Sometimes it is not easy to spot if ads are injected into your browser sessions or not. Sometimes though, you can be dead certain that something fishy is going on, for instance if advertisement starts to appear on Wikipedia, a site known for its ad-less approach to things.
Philippe Beaudette on behalf of Wikipedia is currently warning users visiting the site that advertisement that they see on the site have not been placed by Wikipedia there, and that the most likely explanation for ads being displayed on Wikipedia pages is malware.
One of the culprits has been identified as the Google Chrome extension I want this. If you are using Chrome, and see ads on Wikipedia, you may want to check whether the extension is installed on your system.
Beaudette notes that it is likely that this may not be the only Chrome extension that is injecting advertisement on sites, and that other browsers may also be affected by similar malware.
The best way to address the issue is to run the browser without add-ons for a moment, to see if ads are still displayed on Wikipedia. If they are not, you know that one of your browser add-ons is the culprit. If you still see advertisement, you need to delve deeper into the topic, as there are some possible explanations for this.
Beaudette recommends to scan the system with security software if advertisement is spotted on Wikipedia, or other locations on the Internet where it is usually not displayed. He recommends Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Ad-Aware which are both available as free versions.
Have you been affected by ads on Wikipedia?
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Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
Known – not none, if i may. (first paragraph)
Thanks, corrected.
Ads on Wikipedia? Its Malware!
“It’s”
Corrected, thanks.
What sort of knucklehead would click an ad on a site famous for it’s refusal to run any sort of advertising?
Oh yeah – any of the clickmonkeys who come to me for help cleaning their systems out LOL…….