How can I block linked ads on Google Chrome

Question

Some days back I suddenly got ads in Google Chrome whenever I try to open any page. After searching online how to block ads, I found one adblock extension. I have installed adblock and it was working fine and ads were blocked. But today I am getting linked ads.

What do I mean by linked ads In the first screenshot you can see web applications ,user experience are in blue colors and underlined. If I Mouse over the linked ads (in the screenshot I mouse over on "user experience") then a pop-up comes up showing the ads. You can see I have enabled adblock in the screenshot. Can anybody please tell me why these ads are appearing?

And yes, I have reinstalled Google Chrome and still the same

Answer 1

I am certain that you've got a Chrome Extension that has had a brain transplant.

It probably started out as a good, useful extension. It may still have the functionality you got it for. However, a recent trend is for nefarious advertisers to buy extensions from their developers and take over. Since the extension is already installed no extra permissions are needed to add extra "functionality" to it in the form of injected ads. It's not "malware" in the strictest sense, so anti-virus checkers won't pick up on them.

It was in the tech news quite a bit recently. Ars Technica has a very good writeup about it: Adware vendors buy Chrome Extensions to send ad- and malware-filled updates

Worse actors have gone beyond ads to actual malware.

I had a few Extensions where this happened, including one Extension much beloved (and missed).

You should disable each of your Extensions one-by-one until you find the culprit, then uninstall it with extreme prejudice.

If you're willing to trust another extension there are a couple that purport to find these bad extensions for you.

• ExtShield (Lifehacker review)
• Extension Defender (Lifehacker review)