As a partial mod texturer and modder myself I have no Idea why people use Adfly. It requires 10,000 visitors to get a mere 5 dollars and you can't cash out before that and anyone that uses it normally doesn't get that many visitors anyway. When you use Adfly people say it is used to support development but 1. People don't need money to develop unless they are professional 2. If you want development support you can add a donate button since if one person donates 20$ it would be equal to 40,000 visitors! People should stop using it because it 1. Wastes time 2. Takes to long to produce money anyway 3. Makes Dropbox useless 4. Links you offsite. Overall, don't use unless you are a hotshot
Tl;dr
Adfly sucks don't use unless you are a hotshot
People use adf.ly because if allows them to get a small amount of reward for their work. They're spending time making content, and it only takes 5 extra seconds of wait time. Also, 10K downloads isn't actually that much, depending on the mod type.
People use adf.ly because if allows them to get a small amount of reward for their work. They're spending time making content, and it only takes 5 extra seconds of wait time. Also, 10K downloads isn't actually that much, depending on the mod type.
Yes but take for example the semi-famous and not famous mods that us it because they either over-think or over-believe that their mod will spark off. There needs to be a limit that if only you have 5000+ downloads already you can use it, but no other circumstances. There could also be a "mod reputation" that allows if you can use Adfly if you get 5000+ dowloads on your mods. The worst of all is that Adfly cant carry on between links so even if they did get 10,000+ a day they would still have about 5,000 that downloaded another version making it useless
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A normal man on a normal forum with a fondness of:
Yes but take for example the semi-famous and not famous mods that us it because they either over-think or over-believe that their mod will spark off. There needs to be a limit that if only you have 5000+ downloads already you can use it, but no other circumstances. There could also be a "mod reputation" that allows if you can use Adfly if you get 5000+ dowloads on your mods. The worst of all is that Adfly cant carry on between links so even if they did get 10,000+ a day they would still have about 5,000 that downloaded another version making it useless
Adf.ly isn't hurting you in any way, is it?
I get your point, but why do you care what they use to upload their mods on?
I have to agree with Kuvo. With the amount of hard work and countless hours put into mods and texture packs, a little monetary reward and waiting 5 seconds is small yet beneficial way to thank them.
Adf.ly isn't hurting you in any way, is it?
I get your point, but why do you care what they use to upload their mods on?
It does if the advertisement downloads a virus to your computer.
This is the reason I would never use adfly. I would feel terrible if my mod is causing people to have troubles because of a dodgy website allows dodgy advertisements to download suspicious files to their computer. Besides, I mod for enjoyment and to hone my skills, not for profit.
I think the adfly issue is the root cause of so many other issues concerning mods on these forums, but I guess that this is not the place to discuss that.
It does if the advertisement downloads a virus to your computer.
This is the reason I would never use adfly. I would feel terrible if my mod is causing people to have troubles because of a dodgy website allows dodgy advertisements to download suspicious files to their computer. Besides, I mod for enjoyment and to hone my skills, not for profit.
I think the adfly issue is the root cause of so many other issues concerning mods on these forums, but I guess that this is not the place to discuss that.
The only way that I've seen for Adf.ly to download viruses to a computer is if the person who is trying to download the mod clicks something in the advertisement.
In all honesty, I agree with the idea behind supporting the Devs, even if it really doesn't provide that much income. 5 seconds really isn't that long, even if You have slower internet(It can take me up to 30 seconds to download a mod, so 5 extra seconds isn't going to kill me). It honestly takes me longer to load the adf.ly page than it does for me to wait out the timer, but I don't mind all that much. The only time it can get annoying is in the case of trying to download a large number of mods, but then thats simply a context issue.
I don't agree with the ads and sites Adf.ly has on their ads, as many of them are obviously questionable, and I would make the assumption that the majority would result in a virus if You were to click on the links on their ads.
As for the donate link, most mods nowadays do have a donate link,and even if they didn't, the people who want to donate would simply have to ask(and likely would anyways if they're planning on donating).
If I ever release any of my mods though, what I will do is have an adfly link and a direct link. If you download through adfly you will get something special.
The only way that I've seen for Adf.ly to download viruses to a computer is if the person who is trying to download the mod clicks something in the advertisement.
