How to block ads and boost your security
Online ads are becoming out of control. Some sites have so many ads on them that a page won’t load properly, takes what feels like minutes (if you bother to wait around), or you can’t read the content because ads are attacking from the sides, popping up, and video ads just launch, occasionally crashing everything. This is not an effective strategy to win customers and internet users over. Unable to deal with the overload, many people will leave these sites (or ‘bounce’ as it’s called in the marketing world) almost as soon as they enter.
Sometimes it’s not possible to flee a site in annoyance though. If you’re studying or working and need to access and reference a page you might just have to sit through all the ads and pop-ups, wasting valuable time. Some advertisers even make it more difficult to close an ad by moving the “x” (close button) or whatever the method of doing so is, or making it so faint it’s like a game of Where’s Waldo (Where’s Wally for our British friends)!
Just annoying or potentially dangerous?
There is another aspect to online ads that makes them not only annoying but dangerous to your PC and privacy. We’d like to caveat that this isn’t the norm and most advertisers really just want to get their product or service out there. However, the sad reality is that cybercriminals have found yet another way to reach the masses...by creating their own ads.
These ads are fake (but convincing) and the practice is known as “malvertising” (get it, malware + advertising?!). The purpose of malvertising is to get a user to download malware or lead them to a malicious server. Just add it to the growing list of online security threats! This tactic is far from new (the first reported incident was in 2007) but they are getting much more sophisticated. This approach taken by cybercriminals isn’t going to go away but not all is doomed.
What can you do about it? Fight back...passively and safely.
How to beat malicious ads online
The best way to avoid malicious ads from infecting your PC is by avoiding ads. After all, since it’s difficult to tell whether an ad is real or not you need to rely on technology to help out here. You can do this by blocking online ads. Not only will this boost your online privacy but it will also speed up your browsing. Win-win!
If you’re not using ad-blocking software you should consider it. Perhaps you just didn’t realize it existed, which is quite common. There is a great ad-blocking tool that comes with CCleaner Browser. This suite of tools was carefully designed to give you faster browsing speeds, complete privacy, and total security.
It does this in a number of ways through its built-in features. Most of these you can disable if you wish but for maximum protection, we recommend running all of the tools. Here are the different features included in the package - and they’re all free.
- CCleaner - clears cookies, and removes junk files
- Adblock - stops ads from appearing for improved safety and browsing speed
- Anti-Tracking - stops web tracking
- Anti-Fingerprinting - mask your browser fingerprint
- Anti-Phishing - blocks dangerous websites
- Stealth Mode - private browsing so you leave no trace
- Password Managers - log into websites faster
- Webcam Guard - choose who can access your webcam
- Extension Guard - stop untrusted extensions from installing
- Privacy Cleaner - clears your browsing history
If you’re looking for the sense of freedom and security that a life with blocked ads will give you, download CCleaner Browser for free today. Download it now and set it up in a matter of minutes to ensure that no one will be looking over your shoulder as you browse so you can go about your online business in private.