Well, fortunately, I never click the "Ad" sponsored links and most of the time I don't see them anyways (uBlock). That doesn't help the other 90% of users online though.
Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
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Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#12I can’t replicate this. Maybe it’s because I’m logged into Google when I search?
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#13Google's search product has become a shadow of its former self. Every year it seems harder to find what I'm looking for. The top half of the first search result page is now (potentially malicious) ads, and what follows is likely SEO spam. I need to add "reddit" or "stackoverflow" to half my searches these days so I'm not served nearly useless results. It's a sad decline from 10+ years ago when I'd type a half-formed…
They pretty much lost the war against content farms already. I'm not sure the content indexing & crawling model they have is even adapted to the current web.
What makes you think they ever waged a war? I never saw any indication.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#14All the more reason to use an adblocker. Online ads are the most common way that malware gets injected into otherwise trustworthy websites.
Yeah! I recall discovering recently my father had a coin miner malware on his laptop, which had been acting slow for a while (a year).
Upon discovery, my mother gave him some hard side-eye. But I explained the whole malvertising thing, and that seemed to placate her.
Don't get me wrong; he probably was looking at naughty pictures. But I actually think he's more likely to have gotten that from a legit site.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#15Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".
Yeah, I love Ars, but Dan is definitely their weakest writer. The article is about scammers buying ad space on google to rank their malware above the legitimate google search results. Installing an ad blocker is a great solution.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#16One solution is ad transparency and have company verifies details in all advertisiments. Facebook already does this for political ads AFAIK.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#17Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".
>Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".
I think the reality is more like "when you search for software on Google do not use links in the ads that you get at top of the results".
Though of course there may well be "normal" results leading to shady sites, the issue talked about is related to advertisement results.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
They pretty much lost the war against content farms already. I'm not sure the content indexing & crawling model they have is even adapted to the current web.
What makes you think they ever waged a war? I never saw any indication.
Well, there were algorithm changes like Panda 12 years ago...
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#19Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".
Yeah, I love Ars, but Dan is definitely their weakest writer. The article is about scammers buying ad space on google to rank their malware above the legitimate google search results. Installing an ad blocker is a great solution.
Typical ad blockers surely don’t filter out Google search results.
Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software
#20Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".
>Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download". I think the reality is more like "when you search for software on Google do not use links in the ads that you get at top of the results". Though of course there may well be "normal" results leading to shady sites, the issue talked about is related to advertisement results.
or shorter: "use an adblocker"