This is one of those rumours that keeps spreading with no factual basis. Any code executed by the browser (eg from an ad) can potential exploit vulnerabilities in the browser and infect the computer with a virus or other kind of malware.
I have had my virus scanner going crazy simply going to an adfly page, looking at the reports the webpage is generally trying to install a trojen. Yes it is quite rare but still does happen (well not to me any more, I use a script to bypass adfly, coupled with using Linux as my primary OS meaning viruses aren't targeted to my system).
Even if it was the case of only clicking the ad could result in a virus, I still don't get why modders would intentionally direct their uses to a known unsafe site. Many people on here are quite computer illeterate and will still click those ads potentially installing maleware usually without them knowing.
In all honesty, I agree with the idea behind supporting the Devs, even if it really doesn't provide that much income. 5 seconds really isn't that long, even if You have slower internet(It can take me up to 30 seconds to download a mod, so 5 extra seconds isn't going to kill me). It honestly takes me longer to load the adf.ly page than it does for me to wait out the timer, but I don't mind all that much. The only time it can get annoying is in the case of trying to download a large number of mods, but then thats simply a context issue.
People have been modding computer games for almost as long as computer games have been made. There are some truely remarkable things people have done. The internet has made it much easier to distribute this work. They put in hours upon hours of their time creating these amazing peices of work and don't complain they don't get paid for it because they do it for FUN.
Minecraft modders use of adfly is actually quite atypical from what I have seen in the general modding community. Are minecraft modders more deserving of revenue (from unsafe sources) then other modders? Personally I just see them as more greedy.
I don't agree with the ads and sites Adf.ly has on their ads, as many of them are obviously questionable, and I would make the assumption that the majority would result in a virus if You were to click on the links on their ads.
So as I said why direct the less computer illiterate to these sites?
As for the donate link, most mods nowadays do have a donate link,and even if they didn't, the people who want to donate would simply have to ask(and likely would anyways if they're planning on donating).
I actually don't have that either, I mod for fun not to make money. Infact I have a small FAQ section concerning donations saying that rather than donating to me please donate to a worthy charaty instead. They could put that donation to much better use than me (who would probably blow it on coffee). I doubt anyone has done this but still worth the try.
P.s. please don't take this as any sort of attack against you, the main reason I singled out your post is because I thought it was the most well thought out post on the "adfly is good" side of the argument and wanted to rebut.
Pros:
Supports the Modder's who spend HOURS working on their mod
Helps them at no cost to you
Pro rebuttal:
1. Why are minecraft modders more deserving of money when they CHOOSE to spend their free time working on mods then modders of any other games?
2. No cost to you until you get a virus (or anyother pecice of malware) and because you don't know much about computerse need to hire a technician to remove it for you.
Cons: 5 seconds of waiting.........
Possible virus (Out of at least 100 downloads via adfly, haven't had one myself)
Adding on to your cons,
1. I would actually like to know collectivly how much time adfly has wasted while people downloading mods. Hell if $5 = 10,000 links that is wasting nearly 14 hours (not including load time)
2. Correction, you haven't had one yourself that you know of.
Personally I don't even see why minecraft forums allows people to link to known unsafe sites.
P.s. please don't take this as any sort of attack against you, the main reason I singled out your post is because I thought it was the most well thought out post on the "adfly is good" side of the argument and wanted to rebut.
Not at all, I appreciate a good debate when it's well argued by both parties in a reasonable manner. I actually rather enjoy the banter it brings, as it does bring up things that would normally not be mentioned by people just shouting back and forth and such. Thank You.
Note: I've hidden my responses in spoilers, as it greatly increased the length of the thread. Just pop them open to take a look. (By long I mean, I scrolled back up and felt awkward about the post length)
This is one of those rumours that keeps spreading with no factual basis. Any code executed by the browser (eg from an ad) can potential exploit vulnerabilities in the browser and infect the computer with a virus or other kind of malware.
I have had my virus scanner going crazy simply going to an adfly page, looking at the reports the webpage is generally trying to install a trojen. Yes it is quite rare but still does happen (well not to me any more, I use a script to bypass adfly, coupled with using Linux as my primary OS meaning viruses aren't targeted to my system).
Even if it was the case of only clicking the ad could result in a virus, I still don't get why modders would intentionally direct their uses to a known unsafe site. Many people on here are quite computer illeterate and will still click those ads potentially installing maleware usually without them knowing.
