Wikipedia Warns of Malware Injecting Ads on Pages

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]warezme[/nom]people are idiots,IT question: whats wrong?person: my computer is slow.IT question: how long have you noticed it slow?person: i don't knowIT question: I see you have a lot of pop ups on your browser, how long have you had that?person: i don't know, awhile I guessIT question: You have lots of toolbars on your browser, do you use or need these?person: no, I don't know what they are for? can you take them off?IT (thinks inside, ... your an idiot)[/citation]

That IT person is being an asshole. There's a distinct difference between not being computer savvy and being an idiot. Sure, many of them might be and probably are idiots, but just because someone does not know much about computers is not grounds for insulting them, even if you aren't saying it to them. Would I be an idiot if I use a car, it breaks down, and I don't know how to fix it? No, that's why we have auto mechanics. Same deal here.

 

[classzero]

[citation][nom]Hellbound[/nom]I'm glad I have adblock plus..[/citation]
Great, you may still be infected and just not see the ads.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]classzero[/nom]Great, you may still be infected and just not see the ads.[/citation]

That's what anti-malware programs are for; getting rid of malware infections (or more accurately, they seem to be more oriented at preventing malware infections, but you get the point)

 

[eddieroolz]

I commend Wikipedia for not bowing to advertisements but they are also one of the most biased sites that is in popular culture - at least, the way I see it.

 

[alphaalphaalpha]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]I commend Wikipedia for not bowing to advertisements but they are also one of the most biased sites that is in popular culture - at least, the way I see it.[/citation]

Biased towards what?

 

[aaron88_7]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]That's what anti-malware programs are for; getting rid of malware infections (or more accurately, they seem to be more oriented at preventing malware infections, but you get the point)[/citation]
Anti-virus and Anti-malware programs shouldn't be relied upon to stop infections, they aren't good at stopping 0 day viruses. Not saying they shouldn't be used, they absolutely should, but prevention is key.

I'm really surprised nobody else is mentioning Sandboxie - it puts your browser into a virtual box so if you run across a drive by virus on a site, like what is mentioned in this article, you should still be safe. It's not as good as running a completely virtual system, but it's as close as you'll get and relatively simple to use. You can still use Adblock, Noscript, or whatever other add-ons you have for your browser to increase protection, but if those don't stop a virus Sandboxie most likely will.

 

[freggo]

Why can we not simply punish the companies who's products/services are being advertised.
They obviously pay someone for posting these illegal ads so let them find out which of their Affiliates is doing it. Easy to do as all you need to do is imbed a digital finger print into the ad graphic to trace back thru which account it was posted.