29 Jun 2025 - AJ
I was curious as to why scareware (which nowadays uses full-screen popup ads), and it seems that it got its name because it scares you into buying worthless software. Which this scam usually eventually has you do, but I’ve had people ask “why is it called scareware if it’s a popup ad?”
Well, now you know. Even I had to look it up, so don’t feel too bad if you didn’t know. It seems to have originated in the 21st century, making it a relatively new term in the scheme of things.
As for adblockers: I realize there are some ethical reasons for not using an adblocker - after all, if you use an adblocker, then sites that use ads to pay for their hosting and other things aren’t getting paid, after all!
But nowadays, between legit ads that invade your screen and block your enjoyment of the content you want to see, and straight up malvertising such as scareware, I don’t surf the web without an adblocker. Heck, even the FBI here in the states has recommended using an adblocker to keep malvertizing off your machine.
I also support my favorite websites or websites I use a lot of - for example, I pay for Youtube Premium for ad-free videos. Not because of their eternal battle with adblockers and adblock users, but because in that case, I prefer to pay and have money go towards those creators I watch instead of having to watch ads. If the website has an ad-free subscription and it’s not overly pricy, I do that. Otherwise if there are funding drives or Patreons I go for them. I do the same with favorite mobile games as well. I realize that not everybody has money to go towards helping those who work hard providing us with content - but I have it budgeted because that’s what’s fair.
There is good news coming, at least for battling scareware. Microsoft’s Edge browser has a setting that you can turn on that is supposed to detect scareware popups and block them. Maybe someday other browsers will follow. There’s hope… and in the meantime, there’s adblockers.