I use ad blockers and open source privacy focused software whenever I can but occasionally I have to use computers that don’t belong to me or an older phone where my usual applications aren’t installed and seeing all the advertisements just feels dirty and dystopian.

I think the worst ads are the text to speech ones that say “Download this app today”. The unblinking energenic people saying you can make a living at home are probably a close second.

  • 0x2d
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    9 months ago

    so of course I have ublock origin on my computer, AdAway on my phone and pihole on my network, but the school computers actually prevent you from installing any adblocking extensions

    anyway at school I see a lot of “download Wave Browser/OneLaunch/PC app store/other random crapware” ads and videos in the corner and I can barely read anything on the site

    • doinks@discuss.online
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      9 months ago

      It’s insidious. I worked IT at a nonprofit that cares for disabled people, and every so often I’d find that OneLaunch toolbar at the top of one of our PCs and have to go in and uninstall it. I’d look in the history and see that one of the care personnel googled something like “printable calendar” and got tricked into clicking one of those ads. I don’t know how google expects you to use the Internet without blocking all that shit.

    • provomeister@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      It’s times like these that you remember how the Internet has become filled with advertisements to the point that it interferes with normal use. Not suprising to hear older folks still getting random crap on their devices when it’s shown in their face every moment.

      • 0x2d
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        9 months ago

        Wave browser is a real thing. It’s a PUP adware web browser based on Chromium with Yahoo as the default search engine