It’s obvious that Yahoo will let anyone advertise regardless of what products or services an advertiser is selling. In this case, the ad below takes users to a rogue software site to download a registry cleaner program to speed up a computer.

I find this very irresponsible on Yahoo’s part to not demonstrate responsibility on who can advertise. What Yahoo is saying is that it’s a free for all as long as we make money we are happy. If you, the end user gets screwed it’s on you.

The ad below sends users to “How Life Works” which has a good reputation, but the links in the article are dangerous. The link to ARO 2013 redirects to http://www.sammsoft.com and this site has a poor reputation for distribution of “rogue” security or other such applications. The site is listed on hpHosts as FSA-entry (sites engaged in the selling or distribution of bogus or fraudulent applications). See reference; http://hosts-file.net/?s=sammsoft.com

Actual Ad on Yahoo

ARO 2013

What’s ARO 2013? It scans, identifies, and fixes registry errors.

The site sammsoft.com has a poor reputation by the Web of Trust community. You can read the reviews at http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/sammsoft.com?utm_source=addon&utm_content=rw-viewsc

It’s really hard to be careful when a reputable site like Yahoo serves up ads that can harm a person’s computer and wallet.

I also noticed this software was recently awarded a coveted 4.5 star rating (out of 5) by CNET’s editorial staff. I guess someone was paid for that rating, maybe or CNET has lost its touch.

I doubt I will get a response from Yahoo, but if I do, I will share it here.