Browser redirect to mc.yandec.com

• Nov 18, 2020 - 21:42

Hello,

I had the experience of completely uninstalling and then re-installing MuseScore 3.5.2 under Windows 10. On the second installation I found that when MuseScore opened, my system browser (Chromium Edge) would open to a URL at mc.yandex.com, which would never actually load. I determined this was related to the Start Center. Modifying my preferences so the Start Center didn't run at startup fixed it, and manually selecting the Start Center from the menu opened the browser.

Now the interesting part. I went ahead and did a complete uninstallation (including the folders under AppData in my user directory). Then I did another installation, but as I had in my very first installation, I opted to run the tours. Now no opening the system browser to mc.yandex.com. Then, after opting to stop seeing the tours, they were gone and the Start Center still didn't do the redirect.

So it appears the problem only occurs if I do an install and opt out of the tours during the initial program setup. Leaving the tours option on at this point, and then removing it later, works fine.

It's a minor issue, but I would assume it would be easy to fix as well.

Dave

Comments

• Nov 27, 2020 - 05:04

I've never heard of this happening, can you provide more info? Like what URl, exactly? The start center normally opens a page http://connect2.musescore.com/, but this happens within the start center itself, not using your system browser. I guess if a firewall or some other setting gets in the way of this loading in the start center, maybe on some systems the system browser might somehow be invoked, but again, I've never heard of this happening, and there are literally millions of MuseScore on Windows. Anything unusual about your browser configuration?

mc.yandex.ru, btw, is an analytics site, it's referenced during the load of any page on this site (check this page's HTML source for example).

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• Nov 27, 2020 - 08:27

Ok, you will think I'm nuts, and perhaps I am, but I did the uninstall/reinstall dance again and I can't get the browser redirect to occur at all. The precise URL was:

https://mc.yandex.com/metrika/watch_match.html

Maybe some kind of spam attached to my system and has now been cleared by my antivirus. I swear this was happening every time the Start Center opened, either automatically when starting MuseScore or when invoking it from the File menu.

I knew from other posts in the forum about the "sub rosa" call to mc.yandex.ru for analytics, and that wasn't what was bothering me at all. The watch_match.html URL was opening either in a new browser window if there was no browser running, or a new tab if there was. Reboots or clearing out my task list didn't help, and I don't have a firewall or proxy, or odd network settings.

I'm going to chalk it up to some weird malware that got on my system, unrelated to MuseScore, and hijacked or piggy backed on the legitimate web calls made by the Start Center. Now it is gone.

Sorry to have bothered you. Great software, by the way.

Dave

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• Nov 27, 2020 - 17:28

No worries! I certainly believe you that it happened. That is a site referenced by the site loaded into the start center, so it can't be coincidence. But that shouldn't normally have resulted in your browser getting involved. Would be interesting to discover what that was in case it ever happens to anyone else so we can advise them better. Meanwhile, though, I'm glad it seems to have fixed itself for you!

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• Jun 2, 2022 - 16:26

Not sure what Firefox is doing wrong to make that happen - worth reporting to them - but as noted, it's normal that on startup, MuseScore displays a web page in its own internal browser window, and that this involves a connection to that site. That's normal. It's not normal for Firefox to somehow intercept this and try to open the page itself.

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• Mar 20, 2023 - 22:57

Not at all. As explained numerous times already, it's just a metrics system used for the web view within the Start center. It's similar to Google Analytics; most websites use something like this. It shouldn't be triggering your browser to open a new window, but different browsers and different security settings might be involved to make the browser itself get involved occasionally on some systems. It's nothing to be concerned with, but you could check your browser settings to see if there is a way to prevent it from opening itself every time another program attempts to open a given website.

