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Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

arstechnica.com

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Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#31

Post by Loughla »

GavinAnderegg wrote: post #2

Google'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…

Every google search has to have either "+reddit" or "+stackoverflow" depending on what I'm trying to accomplish.

And EVERY search for products needs to say "-pinterest".

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#32

Post by capableweb »

coldpie wrote: post #28
rcthompson wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except when they do the thing where the real search results appear first, but then the ad pops in a split second later under your mouse right before you click.

Please install an ad blocker.

Google shifts the content themselves as well sometimes, leading to misclicks. Try searching for "google chrome", click the link to "apps.apple.com", go backwards and try to quickly press the link below what you clicked on before, Google will scroll down a little "People also searched for" box that will surely be exactly where you wanted to click.

This has frustrated me so many times, although its not really related to ads.

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#33

Post by tech234a »

vehemenz wrote: post #29

It boggles my mind that neither macOS nor Windows has an official, comprehensive package manager. Sometimes the only way to get software is to download binaries from a Google search like it's 2003. On macOS, 90% of what you'd ever need is on Homebrew—this is more or less a solved problem—but it's still unofficial and Apple promotes their pointless App Store instead. In Windows land, the unofficial package managers ar…

Windows has winget built in.

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#34

Post by arthurofcharn »

Google was once considered trustworthy. It never was, but we thought it trustworthy. Where can you find a trustworthy source for software? Depends on your platform. Linux: Your package manager. In my case, apt. Mac: Apple has an app store of its own. Use that, or one of the BSD package management systems ported over. Ios: Apple app store is decently curated. Android: Google's app store is terribly curated. Give up now. Windows: Nobody uses whatever app store or package management system that microsoft developed. A third party developed a useful package management system. It is called Steam. Other platforms: see replies below.

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#35

Post by jaclaz »

tedivm wrote: post #7

The malvertisement thing has become real bad. The other day I had a problem so I used chrome, where I unfortunately hadn't installed an add blocker yet. I searched for my bank (I know, I should have put the URL in directly, but I was being lazy since it was a new chrome install and I didn't have the url in my history yet). I hit the first link, logged in (my password manager would have saved me here, but again it was…

And you are young enough and tech-savvy enough to know about all these mechanisms, you made a mistake because you were in a hurry or distracted.

Think of how many people (older and/or not technically proficient) fall in this same trap everyday.

Since ads are paid for (and an invoice is made for the payment), google could well verify the id of the people placing the ad and the correspondence with the "real" organization/website.

They send postcards with a code to verify addresses/titolarity for google business profiles:

https://support.google.com/business/answer/4588357?hl=en

and they don't double and triple check ads for banks and similar?

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#36

Post by haunter »

vehemenz wrote: post #29

It boggles my mind that neither macOS nor Windows has an official, comprehensive package manager. Sometimes the only way to get software is to download binaries from a Google search like it's 2003. On macOS, 90% of what you'd ever need is on Homebrew—this is more or less a solved problem—but it's still unofficial and Apple promotes their pointless App Store instead. In Windows land, the unofficial package managers ar…

Windows does

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Package_Manager

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/wi...

And if not official then you can always use Chocolatey https://chocolatey.org/

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#37

Post by vehemenz »

haunter wrote: post #36
vehemenz wrote: post #29

It boggles my mind that neither macOS nor Windows has an official, comprehensive package manager. Sometimes the only way to get software is to download binaries from a Google search like it's 2003. On macOS, 90% of what you'd ever need is on Homebrew—this is more or less a solved problem—but it's still unofficial and Apple promotes their pointless App Store instead. In Windows land, the unofficial package managers ar…

Windows does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Package_Manager https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/wi... And if not official then you can always use Chocolatey https://chocolatey.org/

How many packages are on Microsoft's official repository? Where can I see a list?

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#39

Post by grishka »

GavinAnderegg wrote: post #2

Google'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…

It's gotten so bad that there's now an ad blocker filter list that removes the StackOverflow clones from search results.

Re: Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

#40

Post by vehemenz »

tech234a wrote: post #33
vehemenz wrote: post #29

It boggles my mind that neither macOS nor Windows has an official, comprehensive package manager. Sometimes the only way to get software is to download binaries from a Google search like it's 2003. On macOS, 90% of what you'd ever need is on Homebrew—this is more or less a solved problem—but it's still unofficial and Apple promotes their pointless App Store instead. In Windows land, the unofficial package managers ar…

Windows has winget built in.

They allow anyone to submit to the repository with minimal vetting, and the package selection is inferior compared to Homebrew. Maybe we have different ideas about what "official" and "comprehensive" mean.
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