CCC Forum

As part of re-installing the software on my PC, I needed to add Adobe's PDF viewer and used Google to find the link. I idly clicked on the result at the top of the list and downloaded from the page it returned. When it completed, my anti-virus software went berserk and informed me that the file contained malware. I went back to the page which had the Google search results and only then did I notice that the link I had used was in fact an ad. This meant that it took precedence over the link to Adobe's site, which I had assumed would be at the top. I like to think that had I actually executed the file I would have checked that the software had the correct certificate before installing it, but I did come closer than I would have wished to putting something undesirable on my machine. Up to the point that the anti-virus issued its alert, I had missed a number of warnings that the website from which I obtained the download might not be kosher, such as the version of the software I accessed being the year rather than a number for example.

Although this is not strictly a photography related post, I thought it worthwhile to let people know. I know neither whether the anti-virus issued a false alert nor what processes Google goes through to vet its customers who pay for ads, but it does appear that they might not always be legitimate. Caveat scrutator.*

* Searcher beware, a variation of caveat emptor. Amazingly, this does not return anything relevant when I Googled it and I might actually have invented a new term. You heard it here** first.

** I nearly wrote "you heard it hear first".

This is just one of the reasons why Adblock Plus is one of the first things I install on a new machine - not only does it help block adverts in the first place, it also has a subscription specifically for blocking malware-laden sites (adding an extra layer of protection in addition to anti-virus software).

Also, I don't use Google much - my default search engine is DuckDuckGo (ddg.gg), which has a nice feature where by it will often (though not always) put a red "Official Site" badge next to the appropriate link - making it nice and easy to know you're going to the right site.

By way of an example, here's a search for Sumatra PDF - the software I use instead of Adobe Reader; it's much lighter and faster to load - in this case it has both the red badge and an info banner across the page, above any adverts that might appear, making it harder to go for the wrong link.

Thanks, Peter, that's good advice. Is the URL for DuckDuckGo correct? The one you gave does not complete and Google shows https://duckduckgo.com/ for the site.

Yeah, duckduckgo.com is the main URL, but ddg.gg is less typing - it usually redirects to the former, but it's currently not working for me either.

Duckduckgo is flagged as Suspicious/Malware by my work firewall. Is duckduckgo run by SPA?

Having said that, even these forums were blocked initially until I sent in a request to review. I suspect it's an overly paranoid work firewall, not entirely unreasonable really.

Why don't you use google out of interest?