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Microsoft is reportedly testing full-screen "ads" to try to persuade Windows 10 users to run the Edge browser. There may be no easy way to stop them appearing. The messages are being displayed to some users after the most recent Windows 10 updates. ... They appear to be part of an A/B test in which two groups of users are shown different versions of an ad or message to see how the response differs. (Source: techradar.com ) Ad Appears After Update The ads will reportedly appear on machines with Chrome or Firefox as the default browser in three circumstances: When a user sets up a new Windows ... (view more)

If you use Microsoft Teams, watch out for bogus advertisements offering an "update". It's a scam designed to install malware that tries to steal personal data. The group chat and video conferencing tool has understandably become more popular this ... year with the increase in remote desktop connections to workplaces. That's attracted the attention of scammers who have put together a creative strategy to steal data. It's important to note that the attack doesn't aim to exploit any vulnerability in Teams itself. Instead, it's simply aimed at people using it, particularly those who have only started ... (view more)

Facebook chief says the site will let users opt-out of seeing political advertising for this year's US presidential elections. But the site won't seek to block controversial content posted by politicians themselves unless it breaks the law. Writing ... in USA Today, company chief Mark Zuckerberg announced a voter registration drive. Facebook will have a dedicated section with information about how to register, cast a vote, or arrange mail-in or early votes. The section will include verified content from election officials. This section will be promoted at the top of user's news feeds and on ... (view more)

Chrome is to start automatically blocking online ads that make particularly high use of computer resources. It will be a small change that Google hopes will have a big effect. This will be the second set of changes Chrome has made to the way it ... handles ads following alterations over the past couple of years to block "abusive" and "deceptive" ads. These include ads which have misleading buttons such as a "play" button that actually downloads a file or a "close window" button that actually opens new pop-up windows. The new change will involve Chrome having an limit on how much resources such as ... (view more)

Google says it will block third-party cookies, which can track Internet users in ways they don't expect. But it could be up to two years before the block is fully in place. A cookie is a small text file placed on a user's computer by a website. The ... idea is the site can check for the cookie later on and customize the users' web experience. Examples of 'legitimate' cookie use would be an online store that holds items in a virtual 'shopping basket', and a movie theater chain's site 'remembering' a user's location to automatically show them local listings. The more controversial variant is third- ... (view more)

Facebook is to stop treating user's phone numbers as a way to target advertising and recommend friends. Critics said the practice undermined a key security measure. The company says it wasn't collecting the numbers directly from phones or the ... Facebook app. Instead, users provided the number when taking advantage of two factor authentication. With this set-up, it means that if a user tries to log in to Facebook on a new device or from a new location, Facebook sends a security code by text message to the number on file. The user then has to type the code in to Facebook before they can login ... (view more)

Security researchers have exposed more than 20 rogue Android apps that secretly load ads as part of a scam. The rogue apps perform their advertised tasks for cyber criminals, but also drain batteries and overheat phones in the process. It's another ... embarrassment for Google as all the apps were found in the official Google Play Store, which is designed to vet apps to reduce the chances of malicious activity. Remove These Rogue Android Apps Now Researchers at ESET antivirus say they found 42 apps have been part of an orchestrated campaign running since July last year. They were able to ... (view more)

Facebook is taking new steps to prevent misleading political ads following the Cambridge Analytica scandal , which had millions of Facebook profiles harvested and used without consent for political advertising purposes. It says it's tightening the ... rules on buyers, which must now not only prove their identity, but also the organization they are associated with. Since 2018, anyone paying for an advertisement on Facebook relating to elections, politics or social issues has had to prove their identity to Facebook. They also have to include a disclaimer in the ad marked "Paid for by...", which is ... (view more)

Mozilla has designed a site that will open 100 tabs at once, quite likely crashing a web browser. It's meant as a creative way to show how web tracking works. The stunt is based around cookies: small text files put onto a computer via the browser to ... customize an online session to a website. Third-party tracking cookies are then generated, which keep a record of the sites a user visits. This information is then used by ad servers to deliver targeted ads based on website history. "Track THIS" works by opening 100 tabs selected to represent a particular type of web user. The idea is that there ... (view more)

Developers have been shocked to discover their apps for the Windows Store are carrying scam advertising. They are blaming Microsoft for not properly vetting the ads it inserts into the apps. The apps in question are for Windows 10 and are part of ... the "modern Windows experience" which lets users get software from an the official Microsoft Store similar to Google Play (for Android) and Apple's App Store (for iOS devices). The only difference is that Windows also allows users to download and install programs directly from software developers. App makers who use the Windows Store have ... (view more)