It's not spyware, grasshopper. It's a tricky pop-up / pop-under / redirect that is embedded in something (Flash, another script, etc) so it can get past pop-up blockers. That's different from spyware.
Here's why. First of all, it's not even technically
spyware behavior you're describing. Spyware doesn't redirect you to websites. Spyware gathers information about you and sends it back to some server somewhere without you knowing it. This is, or rather,
could be,
adware. Adware causes websites to open in your browser without any precipitating action from you.
But you're only seeing them when you go to sites that have ads. This is a sure hint that adware is not involved. If you've ever seen adware on a Windows computer, it's so much worse. You can go to sites that have no advertising whatsoever (like a university's website or a federal government website) and you will still get pop-ups or redirects.
That is adware.
Now then, you don't have adware. You do have a source of pop-ups your browser cannot handle. Here are some options if you want to get rid of it:
1) Safari and Firefox: You can use a userContent.css file that eliminates contents from casalemedia (e.g. the one at
http://floppymoose.org ).
2) Safari and Firefox: You should make sure you're using Flash 9 -- Flash 8 was much more susceptible to this.
3) Safari: You can use PithHelmet (google it) to control this kind of content
4) Firefox: You can use Adblock to control this kind of content.
But if you're getting redirects from Macrumors itself, you should send a message to Arn or to the moderators. Arn uses ads, but generally chooses ones that aren't nasty in nature. Usually if he knows that there's an ad in his rotation that causes redirects or pop-ups, he will ask that it be removed from the rotation and replaced with something else.
