Seeing Ads on Wikipedia? Then You’ve Got Malware

Wikipedia promised to be free from ads for all eternity, so if you looked something up on the site and noticed some banner ads near the header, then your computer has been infected with malware.

Wikipedia discussed this in a recent blog post, where they addressed issues users raised with regards to ads. And as their headline clearly indicates, "If you’re seeing ads on Wikipedia, [then] your computer is probably infected with malware."

We never run ads on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is funded by more than a million donors, who give an average donation of less than $30. Rest assured: you won’t be seeing legitimate advertisements on Wikipedia. We’re here to distribute the sum of human knowledge to everyone on the planet — ad-free, forever.

-- Wikipedia

Wikipedia explains how ads can infiltrate Wikipedia when you access it: if a malware in the form of a Google Chrome extension called 'I want this' installs itself onto your browser, or if your Internet service provider is being sneaky and ramping up revenue by injecting these ads while you surf.

If you suspect that you're infected with the malware, get rid of it by firing up Google Chrome, going to Settings then to the Extensions panel, and clicking 'remove' beside the 'I want this' entry. If your ISP is the culprit, then there's not much you can do at this point.

Remember to keep your computer protected by installing an anti-virus program and running complete scans on your system regularly.

Article by Hazel Chua
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