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• Mar 21, 2023 - 07:06

Thanks Marc. I have removed the start center to prevent it. What I found alarming about it was (a) I have been using Musescore for more than 2 years on Windows 10, with Chrome as my default browser, and never had it occur until yesterday evening - in the middle of a session using Musescore, (b) no other app has ever displayed similar symptoms, and (c) an unexpected web page loading from a .ru domain name with the text "match" in the URL genuinely gave me the impression that my Musescore file or the app had been hijacked by a virus or spammy dating website. It really did alarm me to the extent that I ran a quick virus scan, a scan of the Musescore folder, and rebooted my PC. Why am I telling you all this? As a great fan of Musescore it alarmed me, but I had a level of trust that made me check it out further. However, if I had recently downloaded Musescore for the first time and saw this, I would have run a mile and not touched it again. So while it may have been caused outside Musescore, is there nothing that can be done within it to prevent it happening to others? As I said, I have never seen it from any other application. Many thanks for everything that you and the Musescore team do.

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• Mar 21, 2023 - 14:52

I don't have a lot of insight into how browsers work or how other programs can workaround their bugs or undesired behaviors, but perhaps someone else might have some insight. As far as I know this only happens with MuseScore 3, which of course is now obsolete and won't receive further updates, and new users won't be downloading it so that concern is kind of moot. But if this is ever found to occur with MuseScore 4, then I'm sure workarounds will be investigated.

For the record, Chrome auto-updates every few weeks, and your OS probably auto-updates as well. Plus the "wiring" of internet itself changes over time - the specific path by which you reach any given website via DNS servers etc. So any of those things could have changed.

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• Aug 27, 2022 - 13:59

Probably then some setting on your browser or on your system has changed more recently, because MuseScore hasn't. Your browser shouldn't automatically try to take over all links opened by other programs, but if yours now is, presumably the browser or systems has changed its behavior (either via a recent update or via a setting you made) to do so. You might search the support forums for your browser or OS to learn is there is a way to disable that.

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• Aug 27, 2022 - 17:15

Could be, but still, it should be impossible for any website to force a browser to open unless the system is set to do this automatically somehow. And since this doesn't happen for anyone else, it seems unlikely to be anything in the default settings for any common operating systems or browsers.

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• Sep 2, 2022 - 04:16

Could be that somehow triggered a bug in your browser, or caused a setting made in your browser to take effect, but again, browsers should not do this by default, and they don't seem to for anyone else, so one way or another, there is probably a way to disable that on your browser.

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• Oct 26, 2022 - 11:27

I have started experiencing this problem just a moment ago and found a solution (for Windows).

  1. Open Explorer

  2. Navigate to 'This PC', and from 'Search This PC', search 'musescore'.

  3. Delete everything that is musescore, or under musescore-related directory. *I have found, though, that deleting scores folder/soundfonts folder are not necessary, so you'd like to move scores folder & Soundfonts folder outside musescore folder before you start deleting.

Reinstall musescore. Repairing through musescore installer, or normally reinstalling musescore clearly does not help.
Have fun with Musescore!

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• Oct 26, 2022 - 13:48

I am glad this seemed to work for you, but I suspect it's just coincidence. MuseScore does contact that analytics site as part of its normal access of musescore.com for the Start Center. Occasionally some web browsers apparently happen to intercept that access, not sure why. I've seen it happen myself maybe twice in the past 1000 times or so I've started MsueScore. But if it happens once or twice, it can probably happen again, even if you delete files.

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• Dec 27, 2023 - 20:18

Jumping into the middle of this conversation (sorry) it happened to me for the first time today.

I don't LIKE not having the start center. It allows me to open recent scores regardless of what folder they are in and saves a lot of time clicking around. Please provide another solution. I have updated neither the OS nor Musescore in the last few days. By the way, empty looking web pages CAN be downloading dangerous files. And WHATEVER method Musescore is using (I noticed you didn't say) DOES in fact invite the OS to engage in general processing of the URL. Unless Musescore uses raw socket connections, which is very tedious, it opens itself to invasion by opening this URL.

Yandex is alarming because of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the level of cyberattacks involved in this war, and that the U.S. is supplying arms and Russia has declared the U.S. to be involved in the war. Musescore should be modified to NOT REFERENCE websites in foreign enemy territory. And Musescore THREE should be updated because a LOT of us don't like 4 and still use 3 exclusively (sorry again, but that's the breaks of updating stuff without asking users, and when you get a lot of users they won't all agree).