Well, I do know that is is possible, however(I work as a computer technician and constantly have people come in with viruses) the majority of the time anything major will be caused by someone clicking something. I've been running MalwareBytes(Personally one of my favourite protection programs, I find Anti-viruses as next to useless in 90% of cases), and probably about 25% of the adf.ly links I've been on have caused it to pop-up saying its blocked a connection. So I do agree with You on that point, It is definitely possible to get malware and viruses without clicking.
I do agree as well, that when it's known that a revenue generating site is sometimes the cause of viruses and malware and the like, that people should not continue to use and endorse it, as that just continues the cycle of people getting their computers messed up. Personally I think the main reason most people use it.. is simply because most people are using it. It just seems like the "most popular" option, and most people just adhere to what they see others doing.
People have been modding computer games for almost as long as computer games have been made. There are some truely remarkable things people have done. The internet has made it much easier to distribute this work. They put in hours upon hours of their time creating these amazing peices of work and don't complain they don't get paid for it because they do it for FUN.
Minecraft modders use of adfly is actually quite atypical from what I have seen in the general modding community. Are minecraft modders more deserving of revenue (from unsafe sources) then other modders? Personally I just see them as more greedy
I actually don't have that either, I mod for fun not to make money. Infact I have a small FAQ section concerning donations saying that rather than donating to me please donate to a worthy charaty instead. They could put that donation to much better use than me (who would probably blow it on coffee). I doubt anyone has done this but still worth the try.
I agree, and I know exactly what You mean. I've been in and around the modding communities on quite a few other games and in none of them are modders given the kind of... well... "power" for lack of a better word... that Minecraft modders get. Many mods in fact get stolen and ripped off if they look to be even halfway decent and uploaded by other people, to try and steal the credit. On top of that, the mods are not generating any revenue at all, as the mod authors truly are doing it for fun.
I don't think that Minecraft Modders are any more "deserving" of making revenue from their mods, however the way the modding scene is setup(My understanding of it anyways) is that it is setup in a way that enables them to use revenue based sites such as Adf.ly for their mods; Many (and/or Most) other games are not set up this way, and as such the modders cannot legally make any money from their mods, or be sued by the company for doing so. I think this is one of the main reasons that this has happened, once one person realized the "loophole" they had, everyone wanted to make a bit of money from their mods. This would constitute as greedy. xD
While I'll concur that this behaviour is unbecoming, I don't neccessarily think that generating revenue is a bad thing all the time. A good example for this might be Eloraam(And I'm sorry if this is actually a poor example, but it's the best I can think of at the moment). She had to take a break from modding in order to make money to maintain what shes been doing(I.E. Living, and whatever else, I assume Movies, Dates, Friends, whatever it may be that all require money). When modders are able to make money(Even if it is a small amount), it allows them to focus more time(It doesn't mean they neccessarily will of course, but You get where teh idea is headed) on making additions, fixes, and updating the mod for us Users. Personally, If I could afford to donate to each Mod that I use frequently, I would donate a minimum of $25 to each, for all the fun and great times I've had with them, but since I can't, I don't mind the 5 second wait for each download I do to get the mod, knowing that it's only giving them 0.0005 or whatever it is in money. I've even downloaded the same mod a few extra times, just because I wanted to show my "appreciation" for the mod, since I can't donate.
I also really like You're stance regarding donation, It's noble. Modders who make mods for fun shouldn't be worried about making money, that's not why people start modding in the first place in most cases. If You enjoy doing something, then do it, and if You can do what You're doing and have people support a noble cause in the world, rather than simply funding Your coffee fund(I love that example by the way ) I think that is a great thing indeed.
So, since I know I tend to kind of ramble a bit, and work around things in odd ways, I should probably sum that up just in case.
TL:DR;
I don't see why modders continue to use a site that is known to cause problems for their users, as that just doesn't really make much sense in all honesty. There are other options with far less likelihood to give Users viruses and Malware.
Minecraft Modders are in their own world in the modding scene compared to other games. I think it's mainly attributed to the way Mojang has gone about letting modders do things, as most other game companies have strict, legally enforced "no revenue generation from mods" rules.
I'm still not against the idea of revenue generation, especially from the perspective of not being able to afford donating to those mods I really enjoy, I am against the idea of using something known to give malware and viruses.
