91–100 of 156 posts
I see it as stealing the ad revenue from the content creator(which is often Google), which is the same as using adblock.
(the extension mentioned that ads were being used and you could also disable them)
I googled for "Open Office download" on a family's computer and went with the first download -- download.com or cnet, I think. It downloaded very fast and I thought "well, maybe it's just an initializer that torrents the rest". NOPE. Within 30 seconds of the installer, it prompted to install an ad-bar in the browser. I quickly closed and researched for the official site. It was scary, being a technical professional,…
If you turn on CSP reporting for your web-site you'll see a LOT of reports about attempted script injection into your site. When you research it you'll find that these come from malware/extensions which are pushing ad content and other nonsense.
I remember trying to track down a bug a few users reported, and I finally discovered that the users all had a specific piece of malware that replaced the javascript setTimeout function with a version that only took two arguments, which caused my code to break in frustratingly subtle and mystifying ways.
Well maybe they should stop allowing download sites that offer ad infected downloads to buy the top spots on the google search results page? https://i.imgur.com/Ote9c2k.png Adwords is probably one of the main infection vectors for malware these days. Previous rant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8879229
Your rant is outdated. This is what "download firefox" looks like now: http://i.imgur.com/dG7wONC.png
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And what is stopping them from having the placeholders a specific size, instead of expanding them when the javascript finally loads/starts up? If that sort of thing was unfeasible to do then fine, I'll give you your point. But they have no excuse. So they're either just too lazy to do it properly (and enjoy the nice mis-clicks on ads) or they just like the mis-clicks on ads and did it purposefully.
I'm not familiar with the systems, but I imagine that not knowing the eventual size of the ad would prohibit that. Or the fact that you'd have to have the user insert some HTML alongside your currently very simple entry.
Well maybe they should stop allowing download sites that offer ad infected downloads to buy the top spots on the google search results page? https://i.imgur.com/Ote9c2k.png Adwords is probably one of the main infection vectors for malware these days. Previous rant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8879229
You can't trust anybody except for open source repositories. The easiest way to get such trash on your computer is installing software from a commercial vendor. Oracle is one major source of headache, if you aren't careful you'll find your 'java' install also gives you a severe case of malware/crapware. There are whole companies dedicated to this concept of piggy-backing junk.
The Linux model: you install software from repositories curated by people you trust - distribution maintainers. No viruses, no bundled adware, just simple no-bullshit software repositories. I have a hard time understanding why techies continue to put up with Windows and OSX.
I don't know where Trafficvance gets their traffic but it seems to be pop-over ads probably from some installed software. DirectCPV seems to be interstitial ads that the sites actually choose to use (think big news sites with an ad before you read the article). Most of them seem to be spyware/crapware driven. Those are the only two I've worked with in the past so I can't speak on the others.
I googled for "Open Office download" on a family's computer and went with the first download -- download.com or cnet, I think. It downloaded very fast and I thought "well, maybe it's just an initializer that torrents the rest". NOPE. Within 30 seconds of the installer, it prompted to install an ad-bar in the browser. I quickly closed and researched for the official site. It was scary, being a technical professional,…
This is fundamentally Microsoft's fault. The shareware culture of Windows is insanely insecure these days. Any sane operating system should have a packet manager, with all the software you could want included, and nothing you don't.
I think this issue must be solved on a regulatory level, i.e. Google (and Bing!) should be punished for providing malware links (and the actual providers of course).
I googled for "Open Office download" on a family's computer and went with the first download -- download.com or cnet, I think. It downloaded very fast and I thought "well, maybe it's just an initializer that torrents the rest". NOPE. Within 30 seconds of the installer, it prompted to install an ad-bar in the browser. I quickly closed and researched for the official site. It was scary, being a technical professional,…
This is fundamentally Microsoft's fault. The shareware culture of Windows is insanely insecure these days. Any sane operating system should have a packet manager, with all the software you could want included, and nothing you don't.