Wikipedia - "Media Viewer" - WTF??

Barryng · Jun 20, 2014

Last week I did a clean install. As usual I am ultra careful what gets installed and almost immediately installed ESET Smart Security and Malwarebytes.

Now, when using Wikipedia and viewing a photograph, the photograph appears in a funky window described as "Wikimedia Media Viewer". What is this piece of crap, where did it come from, why doesn't Malwarebytes see it as an unwanted piece of software, and how do I get rid of it?

Help would be appreciated.

ihrsetrdr · Jun 20, 2014

I'm using Chrome and not seeing it, but there is some information on what it is, how it works, and how to turn it off, if desired:

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Multimedia/Media_Viewer#How_can_I_turn_off_this_feature.3F

Barryng · Jun 20, 2014

Thanks, that worked to disable it so the immediate problem is solved. I am somewhat embarrassed because I looked for that control and just did not see it.

Unfortunately, what I assume to be malware is still resident and I obviously want to totally cleanse it. I also want to know how it got installed so I do not make the same mistake in the future.

Automata · Jun 20, 2014

If it looks like this, then nothing was installed. It is part of the web page.

:facepalm:

Barryng · Jun 21, 2014

thideras said:
If it looks like this, then nothing was installed. It is part of the web page.

Thanks.

I just checked two other computers and you are correct, the same thing occurs on both of them.

Is this an unannounced change Wikipedia made?

It certainly looks like malware to me especially because the entity behind it uses a name so similar to Wikipedia (Wikimedia vs. Wikipedia). That smells like it was intentionally designed to be mistaken for the well known Wikipedia. It also appeared without any warning.

Automata · Jun 21, 2014

The change is new to me. I didn't even know about it until you mentioned it, and I use Wikipedia fairly often.

Bobnova · Jun 21, 2014

Wikimedia is the company that wrote MediaWiki and owns/operates Wikipedia, which runs on Mediawiki, the software package Wikipedia uses.

I haven't seen the player thing yet though, that's odd.

Automata · Jun 21, 2014

If you have NoScript enabled, unblocking Wiki does not show the window. I had to open in Chrome to see what he was referencing.

Bobnova · Jun 21, 2014

That'd explain it. It never occurred to me to unblock wiki in the first place.

Wikipedia - "Media Viewer" - WTF??

Barryng

Member

ihrsetrdr

Señor Senior Member

Barryng

Member

Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

Barryng

Member

Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

Bobnova

Senior Member

Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

Bobnova

Senior Member

Similar threads