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• Dec 27, 2023 - 21:32

Wars are between governments, not between websites. The fact that Yandex happens to be based in a country that is at war is no more relevant than the fact that, say, Google is in the US which has been involved in numerous wars over the past few decades. Websites are not responsible for the actions of the government of the countries they happen to be based in.

In any case, I don’t believe MuseScore has used Yandex for at least a year now. Not sure what specifically is preventing you from using the current most bug-free and feature-filled version, but whatever advantage you are finding, Yandex is part of what you are signing up for.

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• Dec 28, 2023 - 05:19

Marc, I found the synth sound terrible in Musescore 4. I did not see any option to default it to something similar to 3. I am totally not interested in programming synths. So I booted it. If you have a SIMPLE solution, I'm interested. But I will not spend a lot of time on it. My time is my own now that I'm retired from 45 years with NASA.

I would prefer software I use not to open any websites in any way that allows general browser functionality. Any website in any country can be compromised at any time. A blank page like that is very common when the website is downloading a file.

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• Dec 28, 2023 - 13:49

I'm not sure what which synth sound you mean (one of the sounds for sine wave or sawtooth wave or something like that?), but the basic soundfont did not change between 3 & 4 except in name (MuseScore General renamed to MS Basic). On the other hand there is also an optional but (vastly* superior new sound library for orchestral music available for MuseScore 4 (Muse Sounds), plus support for third party VST instruments - none of which was possible in MuseScore 3. And neither the soundfonts nor Muse Sounds requires "programming" of any kind, so I'm not understanding what you are referring to. Can you be more specific about what sound you didn't like, and what you didn't like about it? Could be a simple misunderstanding.

Anyhow, as for using browsers - presumably if your browser is currently intercepting an applications own calls to reference a website, there is a setting in that browser to disable this But if you wish for MuseScore itself to not reference the website, disabling the Start Center, or updating to a more modern version of MuseScore, is the way to go. So, plenty of options to choose from.

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• Dec 28, 2023 - 19:04

Thank you for your reply. Let me restrict my response to the sound, which is more likely to be in our control (and would solve the other problem). Doing arrangements is very time consuming, and as long as the sound is "good enough" to evaluate harmonies or use as a practice track, maybe even if it is not so good, I won't spend any additional time on it. However, without exception, when I played back my existing arrangements in MS4, they sounded so bad it was irritating. This was some time ago. The advice I got was to tweak various parameters on each sound. I looked at this and it was too complicated for words. I'm sure you are aware of the problem because your name frequently pops up in posts I found today, such as this one. https://musescore.org/en/node/338603 . When I read this post, I do not understand many of the offered fixes. I certainly don't want anything I have to do for each score. I want to just have it use the same sounds as MS3 unless I tell it otherwise.

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• Dec 28, 2023 - 20:02

By default, your score should sound either identical to MU3 or else incredibly, breathtakingly better (if writing for orchestral instruments or guitars using the amazing Muse Sounds package). If you are experiencing something different from this with one of your scores, please start a new thread and attach the score you are having trouble with and explain where the issue is (which synthesizer instrument sounds different than you expect and in what way). Also say what OS you are on in case that turns out to be relevant.

The thread you link to has nothing at all to do with problems in the default sound - it has to do with what options exist to change the default sound. Originally, MuseScore 4 provided some amazing new options that never existed before, but also removed some of the options that previously existed. With MuseScore 4, those legacy options are now back. So again, none of this has anything to do with the default sound, which should be excellent to incredible. But if you were actually talking about the limitations in how you can change from the default sounds for whatever reason, that limitation is gone.

Once again, if you need help with any of this, just start a new thread and attach your score and describe the problem in more detail. MuseScore 4 should have vastly improved default playback, and if something is going on with one of your scores or in your system settings to prevent that, we certainly want to help!

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• Jan 21, 2023 - 14:56

This now happening to me as well. Started just this morning - Jan. 21, 2023. I am using MuseScore 3.6.2 and Chrome on Windows 10. Is there a simple way to block this, either in Chrome or MuseScore? Thanks.