I like it when people do noble things like tell people to donate their money to a charity, rather than to themselves.
I'm actually rather excited to hear Your rebuttal to this.
2. No cost to you until you get a virus (or anyother pecice of malware) and because you don't know much about computerse need to hire a technician to remove it for you.
Adding on to your cons,
1. I would actually like to know collectivly how much time adfly has wasted while people downloading mods. Hell if $5 = 10,000 links that is wasting nearly 14 hours (not including load time)
2. Correction, you haven't had one yourself that you know of.
Personally I don't even see why minecraft forums allows people to link to known unsafe sites.
For point 2: I will agree, For non-techy people, viruses are nightmares(I find myself fixing my families computers at a rate of 1-2 every 2 weeks ). It might not cost anythign but time, but if You do get a virus, it can cost upwards of $60(depending on the pricing in the area around where You are, and how bad it is) to get a virus removed. That's also not counting the days(or even week(It shouldn't take more than a week for a good technician to remove a virus IMO)) that You have to wait while they fix it for You.
For Your Cons:
1: I know I can spend close to 20 minutes digging through ad.fly links when rebuilding custom packs. Mainly due to the fact that You can only load one at a time(I can occasionally get 2, but that limit seems really pointless). For me that's the main killer of the time, is that they won't work at the same time, but rather stack on top of each other repeatedly, forcing You to wait the 5 seconds on each new page whenever You do get to that specific tab. I still don't mind the wait though, as like I said with the donation thing.
2: Many people don't realize that they have malware, and thats always a problem, completely aside from adf.ly in general. Getting any new malware on top of what You might already have can cause things to get really bad, really quickly. There are some really good programs out there for removing malware and viruses, however I won't mention them unless asked to avoid "advertising/plugging/etc".
To anyone who says it supports them I'm just saying EVERYONE uses it and even popular mods mostly don't get up to 10,000 dowloads. Unless you know your mod is the NEXT BIG THING don't use it, also viruses can be given to newer people to the forums that think the big word DOWNLOAD leads you to the download.
Adfly isn't garbage, considering DivineRPG makes the team hundreds of dollars / month off downloads alone.
They make money off of donations which is a WAY better system than Adfly, if they made hundred dollars off off Adfly they would need millions of downloads.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A normal man on a normal forum with a fondness of:
2. No cost to you until you get a virus (or another piece of malware) and because you don't know much about computers need to hire a technician to remove it for you.
It doesn't matter which anti-virus You use, Any actual virus(Most things are just malware nowadays, and You'd never know You had them) has the full ability to completely disable Your anti-virus outright. MSE, Norton, AVG, Avast, none of them have any extra "advantage" over the others for protecting You against a virus proper. Once its on Your PC, You're in trouble.
Malware on the other hand is something that in most cases simply isn't actually detected by Your anti-virus, again regardless of which You use. MSE for example(I use it myself so I know this to be true) won't find most malware, while a program like Malwarebytes(Anti-malware program) will often find between 5-10 different pieces of Malware(often in the context of knowing You've likely downloaded an infect file or two in the past day or so).
Anti-virus programs are obviously a must-have, however when it comes down to it, 90% of the stuff that is going to cause You trouble isn't going to care one way or the other if You have an anti-virus or not.
It doesn't matter which anti-virus You use, Any actual virus(Most things are just malware nowadays, and You'd never know You had them) has the full ability to completely disable Your anti-virus outright. MSE, Norton, AVG, Avast, none of them have any extra "advantage" over the others for protecting You against a virus proper. Once its on Your PC, You're in trouble.
Malware on the other hand is something that in most cases simply isn't actually detected by Your anti-virus, again regardless of which You use. MSE for example(I use it myself so I know this to be true) won't find most malware, while a program like Malwarebytes(Anti-malware program) will often find between 5-10 different pieces of Malware(often in the context of knowing You've likely downloaded an infect file or two in the past day or so).
Anti-virus programs are obviously a must-have, however when it comes down to it, 90% of the stuff that is going to cause You trouble isn't going to care one way or the other if You have an anti-virus or not.
Uhh... I just scan my pc BEFORE it boots up in that case. That way the virus couldn't hide itself. I use malwarebytes to scan but for real time protection I use MSE.
