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Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "

Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means. Was there a hidden functionality I wasn't aware of? Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download".

coldpie 4y ago
Yeah, I love Ars, but Dan is definitely their weakest writer. The article is about scammers buying ad space on google to rank their malware above the legitimate google search results. Installing an ad blocker is a great solution.
- macintux 4y ago
  Typical ad blockers surely don’t filter out Google search results.
  - coldpie 4y ago
    The search results are not the problem. The ads are. Ads are placed above search results, so users are more likely to be mislead by them. Installing an ad blocker removes the misleading ads, leaving only the legitimate search results.
    - whstl 4y ago
      Not entirely, unfortunately, at least on my experience. Putting the keyword "download" after the name of software, ebooks, or music will lead into weird websites that distribute malware, and they rank very high. I just tried searching for an old Game Programming book I happen to have. There's two piracy sites, then one site with a "Download" button that gives me a DMG with an executable. Those are above Archive.org, the official github repo of the book and the official website. For music download, I searched some Bowie. There's Amazon... plus a few pages of of weird websites that I have no idea what they are, but look like "paid piracy", they either ask for credit card or give me a DMG which supposedly has a downloader. For software I searched the one I made by the company I work at. There's stuff like Filehorse, Softonic (I don't even know if they're legit), then there's a few which look like those aggregators but end up giving you malware when downloading. That's with ads blocked, and subscription to several lists. In the end IMO this is terrible for small businesses, people will end up distrusting anything that's not Amazon or anything that they try to search organically, or they'll get malware.
      - dvngnt_ 4y ago
        that's slightly different. piracy is a known vector for distributing malware. this is more for general searches or software with no paid option. google should deindex scam sites, but this is easier said than done. however they should NEVER have paid ads for malware as they're directly profiting from malware
    - antihero 4y ago
      Every example in this article is using ads not gaming SEO
    - pixl97 4y ago
      Google is an ad platform the ads are the problems. Installing an ad blocker does not solve the problem. At best it hides the problem. The issue here is you're looking at this as a 'you' problem and not an 'everyone' problem. If you block ads that's not a problem. When everyone does it Google will change how the page renders in such a manner that your adblocker is worthless. And then you're back to it being a you problem. You cannot disentangle the search and the ads any more than you can disentangle being human and needing oxygen to survive.
jaclaz 4y ago
>Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download". I think the reality is more like "when you search for software on Google do not use links in the ads that you get at top of the results". Though of course there may well be "normal" results leading to shady sites, the issue talked about is related to advertisement results.
- detaro 4y ago
  or shorter: "use an adblocker"
- deburo 4y ago
  It's pretty effective too, I often ask colleagues to download this or that app and just giving its name, but they keep falling for Google Ads. Now I send them an URL instead. If I didn't know any better, I would think about suing Google for boosting malware spread x) As an aside, I'm always suspicious of free utilities being downloadable from well-designed hosting websites, such as www.fosshub.com. I'm less suspicious downloading it from a very basic, almost plain text web page, for whatever reason.
- MSFT_Edging 4y ago
  This is funny, I was confused in a different way, as I typically check the URLs to make sure I'm not getting scammed, and I have not noticed an influx whatsoever. Then I read this and realized I have not seen those google search ads in years unless I'm setting up a new machine. I always found the 8 ads before results to be absolutely evil and now its causing real damage.
mschuster91 4y ago
It describes perfectly what users use Google for. Look at your non-IT colleagues over the shoulder while asking them "hey, can you log in to Netflix?"... 60% chance, 90% for older folks, they'll type "Netflix" into the browser bar and click on the first link because they don't realize "Netflix" is not a domain name. Or ask them to "download VLC" - they'll type "download vlc" into the bar and click on the first link, which is what led to a ton of malware in the past [1] (at the moment, at least for me, the top result is clear though). [1] https://www.chip.de/news/Vorsicht-bei-Windows-11-und-VLC-Fake-Seiten-schleusen-Schadsoftware-ein_183570035.html https://www.chip.de/news/Vorsicht-bei-Windows-11-und-VLC-Fak...
- bink 4y ago
  I started running a pretty popular forum back in the late 90s and I was shocked when I noticed this behavior. The name of the forum itself was shorter than typing "google" yet most sessions started with someone typing the name of the forum into google and following the first link.
mikae1 4y ago
> Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means Classic clickbait tactics. That was intentional, it made you click the link.
- recursive 4y ago
  I'm confused about the confusion. This is probably one of the most common ways people obtain software.
  - teach 4y ago
    I've been Linux-only on the desktop since 2003. I was also confused about the post. People have different experiences!
- II2II 4y ago
  I agree, though probably for a different reason. The reality is that one always had to be careful when following download links from any search engine. The reasons may have changed with time and the amount of risk may ebb and flow, but it was always best to verify the source of the download in order to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted payload. Headlines that imply this is new or unique to a particular search engine are dishonest.

