I wrote this article to help you remove Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics Referral Spam. This Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics Referral Spam removal guide works for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Motherboard.vice.com is a corrupted website, used to generate referral spam in the Google Analytics portal. Since this service is widely used by companies, the activity of the rogue program leads to a lot of inconveniences. Security experts have not placed the malware behind the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam into a specific category. This is because they have not been able to isolate and observe the software. The good news about the program is that it does not pose a security threat to your system and your personal data. The bad news is that its activity will disrupt your work and ruin the Google Analytics service for you by filling your account with useless information.
What is the agenda of the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam?
As the term suggests, referral spam aims to direct users’ attention to a specific topic. In this instance, the spammer wishes to voice his approval of the President-elect of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump. In essence, the actions of the malware are not a severe criminal offense. This may be the reason why the person responsible has decided to reveal his identity. Vitaly Popov is the author of the malware behind the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam. He is a developer and IT expert from Russia. The intrusive content the rogue program displays is not harmful. This kind of unwanted data flow is called ghost spam.
Ghost spam is generated to conduct advertising campaigns, just like regular spam. The difference is that ghost spam promotes websites which have had questionable traffic. The Google Analytics portal will show you that the sessions do not account for a certain amount of time. You will also notice they have a very high bounce rate. The purpose is to spark users’ interest and get them to visit the listed websites in question. The purpose of the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam is to generate traffic.
According to Mr. Popov, the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam has two main purposes. The first agenda of the malware is to pay tribute to the President-elect Donald Trump. The developer explained that he shares and supports Mr. Trump’s political stance. The reason for targeting the Google Analytics service is because he has a grudge against the platform. Mr. Popov recalls that years ago Google blocked his account on Adsense, the company’s supported advertising system. He stated that he wants to exact revenge on Google.
To reach his goal, the developer created a program to compromise the most advanced service Google has to offer. The Motherboard.vice.com referral spam has a negative effect on the Google Analytics portal. It also affects end users in more than one way. The obvious issue is that you will be unable to use the function. Another problem is the load the malware places on the operating system (OS). The activity of the clandestine program takes its toll on the computer’s memory. It uses up a lot of CPU to conduct its tasks. This will make your machine slow and unable to complete difficult processes.
How is the malware behind the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam distributed?
Since the malware targets the Google Analytics service, the affected branch is situated within the host domain. Security experts cannot identify its source. The good news is that your machine has not been infected. You do not need to be concerned about your computer. To block the Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics referral spam, you have to edit the code of a certain file, located inside your device.
Motherboard.vice.com Google Analytics Referral Spam Removal Guide
Step 1. Enter your Control Panel
Step 2. Go to the File Manager
Step 3. Mark the check-box Document Root for [your website]
Step 4. Select the option Show hidden Files
Step 5. Press Go
Step 6. Find the file .htaccess using your search wizard
Step 7. Right-click on it
Step 8. Choose the Code Edit option
Step 9. Enter the following code string:
## SITE REFERRER BANNING
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Motherboard.vice.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Motherboard.vice.com
RewriteRule .* – [F]
Step 10. Click Save Changes to complete the process
