+1 (Off-Topic)

by stabbim , Des Moines, IA, USA, Thursday, June 23, 2016, 02:20 (3079 days ago) @ cheapLEY

Completely agree with all of this. If everyone did little text blocks, I genuinely would not care. But these almost full-page ads full of rich content are just ridiculous. And seriously, who the hell is it that thinks auto-playing videos are going to win me over?

And by the way, it's not just a matter of annoyance. The way ads are structured in most places means that it's possible, if someone hijacks the ad provider, to get malicious code into legitimate, high-traffic websites. It's known as malvertising, and it happens more often than you might think. There was a pretty big one a couple of months ago. If you're running without an ad blocker, you're exposing yourself.

Side note to the link: Crypto malware can be seriously damaging, and the idea is not going away. If you don't have some sort of file backup system (ideally to something that is either off-premises or in "the cloud," or is removed when not in use), change that. NOW.

On Chrome or Firefox, I'd recommend uBlock Origin. It doesn't exist on IE as far as I know, so maybe Adblock plus. No clue about Safari, don't care ;)