coldpie 4y ago

Yeah, I love Ars, but Dan is definitely their weakest writer. The article is about scammers buying ad space on google to rank their malware above the legitimate google search results. Installing an ad blocker is a great solution.

macintux 4y ago
Typical ad blockers surely don’t filter out Google search results.
- coldpie 4y ago
  The search results are not the problem. The ads are. Ads are placed above search results, so users are more likely to be mislead by them. Installing an ad blocker removes the misleading ads, leaving only the legitimate search results.
  - whstl 4y ago
    Not entirely, unfortunately, at least on my experience. Putting the keyword "download" after the name of software, ebooks, or music will lead into weird websites that distribute malware, and they rank very high. I just tried searching for an old Game Programming book I happen to have. There's two piracy sites, then one site with a "Download" button that gives me a DMG with an executable. Those are above Archive.org, the official github repo of the book and the official website. For music download, I searched some Bowie. There's Amazon... plus a few pages of of weird websites that I have no idea what they are, but look like "paid piracy", they either ask for credit card or give me a DMG which supposedly has a downloader. For software I searched the one I made by the company I work at. There's stuff like Filehorse, Softonic (I don't even know if they're legit), then there's a few which look like those aggregators but end up giving you malware when downloading. That's with ads blocked, and subscription to several lists. In the end IMO this is terrible for small businesses, people will end up distrusting anything that's not Amazon or anything that they try to search organically, or they'll get malware.
    - dvngnt_ 4y ago
      that's slightly different. piracy is a known vector for distributing malware. this is more for general searches or software with no paid option. google should deindex scam sites, but this is easier said than done. however they should NEVER have paid ads for malware as they're directly profiting from malware
  - antihero 4y ago
    Every example in this article is using ads not gaming SEO
  - pixl97 4y ago
    Google is an ad platform the ads are the problems. Installing an ad blocker does not solve the problem. At best it hides the problem. The issue here is you're looking at this as a 'you' problem and not an 'everyone' problem. If you block ads that's not a problem. When everyone does it Google will change how the page renders in such a manner that your adblocker is worthless. And then you're back to it being a you problem. You cannot disentangle the search and the ads any more than you can disentangle being human and needing oxygen to survive.

jaclaz 4y ago

>Turns out, what they mean is "don't use Google to search for software you wish to download". I think the reality is more like "when you search for software on Google do not use links in the ads that you get at top of the results". Though of course there may well be "normal" results leading to shady sites, the issue talked about is related to advertisement results.

detaro 4y ago
or shorter: "use an adblocker"
deburo 4y ago
It's pretty effective too, I often ask colleagues to download this or that app and just giving its name, but they keep falling for Google Ads. Now I send them an URL instead. If I didn't know any better, I would think about suing Google for boosting malware spread x) As an aside, I'm always suspicious of free utilities being downloadable from well-designed hosting websites, such as www.fosshub.com. I'm less suspicious downloading it from a very basic, almost plain text web page, for whatever reason.
MSFT_Edging 4y ago
This is funny, I was confused in a different way, as I typically check the URLs to make sure I'm not getting scammed, and I have not noticed an influx whatsoever. Then I read this and realized I have not seen those google search ads in years unless I'm setting up a new machine. I always found the 8 ads before results to be absolutely evil and now its causing real damage.

mschuster91 4y ago

It describes perfectly what users use Google for. Look at your non-IT colleagues over the shoulder while asking them "hey, can you log in to Netflix?"... 60% chance, 90% for older folks, they'll type "Netflix" into the browser bar and click on the first link because they don't realize "Netflix" is not a domain name. Or ask them to "download VLC" - they'll type "download vlc" into the bar and click on the first link, which is what led to a ton of malware in the past [1] (at the moment, at least for me, the top result is clear though). [1] https://www.chip.de/news/Vorsicht-bei-Windows-11-und-VLC-Fake-Seiten-schleusen-Schadsoftware-ein_183570035.html https://www.chip.de/news/Vorsicht-bei-Windows-11-und-VLC-Fak...

bink 4y ago
I started running a pretty popular forum back in the late 90s and I was shocked when I noticed this behavior. The name of the forum itself was shorter than typing "google" yet most sessions started with someone typing the name of the forum into google and following the first link.

mikae1 4y ago

> Took me a while to understand what "using Google to download software" means Classic clickbait tactics. That was intentional, it made you click the link.

recursive 4y ago
I'm confused about the confusion. This is probably one of the most common ways people obtain software.
- teach 4y ago
  I've been Linux-only on the desktop since 2003. I was also confused about the post. People have different experiences!
II2II 4y ago
I agree, though probably for a different reason. The reality is that one always had to be careful when following download links from any search engine. The reasons may have changed with time and the amount of risk may ebb and flow, but it was always best to verify the source of the download in order to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted payload. Headlines that imply this is new or unique to a particular search engine are dishonest.