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#adware

1 post1 participant0 posts today

Dear Vivaldi web browser users,

1) How to PREVENT Proton installing

Right-click, do not left-click, but right-click the VPN Button and click REMOVE.

2) How to REMOVE Proton VPN if installed.

Click on the Vivaldi logo, click on tools, click on extensions. This will list ALL your installed browser extensions, and you can click on REMOVE for Proton VPN.

3) How to PREVENT Vivaldi from doing this in the future (see screenshots, alt text included).

#Vivaldi #VivaldiBrowser #VivaldiWebBrowser #Adware

Software with ads isn't "free" (as in not paid for). We long have a term for that, it's called "#adware". And if it's spying on you while at it, we call it "spyware", or "malicious software" more generally, and remove it.

And programs with paid features aren't "free" either, nor "#freemium" — they're just glorified demo versions.

Let's not let marketing folk manipulate us, and create a world where "shit 2025 hd pro premium+" is the best we can do. Support #FreeSoftware (as in libre), rather than con people.

Programy z reklamami nie są "darmowe". Od dawna mamy już termin na takie programy: nazywamy je "#adware". A jeżeli dodać do tego szpiegowanie użytkownika, to nazywamy to "spyware", albo ogólniej "złośliwym oprogramowaniem", i usuwamy.

A programy z płatnymi funkcjami też nie są "darmowe", ani "#freemium" — to po prostu wersje demo.

Nie dajmy marketingowcom sobą manipulować, i tworzyć realia, w których ładnie zapakowane "gówno 2025 hd pro premium+" to najlepsze, na co możemy sobie pozwolić. Wspierajmy #WolneOprogramowanie, nie cwaniaczków.

I'm about 10 weeks into a "user experience" experiment with #vextrio - starting with compromised sites and accepting all push notifications. I posted several of those already on the team account @InfobloxThreatIntel

VexTrio User Experience 5/N

Fake news is another consequences of VexTrio and similar actors. Qurium connected VexTrio to Russian disinformation in October.

In my sacrificial phone I've run into numerous "news" sites that are a complex mix of clickbait, ads, and disinformation. I think I have a pretty good BS detector, but I've found myself on fairly complex fact checking missions since I started this experience.

The other problem is once you visit a compromised website you are immediately thrown into a world where even the major news feed, say from Google, is filled with trash that wasn't there before. It's easy to see how people's beliefs can be manipulated simply by making the wrong click at the wrong time.

Most of the fake news or alarmist headlines I've seen came after visiting the initial infected website… meaning,
* I went to a compromised site,
* Was asked to accept push notifications,
* was redirected to something like a "your machine is infected" scareware,
* Had a polluted new feed and follow on push notifications with disinformation

I have had a few cases where the compromised site redirected immediately to a "news" site. These are filled with undated articles that can be difficult to fact check. Here's a few images from a recent one.
* Did Putin say he couldn't win the war? I doubt it.
* Is the US going to cancel the $20 and $50 bills. Nope. That was easy to check.

#dns #infoblox #threatintel #cybercrime #fakenews #cybersecurity #adtech #adware #infosec

It's been a long, slow slide, so it's not always obvious how much #Mozilla has abandoned the primacy of the #user's wants over the companies #spying on and #advertising to us.

But I'm pretty sure we passed a #knee in the curve not long ago. How do I know?

Because now, every time I get a "a new version of #Firefox is available, click to #update" dialog, I shudder in dread, and after applying the update I go through the entire preferences/settings to double-check that they haven't added any more user-hostile #antifeatures garbage (cryptocurrency, blockchain, "#privacy-preserving ad #surveillance", "AI", on and on the garbage they've tried cramming into Firefox).

Users shouldn't dread simple #software updates. At least not open-source users.

But here we are.

#OpenSource #AdWare

edit: corrected typo

Replied in thread

@eff good article.

But what about the apps that #Google pre-installs on Android? We can't uninstall them, and you can't even sign out of the rest if you just need one of them (if you sign out of the YouTube app it signs you out of ALL Google services).

My views have hardened after researching #surveillancecapitalism and I now consider all of Google's apps to be #adware / #spyware.

Is there anything that can be done about this?

Microsoft tries to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts

Full screen ad in an operating system and your options are "Proceed to ad link" or "Remind me later"? The audacity of those fucks!

theverge.com/2024/11/20/243017

The Verge · Microsoft tries to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts
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