Tl;dr
Adfly sucks don't use unless you are a hotshot
Total agreement.
Yes but take for example the semi-famous and not famous mods that us it because they either over-think or over-believe that their mod will spark off. There needs to be a limit that if only you have 5000+ downloads already you can use it, but no other circumstances. There could also be a "mod reputation" that allows if you can use Adfly if you get 5000+ dowloads on your mods. The worst of all is that Adfly cant carry on between links so even if they did get 10,000+ a day they would still have about 5,000 that downloaded another version making it useless
Adf.ly isn't hurting you in any way, is it?
I get your point, but why do you care what they use to upload their mods on?
It does if the advertisement downloads a virus to your computer.
This is the reason I would never use adfly. I would feel terrible if my mod is causing people to have troubles because of a dodgy website allows dodgy advertisements to download suspicious files to their computer. Besides, I mod for enjoyment and to hone my skills, not for profit.
I think the adfly issue is the root cause of so many other issues concerning mods on these forums, but I guess that this is not the place to discuss that.
In all honesty, I agree with the idea behind supporting the Devs, even if it really doesn't provide that much income. 5 seconds really isn't that long, even if You have slower internet(It can take me up to 30 seconds to download a mod, so 5 extra seconds isn't going to kill me). It honestly takes me longer to load the adf.ly page than it does for me to wait out the timer, but I don't mind all that much. The only time it can get annoying is in the case of trying to download a large number of mods, but then thats simply a context issue.
I don't agree with the ads and sites Adf.ly has on their ads, as many of them are obviously questionable, and I would make the assumption that the majority would result in a virus if You were to click on the links on their ads.
As for the donate link, most mods nowadays do have a donate link,and even if they didn't, the people who want to donate would simply have to ask(and likely would anyways if they're planning on donating).
Professional mincebag
If I ever release any of my mods though, what I will do is have an adfly link and a direct link. If you download through adfly you will get something special.
This is one of those rumours that keeps spreading with no factual basis. Any code executed by the browser (eg from an ad) can potential exploit vulnerabilities in the browser and infect the computer with a virus or other kind of malware.
I have had my virus scanner going crazy simply going to an adfly page, looking at the reports the webpage is generally trying to install a trojen. Yes it is quite rare but still does happen (well not to me any more, I use a script to bypass adfly, coupled with using Linux as my primary OS meaning viruses aren't targeted to my system).
Even if it was the case of only clicking the ad could result in a virus, I still don't get why modders would intentionally direct their uses to a known unsafe site. Many people on here are quite computer illeterate and will still click those ads potentially installing maleware usually without them knowing.
People have been modding computer games for almost as long as computer games have been made. There are some truely remarkable things people have done. The internet has made it much easier to distribute this work. They put in hours upon hours of their time creating these amazing peices of work and don't complain they don't get paid for it because they do it for FUN.
Minecraft modders use of adfly is actually quite atypical from what I have seen in the general modding community. Are minecraft modders more deserving of revenue (from unsafe sources) then other modders? Personally I just see them as more greedy.
So as I said why direct the less computer illiterate to these sites?
I actually don't have that either, I mod for fun not to make money. Infact I have a small FAQ section concerning donations saying that rather than donating to me please donate to a worthy charaty instead. They could put that donation to much better use than me (who would probably blow it on coffee). I doubt anyone has done this but still worth the try.
P.s. please don't take this as any sort of attack against you, the main reason I singled out your post is because I thought it was the most well thought out post on the "adfly is good" side of the argument and wanted to rebut.
Supports the Modder's who spend HOURS working on their mod
Helps them at no cost to you
Cons: 5 seconds of waiting.........
Possible virus (Out of at least 100 downloads via adfly, haven't had one myself)
Pro rebuttal:
1. Why are minecraft modders more deserving of money when they CHOOSE to spend their free time working on mods then modders of any other games?
2. No cost to you until you get a virus (or anyother pecice of malware) and because you don't know much about computerse need to hire a technician to remove it for you.
Adding on to your cons,
1. I would actually like to know collectivly how much time adfly has wasted while people downloading mods. Hell if $5 = 10,000 links that is wasting nearly 14 hours (not including load time)
2. Correction, you haven't had one yourself that you know of.
Personally I don't even see why minecraft forums allows people to link to known unsafe sites.
