Version 160328) (Tested disabled)

BROWSER RELATED/PLUGINS:

Browser: Google Chrome 49.0.2623.87 m

Other Tested Browser(s): Firefox 45.0.1, Internet Explorer 11.0.9600.18231

Anti-Advertising: AdBlock 2.53 (Always disabled on Nexus sites)

Other: LastPass: Free Password Manager 4.1.3 (Tested disabled)

OTHER SOFTWARE:

Java Version 8 Update 73

FF and IE were tested in default configurations with no enabled or installed plugins. Also attached is a screenshot of the Google Chrome Developer Console showing errors when attempting to click on the tabs. For clarity, the red box outlines when I first visited the page I was testing on (SkuUI,) and the TypeErrors within the blue box occurred whenever I clicked on a tab.

[bben46]

It looks like your requests are being redirected by a malware. In your screencap it shows adnetworkperformance - which is a nasty piece of crapware that is hard to get rid of. :wallbash:

 

Try running JRT (junkware removal tool) it is from Malwarebytes and is a safe program. It is FREE, with no nags to pay for anything and runs very quickly - less than 5 minutes on my system and kills off a lot of junk malware such as those that many anti viruses don't remove because they use a trick to get you to agree to install them. It is a stand alone and can be run from a USB stick and is easily deleted after running if you don't want it hanging around after running it. :thumbsup:

 

Get it here: https://www.malwarebytes.org/junkwareremovaltool/

[RedbeardRages]

Thanks for the response on that, Ben. Unfortunately I am all too familiar with the AdNetworkPerformance nonsense. Will the linked tool stand a reasonably good chance of removal? I know that Malwarebytes doesn't even detect it, and it's a fairly reliable piece of software.

 

UPDATE: Thank you a million times over. Apparently there was some nefarious activity going on that I had no idea was happening (and I am not exactly ignorant of this sort of thing, although apparently there is always more to learn!)

 

The issue is now resolved, and in case anyone is wondering, these are the items that JRT removed after the scan:

 

 

 

Successfully deleted: C:\ProgramData\productdata (Folder)

Successfully deleted: C:\ProgramData\Start Menu\Programs\esupport.com (Folder)

Successfully deleted: C:\Users\Cass\AppData\Roaming\productdata (Folder)

Successfully deleted: C:\WINDOWS\system32\Tasks\SmartDefrag4_Startup (Task)

Successfully deleted: C:\WINDOWS\system32\Tasks\Uninstaller_SkipUac_Cass (Task)

Successfully deleted: C:\WINDOWS\Tasks\Uninstaller_SkipUac_Cass.job (Task)

Successfully deleted: C:\Program Files (x86)\esupport.com (Folder)

Successfully deleted: C:\WINDOWS\prefetch\FREEPIE.EXE-8D28CA03.pf (File)

FREEPIE is a program that I used for correcting a HOTAS joystick issue in ArmA, and SmartDefrag4 is a known piece of software, so I don't know if those would have been an issue right out of the gate, so do you think it possible that those files might have gotten injected with something less than trustworthy?

Fairly certain it was the esupport.com entries that were likely the main culprit (very cursory research led me to that conclusion, along with the fact that I have no recollection of downloading anything with that name, nor do I recall installing the software that it piggbacks from [a driver updater, for which I use the MSI LiveUpdate that came with my MoBo].)

Edited March 29, 2016 by cassidydorman

[bben46]

Not all free software will warn you in a way you can understand. Some bury the info that they are going to stick you with a piece of garbageware 5 pages deep in their documentation. Knowing that 99% of users won't read that far. But they can then use that to show they did indeed post a notification that thay were going to shaft you. And others pass off their garbageware as somthing that is required to download from their site. (Cnet was doing that at one time - and lost a lot of users because of it) Then there are the drive by installs where they set the download to be the x that you expect to close the window - it closes it, so it looks like you bailed when by clicking the x it started the download and blanked out the popup to keep you from realizing that you got pwnd - again. :wallbash:

 

JRT is by far the best I have found yet for cleaning garbageware. :thumbsup: But I am sure the garbage purveyors will find a way around it eventually.

[RedbeardRages]

And here I was thinking that I was being diligent when installing software and making sure to disable/uninstall all included crapware when installing free programs. What surprised me is how quickly I became infected after building a new machine (the specs I listed above are for a rig that I built not more than two weeks ago,) and I only installed software that I have trusted in the past.

 

Anywho, you have my thanks again for your assistance in this matter, and I am back to enjoying the Nexus in all it's splendor and glory.