Clkads.com

Clkads.com is an advertising site that has been strongly associated with both marketing for Potentially Unwanted Programs and the distribution of threats. Common formats used by unreliable Clkads.com advertisements include fake system errors and update packages. Meanwhile, PUPs include toolbars that are not necessarily threatening but usually don't have any benefits for your computer. While individual encounters with Clkads.com's pop-ups aren't guaranteed to harm your computer, malware experts would consider scanning your PC after any unprotected contact with Clkads.com pop-ups to be a good security habit. Anti-malware products likewise can be useful for removing the various PC threats responsible for Clkads.com pop-ups throughout the years, which include several varieties of concealed adware programs.

The Consequences of a Click on a Clkads.com Advertisement

Like most advertising sites that don't have much of a reputation for keeping strict security, Clkads.com lives something of a double life: while Clkads.com may be used to deliver normal advertising, malware researchers also have seen Clkads.com repeatedly involved in attacks meant to distribute threats. These attacks often are disguised as safe security-related downloads. On the other hand, Clkads.com also is known for marketing PUPs in the form of various unwanted toolbars. Although such programs aren't as harmful as a Trojan or keylogger, their propensities for browser hijacks and advertisement insertion make them undesirable to keep on your PC, in almost all normal circumstances.

Even when you're forearmed with this knowledge, dealing with Clkads.com isn't as simple as avoiding known sources of Clkads.com advertisements. Malware experts have seen various attempts at threat authors designing software meant to load Clkads.com pop-up advertisements automatically over the years, with many attacks stretching back to as far as 2010. However, other efforts also have been recent as of November 2013, and attacks by Clkads.com-related PC threats remain ongoing security concerns.

Most Clkads.com pop-up attacks aren't linked to browser toolbars or products with visible components, making the possibility of non-consensual installations and concealed threats ever more likely.

Keeping the Advertisements You Click on as Safe as Possible

Purely chance contact with Clkads.com is something that may be defended against in part through the use of all appropriate browser security tactics, such as disabling JavaScript and avoiding risky websites. Regardless of how well defended you think your PC might be, though, any contact with a potentially unsafe advertisement should be treated as a possible infection vector – even when you haven't tried to download any software. Using anti-malware products as a matter of habit after any contact with harmful Web content is the easiest way to guarantee your computer's long term safety.

Clkads.com pop-ups are particularly problematic when they continue to launch repeatedly. This usually is a sign of threats already being on your computer, distinct from any threat or unwanted software that might be distributed through these pop-ups. Again, malware researchers would stress the importance of proper anti-malware tools to detect and delete Clkads.com-based threats, which may try to hide from being found or removed through normal channels.