The Merchant is not active on embedded links

[Karsten75]

In this thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3126140/pavillion-dv2000-cmos-checksum-error.html

There is a link to a HP service manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01035657.pdf

Clicking the link in the reference thread, brins up a web page with a message: The merchant is not active.

The URL link in that page is: http://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=je6NUbpObpQ&mid=38293&u1=irdsku6mxj000a1701bx8&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fh10032.www1.hp.com%2Fctg%2FManual%2Fc01035657

Not sure why this is and whether this is an isolated incident. If I hover my cursor over the link, the URL does not show the click.linksynergy reference added. I'm perplexed.

 

[getochkn]

Some sort of browser hijack/malware/spyware than on your system. I clicked your link and it brought me to HP and the manual.

EDIT

Quick google search shows click.linksynergy is a malware redirect.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=click.linksynergy

 

[ex_bubblehead]

^
Agreed. There's some sort of redirector at work on @Karsten75's system. I click the HP link and get the PDF without any redirection at all. This was tested across multiple browsers and OS's.

 

[Karsten75]

Thanks! I'll look into it, it's the only link that happens on. But still, I will look into it.

 

[Karsten75]

OK, update.

I ran Malwarebytes and Windows Defender scans, both are clean. Actually, I use Chrome as my default browser, but the Windows Defender did find Firesheep in Firefox.

I manually checked and removed some extensions (none were related to linksynergy, but I figured that since I was cleaning up, I'd just clean a lot of guff).

Reset Chrome Settings and search engines.

Removed Dashlane Password Manager - been meaning to for a while.

No change. That one link and only that link in both the original thread and this thread seems to redirect to click.linksynergy.

Other links in other posts (mine and other posters) are clean and link to intended targets.

So, I'm out of options. I'll just attribute it to a Deux ex machina and move on. I have no pop-ups, or other redirects or any other indications of an infection.

 

[getochkn]

Weird. Some remnant of something in there. I chalk things like that up to a "ghost in the machine" and move on. Some OCD people would have to know. I have things to do in life, I don't care that much. lol.

 

[Karsten75]

I did briefly test a little more (OCD? Perhaps, maybe just curious to explore various situations)

That link in a different forum does not have the redirect, so it seems to be a combination of Tom's and my system. Maybe the two are not copacetic.


Which leads me to wonder if a pre-formatted URL has the same issue?

Link to HP manual

Answer: Yes, same issue. Briefly an "aboutLblank" and then the reditrect.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I get the same 'The merchant is not active' page that is shown in the OP. Desktop and laptop. Using Firefox and AdblockPlus on both machines.

Now here's an interesting tidbit. The links work fine like this:

But as soon as the reply is posted I get the redirect?

 

[Karsten75]

Hmm.. the plot thickens..