Question for Brightspark or other computer buffs

[meggie]

Just wanting to know if its safe to click on the advert on the forum urging users to do a certain task before going online. Or is it just some kind of scam.

[Globetrotter]

If its a CAPTCHA to complete this is a form of checking to see if you are a human (dont laugh) or a computer trying to access the page, a computer cant read the picture and type but we humans can, think this is what you are asking.
Typically a pic of a word or words or a series of photos asking you to click all the squares containing a shop for instance

[Globetrotter]

This from Wikipedia
A CAPTCHA (a backronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart") is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human.

The term was coined in 2003 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford.[1] The most common type of CAPTCHA was first invented in 1997 by two groups working in parallel: (1) Mark D. Lillibridge, Martin Abadi, Krishna Bharat, and Andrei Z. Broder; and (2) Reshef, Raanan and Solan.[2] This form of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen. Because the test is administered by a computer, in contrast to the standard Turing test that is administered by a human, a CAPTCHA is sometimes described as a reverse Turing test.

This user identification procedure has received many criticisms, especially from disabled people, but also from other people who feel that their everyday work is slowed down by distorted words that are difficult to read.[3] It takes the average person approximately 10 seconds to solve a typical CAPTCHA

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

From Meggie's description, and the fact that she is a long term forum user, it doesn't sound like a CAPTCHA to me. It sounds more like an annoying popup ad along the lines of 'click here for your free computer health check'.

Meggie - can you provide a little more info/wording/perhaps a screenshot? Better to be safe than sorry!

[Will196]

Just wanting to know if its safe to click on the advert on the forum urging users to do a certain task before going online. Or is it just some kind of scam.

Even if it's safe from somebody honest adverts are rarely in your interest to click on. They expect to gain something from you. Avoid

[meggie]

Hi everyone thanks for your interest, but what l find is after the first 2 posts on each page the third spot will be occupied by some form of advertisement.
ln this case it says we urge everybody to carry out this task before going online, it shows a picture of a wifi router and seems to be saying to unplug a certain lead and possibly replace into a different port. There is an arrow to click to start an information video.it is this that im  wondering is safe to do.
  Would liked to have supplied a screenshot Tamara but afraid i dont know how
        Thanks Chris.

[Will196]

Amazon is offering to sell me a motherboard. Now you know what I've been looking at on Amazon. I still wouldn't click on it.

If you're using wifi there are only two cables usually. The power and the dsl . You can't change either.

[Brightspark]

Hi everyone thanks for your interest, but what l find is after the first 2 posts on each page the third spot will be occupied by some form of advertisement.
ln this case it says we urge everybody to carry out this task before going online, it shows a picture of a wifi router and seems to be saying to unplug a certain lead and possibly replace into a different port. There is an arrow to click to start an information video.it is this that im  wondering is safe to do.
  Would liked to have supplied a screenshot Tamara but afraid i dont know how
        Thanks Chris

it's just an advert, and a clever one than most by the sounds of it as it caught your attention.
Google ads on the whole are well vetted and on the whole fairly safe, but it is what it is and it's there to make someone some money.

Unless you really want to click on it and check it out then it's up to you, but persoanlly I wouldn't bother.

[bedouin]

Hi everyone thanks for your interest, but what l find is after the first 2 posts on each page the third spot will be occupied by some form of advertisement.

Install AdBlockPlus and you won't see it again (although you'll still see the paid-for ads in the right margin).

[Globetrotter]

The 3rd reply on every post is a sponsored advert, one way of keeping a website financially viable.

[woe10]

Hi everyone thanks for your interest, but what l find is after the first 2 posts on each page the third spot will be occupied by some form of advertisement.

Install AdBlockPlus and you won't see it again (although you'll still see the paid-for ads in the right margin).

AdBlock Plus slows your computer, use uBlock:
Chrome: It's no secret that Adblock Plus is one of our favorite add-ons, and it does a lot of cool things. However, it's definitely memory hungry, and can slow your system down. If you want a leaner alternative that still keeps the web clean and protects your privacy, try uBlock (or rather, µBlock.)

[bedouin]

AdBlock Plus slows your computer, use uBlock:
Chrome: It's no secret that Adblock Plus is one of our favorite add-ons, and it does a lot of cool things. However, it's definitely memory hungry, and can slow your system down. If you want a leaner alternative that still keeps the web clean and protects your privacy, try uBlock (or rather, µBlock.)

Interesting, Woe.  My iMac is so lightning fast that I don't notice any effect from AdBlockPlus, but I suppose some computers might slow down a bit.

[erik_tonny]

AdBlock Plus slows your computer, use uBlock:
Chrome: It's no secret that Adblock Plus is one of our favorite add-ons, and it does a lot of cool things. However, it's definitely memory hungry, and can slow your system down. If you want a leaner alternative that still keeps the web clean and protects your privacy, try uBlock (or rather, µBlock.)

Thanks Woe,
My machine (i5, 4Mb, ssd) started to freeze during a minute or so a couple of times a day.
Changed adblock for ublock and no problems