Pretty weak rant. Pretty common rant. But I just had to share.
I was visiting some web site (an about.com site, actually) and there are tons of ads on the side. All of a sudden I get what I presume is a javascript pop-up that says something like this:
Obviously this could be very alarming and scary message for many less-savvy users to read. It’s scummy to do this—we all know it.
But somehow, it looks ever so much more scummy when you are viewing this crap on a Mac. No, this isn’t a “Mac rulez” thread—not at all. I occasionally web surf on my PC too and I don’t need to deal with these nasty things. It’s just that the transparent deceit and evilness of it seems so much more obvious when you are being told that your “registry” has not been scanned, and yet you don’t have a frickin’ registry!
And some of the pop-ups that try to emulate the look of the Windows XP interface also look pretty ludicrous when you are using OS X (or, just one of those “XP Themes” in Windows XP—which I do have).
Gah! What a bunch of scumbags!
I know that this rant is nothing new, but it just never ceases to amaze me how low people will go. And hey—while I’m at it, I wouldn’t mind some suggestions or discussion on how to protect your PC. I have updated to XP SP2, I have Adware and Norton Anti-Virus. I only use Internet Explorer to download updates. I usually browse using Mozilla or Firefox. So far my PC seems to be running okay. Anything other preventative measures that I could take? I don’t surf on my PC a lot (I use it for specific purposes, mostly offline or just to a few select (and “safe” sites).
I find those “Pretend to be a Windows system message” ads amusing, since I figure the only reason they exist is because there are Windows users gullible enough to fall for them.
They scare th’ living shite out of novice users. I get asked quite a bit “Why would someone do that?” 'Cause arseholery is universal, I guess. Damn things.
Another reason not to use Firefox. I never know when I’ve won a prize, or might be infected, or have mail, and now you’re saying I won’t know when my registry is needing scanned either?? Dammit! Time to go back to Internet Explorer and experience everything the web can offer!
Fuckin’ A! As Evil Death and GrizzRich point out, the ones that look like a standard Windows message are the very worst (on XP anyway).
Just wait, Mac users, sooner or later someone will design pop-ups that look like “real” Mac system messages. Somewhere, sometime, somehow one will slip past your pop-up blocker …
Ah yes. I’m running XP but have the Kandy Kid interface turned off. Those popups are also ludicrous because the buttons at the top of the box are HUGE.
Which, unfortunately, brings me to this:
A pop-up with the aformentioned interface managed to slip by Firefox’s pop-up blocker while I was browsing yesterday. I think I actually screamed.
