{"id":5261,"date":"2014-04-08T12:30:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T16:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=5261"},"modified":"2014-04-08T12:30:41","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T16:30:41","slug":"microsoft-to-start-blocking-annoying-adware-by-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/04\/08\/microsoft-to-start-blocking-annoying-adware-by-default\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft to start blocking annoying adware by default"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2140240\/microsoft-to-start-blocking-adware-that-lacks-easy-uninstall.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/malware_virus-100047712-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft has toughened its criteria for classifying programs as adware and gave developers three months to conform with the new principles or risk having their programs blocked by the company\u2019s security products.<\/p>\n<p>The most important change in Microsoft\u2019s policy is that adware programs will be blocked by default starting July 1. In the past such programs were allowed to run until users chose one of the recommended actions offered by the company\u2019s security software.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Microsoft\u2019s crackdown on adware comes as it introduces tools to make it easier for developers to incorporate advertising into Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone apps.<\/p>\n<p>The company has re-evaluated its criteria for classifying applications as adware based on the principle that users should be able to choose and control what happens on their computers, according to Michael Johnson, a member of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2140240\/microsoft-to-start-blocking-adware-that-lacks-easy-uninstall.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/windows-defender-scan-100017383-medium.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First of all, only programs that display ads promoting goods and services inside other programs\u2014for example, browsers\u2014will be evaluated as possible unwanted adware applications, Johnson said Thursday in a blog post. \u201cIf the program shows advertisements within its own borders it will not be assessed any further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In order to avoid being flagged as adware and blocked, programs whose revenue model includes advertising must only display ads or groups of ads that have an obvious close button. The ads must also clearly indicate the name of the program that generated them.<\/p>\n<p>No tricks or you get the boot<\/p>\n<p>Recommended methods for closing the ad include an \u201cX\u201d or the word \u201cclose\u201d in a corner; the program name can be specified through phrases like \u201cAds by &#8230;\u201d, \u201c&#8230; ads\u201d, \u201cPowered by &#8230;\u201d, \u201cThis ad served by &#8230;\u201d, or \u201cThis ad is from &#8230;\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing abbreviations or company logos alone are not considered clear enough,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAlso, only using \u2018Ads not by this site\u2019 does not meet our criteria, because the user does not know which program created the ad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8221;The adware industry is a multi-billion dollar business and I don\u2019t expect adware developers to go along with Microsoft\u2019s decision without any pressure.&#8221;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to following these ad display guidelines, programs need to provide a standard uninstall method in the Windows control panel or the browser add-on management interface, if the program operates as a browser extension or toolbar. The corresponding uninstall entries must contain the same program names as displayed in the generated ads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are very excited by all of these changes,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe believe that it will make it easy for software developers to utilize advertising while at the same time empowering users to control their experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adware, ick<\/p>\n<p>Adware programs typically affect the Web browsing experience and have been a nuisance for years, primarily because their developers make it intentionally hard to completely remove all of their components or undo the changes made by these applications.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers from antivirus vendor Avast named unwanted browser toolbars and extensions as one of the biggest problems for users in 2013. Such toolbars are often difficult or even impossible for average users to fully uninstall because they change their names and identifiers on almost every new computer to prevent detection and removal by security products, they said in a blog post at the end of December.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost adware in the past years has been classified as greyware at best,\u201d said Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at antivirus vendor Bitdefender, Friday via email. \u201cOften users would have to opt out of the adware offering and those less careful would end up with a product they don\u2019t want installed on their machine. These adware add-ons are also very difficult, if not impossible to remove, which makes them look awfully similar to spyware.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, the adware industry is a multi-billion dollar business and I don\u2019t expect adware developers to go along with Microsoft\u2019s decision without any pressure,\u201d Botezatu said.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2140240\/microsoft-to-start-blocking-adware-that-lacks-easy-uninstall.html\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft to start blocking annoying adware by default | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft has toughened its criteria for classifying programs as adware and gave developers three months to conform with the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,7,11],"tags":[48,655],"class_list":["post-5261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-security","category-windows","tag-adware","tag-malware"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1mR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7656,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/26\/the-harmful-code-recently-found-on-lenovo-machines-is-now-surfacing-in-other-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":5261,"position":0},"title":"The harmful code recently found on Lenovo machines is now surfacing in other apps","author":"NCCT","date":"February 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As we previously reported, Lenovo apparently pre-loaded a number of its machines with Superfish adware along with other malicious code. The appearance of the potentially harmful software was not only shocking to many, but also prompted researchers to look around to see if the adware (or similar code) made it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8714,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/05\/newly-discovered-adware-digs-its-claws-deep-into-android-is-nearly-impossible-to-remove\/","url_meta":{"origin":5261,"position":1},"title":"Newly discovered adware digs its claws deep into Android, is nearly impossible to remove","author":"NCCT","date":"November 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Security researchers found over 20,000 adware samples hiding in apps that masquerade as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and other popular services. Derek Walter | @derekwalter | PCWorld Security researchers have uncovered a new style of Android malware that hides inside of apps that act and look like they\u2019re legitimate services. Lookout\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9655,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2021\/03\/09\/fuquay-varina-and-holly-springs-computer-repair\/","url_meta":{"origin":5261,"position":2},"title":"Fuquay Varina and Holly Springs Computer Repair","author":"NCCT","date":"March 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to our blog. NC Computer Tech services Fuquay Varina, Holly Springs, and surrounding NC areas. We offer prompt, professional, courteous service with over twenty years of experience dealing with residential and small business clients offering them solutions and fixing their computer and network issues at reasonable rates. Our services\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7255,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/24\/nc-computer-tech\/","url_meta":{"origin":5261,"position":3},"title":"About NC Computer Tech","author":"NCCT","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We come to you We offer prompt, professional, courteous service with over twenty years of experience dealing with residential and small business clients offering them solutions and fixing their computer and network issues at reasonable rates. 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To recap: Microsoft first announced its new operating system in late 2014,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6247,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/19\/microsoft-pulls-its-august-windows-update-after-users-report-crashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5261,"position":5},"title":"Microsoft pulls its August Windows update after users report crashes","author":"NCCT","date":"August 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft has pulled its August Update for Windows after users reported crashes and issues restarting their systems. The company is currently recommending users uninstall the update. Microsoft said that it discovered issues relating to four individual updates associated with the August Update: 2982791, 2970228, 2975719, and 297533. The updates addressed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}