security-risk
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Pando Media Booster 'update' is actually a browser hijack
Remember Pando Media Booster? No? It was bloatware third-party software that some MMO companies -- notably Turbine and NCsoft -- used to force onto their users' machines, ostensibly to speed up peer-to-peer downloading of launchers and game clients. Fortunately PMB died a well-deserved death in August of 2013, but those of you who may have unintentionally left it lurking on your machine should be aware of a security risk masquerading as a Pando update. According to Reddit user object404, if you receive a pop-up message offering you the chance to update PMB, what it's really offering is the Sweet Page browser virus, which you can remove by following these instructions.
Blizzard puts advertising on the WoW front page
Bornakk has fessed up to Blizzard's little slip yesterday of letting gold buying ads sneak onto the official forums. As expected, he says it was a complete mistake, and that Blizzard is taking steps to keep it from happening. I'm surprised this isn't the action Blizzard took from the beginning -- when the ads first showed up yesterday, Blizzard's forum moderators were deleting (and presumably banning) anyone who mentioned the ads. But almost all of Blizzard's fansites (and even WoW Insider) have had problems with gold ads appearing in advertising content outside our control, so it doesn't seem like Blizzard need worry about it. Sure, it was a mistake, and sure, it was hilarious, but there was no reason to hide the fact that it had happened -- especially since there were screenshots aplenty right away.However, Blizzard apparently still hasn't learned their lesson: they've now also got external advertisements being served right on the game's front page. These ads are served up by the same company responsible for the ads on the forums, and thus clearly they have the same possible problems -- if one gold ad can appear, more can as well. And while the ad that appeared on the forums was not harmful (other than the fact that it linked to a website that offered a service that would get you banned from the game), anytime you're bringing outside content to your own site, you run that risk. Blizzard has decided to monetize their presence on the web, but it's costing their customers a little bit of security as well.
Blizzard adds advertising to the official forums
Blizzard has added two advertising bars to their official forum pages, one on the top and one banner along the side. And it's got players concerned -- there's a large forum thread growing even bigger by the minute right now. The main complaints seem to revolve around a few issues: the design breaks the forum layout for some users, the ads are possibly a security risk (they aren't hosted by Blizzard -- more on that in a second), and of course the issue that we're paying every month to be able to look at ads on the forums.
