Betfred flash ad causes 99% CPU usage

[F.]

Originally Posted by Dean@Betfred

Hi All,

Just noticed this thread, just wanted to say, that this is not a flash ad it is a very standard gif ad, the weight is 17k.

I will certainly look into this for you though :-)

Hello,

I originally reported this problem. I haven't seen the ad for several days now but I'm almost sure it was a flash ad. I'm a teche guy, I usually right click on the ads to make sure it was indeed created with flash. Please note that the pic I posted is just a screenshot of the ad, *not* the ad itself. Finally, it was a vertical scrolling ad, and that kind of ad is usually created with flash.

Thanks for your involvement though


F.

[F.]

Originally Posted by Martyn@BF

What spec PC are you running? If its one of them Spectrum 128k's then you will have issues!

Specs aren't the issue: it happened in a 3.4 GHz AMD Athlon with 2GB RAM


F.

[Trilobite]

The Betfred ad is a gif file, but it is served from connextra.com.

[Blade]

As with F. I don't think specs are an issue as I have a more than adequate PC.

I can't say whether or not the ad was flash based as I never checked but it was the one that scolled the odds of matches. Since moving to the static picture ad, there has been no problem.

I also made sure that it was definately the betfred one that caused the problem before I posted by refreshing many, many times to cycle through the ads and checking my cpu level at each point. The BF ad consistently sent my CPU to 100% on both firefox and I.E.

hope this helps

[Trilobite]

Well i don't use firefox or I.E, so i cant comment on those, however, i cant see how a simple Gif file ( of average size ) could consume so many cpu cycles ?

[Blade]

no idea either and unfortunately you can't see it happening now as the ads have changed to the static or horizontal scrolling one and it was the vertical ad that caused the problem.

[F.]

Originally Posted by Trilobite

Well i don't use firefox or I.E, so i cant comment on those, however, i cant see how a simple Gif file ( of average size ) could consume so many cpu cycles ?

Hi, I think I figured it out. There's a similar ad now and I noticed conextra uses a .gif image as a background and javascript code to provide the scrolling odds. Therefore it is a faulty piece of javascript code what caused the 99% CPU usage I have seen it before.

BTW, this new ad does not cause me any problem whatsoever.


F.

[Blade]

It's back again As soon as the page loads with this ad on, CPU goes straight to 100% making the whole comp sluggish. I've tested it on 3 different pcs, both IE and Firefox and all show the same behaviour.

Offending ad (odds scroll upwards):



Please fix it!

[F.]

Originally Posted by Blade

It's back again As soon as the page loads with this ad on, CPU goes straight to 100% making the whole comp sluggish. I've tested it on 3 different pcs, both IE and Firefox and all show the same behaviour.

I noticed it too and finally got fed up. Try a program called Ad Muncher and your Internet browsing will be much faster (including this forum)


F.

[Trilobite]

If its affecting anyone too badly, there might be a solution that is free, its the Windows Hosts file.

Some info here for people not aware of Windows Hosts file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

[Dean@Betfred]

Hi Guys,

Given that i am the one who builds the ads i can assure you that it is a very light weight gif file, it appears there is an error in the javascript coding. I have now deleted this ad from rotation so you will never see it again.

Hope this helps you all!

Cheers,

Dean @ Betfred Affiliates (Statto to Paul Ross)