Qehn

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• Aug 13, 2023 - 16:11

This has been happening to me, off and on for months, or longer. It has happened again just now. I find it alarming, and I am not reassured by assertions that it has nothing to do with MuseScore: it happens only when I open MuseScore. If it really is a non-issue then surely it should not be such a big deal to eliminate it. I have had a website I owned badly hacked, and have been the recipient of credible material that turned out to be scams: I now mistrust anything that does not behave as intended. The sudden appearance of a blank web page with a domain address in Russia (https://mc.yandex.ru/metrika/metrika_match.html) is far from welcome even if it does not constitute a genuine threat.

My version of MuseScore is 3.6.2.54802... but the occasional appearance of the offending webpage precedes this version. I downloaded MuseScore 4 when it was first released, and watched all the videos with excitement, but the sequencer was far from ready for use.

Almost the entirety of my music compositional output is thanks to MuseScore, and my gratitude to the program and all who maintain and develop it is considerable.

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• Aug 13, 2023 - 18:21

Of course it has something to do with MuseScore - it is trying to open a web page on msuescore.com, and musescore uses analytics from Yandex. No one is saying otherwise. What we are trying to point out is that there is nothing unusual about a web site accessing analytics, whether from Yandex or Google or wherever. The fact that some browsers for whatever reason intercept the access from within MuseScore and choose to open their own page is presumably the result of something configured incorrectly on the system.

FWIW, no version MuseScore has ever had a sequencer - and I'm not expecting one any time soon. But assuming you care about the appearance and sound of your score, definitely you should be using MuseScore 4.

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• Aug 13, 2023 - 19:43

Marc, thank you for your swift response to my comment. My purpose was not to annoy, but to express anxiety. Your response has helped me to recognise that the start centre is actually attempting to access a website, even though I did not know this, not least because I have no intention of accessing the internet when opening MuseScore. Neither was I aware that MuseScore intentionally contacts Yandex for its analytical data. Had I known and understood these two things, I should have been rather less alarmed.

Please forgive me for referring to the MuseScore the score playback facility as a sequencer. I was attempting to use the correct terminology, but clearly failed. I care deeply about how my scores sound. Having downloaded MuseScore 4, I played a few of my existing scores using the score playback facility. They sounded utterly dreadful, which was more than a little dispiriting. I was unsure whether what I was hearing was because of the poor quality of my composition, the poor quality being exposed by the new version of MuseScore, or because the new score playback facility was incomplete in some respect. So I scurried back to MuseScore 3 in which my compositions sounded how I expected them to sound.

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• Aug 14, 2023 - 13:58

Glad to hear the response helped!

As for the sound, the playback should be absolutely amazingly incredibly better than MU3 by default so if you have a score where that's not the case, best to start a new thread and attach it so we can check it out and understand and assist better. But even if some unique attribute of that particular score is such that Muse Sounds is not a good choice, no need to revert all the way back to MU3 - just switch to MS Basic for that score and then the sound should be identical to the MU3 default. And you'll still be able to take advantage of the vastly improved engraving and other new features and usability improvements.

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• May 20, 2024 - 02:39

I know this is an old thread, but this exact thing happened to me. I opened up musescore 3 which I've had installed for over a year and never had this happen, and immediately google chrome opened a new tab to "mc.yandex.com/metrika/metrika_match.html" but it was just a white page. I googled to see what this was and I found this.

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• Aug 3, 2024 - 23:32

Happened to me now as well for the first time and I've been using MS daily for years.
I didn't even realize MuseScore caused it, I Googled it and it got me here, apparently it's a MS specific problem.
I did find this site though, https://www.joesandbox.com/analysis/566887/0/html
It's a sandbox and to my limited understanding of computers it seems to say that yandex.com.metrika is clean and not malware.
However my UBlock Origin prevents the page from loading because it's on some EasyPrivacy list.
Am I understanding correctly that yandex.com.metrika is the default part of MuseScore, so to speak, and that this process was probably happening before but only now it became visible ?
In that case I guess nothing to worry about but it still makes me uncomfortable, the only virus I've ever gotten was some Russian redirect.
I'll run some antivirus and see what happens.

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• Aug 22, 2024 - 17:04

Happened to me to today twice in a row. Closed MS, re-opened, happened again.

Has never happened before in 5+ years of using MS. Running Musescore 3.6.2

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