I used to think ad blockers were just for avoiding annoying popups

Last month my kid clicked one of those "you won" banner ads on a sketchy site and it downloaded a tracker onto our family laptop. I ran a scan and found 12 tracking cookies from ad networks I never heard of. That's when I realized those little ads aren't just annoying, they're basically tiny spies feeding profiles to data brokers. Now I run uBlock Origin on every device in the house including my phone. Has anyone else had a close call like this that made you totally change your stance on something you ignored before?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_thomas1mo ago

Same thing happened to me with a fake antivirus popup. Never going back to unprotected browsing.

knight.mason1mo ago

Honestly that "tiny spies" line hit me hard. I used to think ad blockers were just for people who hated seeing commercials, but getting hit with a drive-by download changed my mind real quick.

margaret_jackson7321d ago

Read a study the other day that said drive-by downloads have tripled in the last year alone. Made me realize these ad networks aren't just annoying, they're actively dangerous. People think ad blockers are for skimping out on supporting creators, but that's not the point anymore. The whole system got hijacked by bad actors who slip malware into ad placements without anyone checking. So yeah, I block everything and I don't feel bad about it. Keeping my computer clean is worth more than some banner ad revenue.