Note: I've hidden my responses in spoilers, as it greatly increased the length of the thread. Just pop them open to take a look. (By long I mean, I scrolled back up and felt awkward about the post length)
Well, I do know that is is possible, however(I work as a computer technician and constantly have people come in with viruses) the majority of the time anything major will be caused by someone clicking something. I've been running MalwareBytes(Personally one of my favourite protection programs, I find Anti-viruses as next to useless in 90% of cases), and probably about 25% of the adf.ly links I've been on have caused it to pop-up saying its blocked a connection. So I do agree with You on that point, It is definitely possible to get malware and viruses without clicking.
I do agree as well, that when it's known that a revenue generating site is sometimes the cause of viruses and malware and the like, that people should not continue to use and endorse it, as that just continues the cycle of people getting their computers messed up. Personally I think the main reason most people use it.. is simply because most people are using it. It just seems like the "most popular" option, and most people just adhere to what they see others doing.
I agree, and I know exactly what You mean. I've been in and around the modding communities on quite a few other games and in none of them are modders given the kind of... well... "power" for lack of a better word... that Minecraft modders get. Many mods in fact get stolen and ripped off if they look to be even halfway decent and uploaded by other people, to try and steal the credit. On top of that, the mods are not generating any revenue at all, as the mod authors truly are doing it for fun.
I don't think that Minecraft Modders are any more "deserving" of making revenue from their mods, however the way the modding scene is setup(My understanding of it anyways) is that it is setup in a way that enables them to use revenue based sites such as Adf.ly for their mods; Many (and/or Most) other games are not set up this way, and as such the modders cannot legally make any money from their mods, or be sued by the company for doing so. I think this is one of the main reasons that this has happened, once one person realized the "loophole" they had, everyone wanted to make a bit of money from their mods. This would constitute as greedy. xD
While I'll concur that this behaviour is unbecoming, I don't neccessarily think that generating revenue is a bad thing all the time. A good example for this might be Eloraam(And I'm sorry if this is actually a poor example, but it's the best I can think of at the moment). She had to take a break from modding in order to make money to maintain what shes been doing(I.E. Living, and whatever else, I assume Movies, Dates, Friends, whatever it may be that all require money). When modders are able to make money(Even if it is a small amount), it allows them to focus more time(It doesn't mean they neccessarily will of course, but You get where teh idea is headed) on making additions, fixes, and updating the mod for us Users. Personally, If I could afford to donate to each Mod that I use frequently, I would donate a minimum of $25 to each, for all the fun and great times I've had with them, but since I can't, I don't mind the 5 second wait for each download I do to get the mod, knowing that it's only giving them 0.0005 or whatever it is in money. I've even downloaded the same mod a few extra times, just because I wanted to show my "appreciation" for the mod, since I can't donate.
I also really like You're stance regarding donation, It's noble. Modders who make mods for fun shouldn't be worried about making money, that's not why people start modding in the first place in most cases. If You enjoy doing something, then do it, and if You can do what You're doing and have people support a noble cause in the world, rather than simply funding Your coffee fund(I love that example by the way ) I think that is a great thing indeed.
So, since I know I tend to kind of ramble a bit, and work around things in odd ways, I should probably sum that up just in case.
I don't see why modders continue to use a site that is known to cause problems for their users, as that just doesn't really make much sense in all honesty. There are other options with far less likelihood to give Users viruses and Malware.
Minecraft Modders are in their own world in the modding scene compared to other games. I think it's mainly attributed to the way Mojang has gone about letting modders do things, as most other game companies have strict, legally enforced "no revenue generation from mods" rules.
I'm still not against the idea of revenue generation, especially from the perspective of not being able to afford donating to those mods I really enjoy, I am against the idea of using something known to give malware and viruses.
I like it when people do noble things like tell people to donate their money to a charity, rather than to themselves.
For Your Cons:
1: I know I can spend close to 20 minutes digging through ad.fly links when rebuilding custom packs. Mainly due to the fact that You can only load one at a time(I can occasionally get 2, but that limit seems really pointless). For me that's the main killer of the time, is that they won't work at the same time, but rather stack on top of each other repeatedly, forcing You to wait the 5 seconds on each new page whenever You do get to that specific tab. I still don't mind the wait though, as like I said with the donation thing.
2: Many people don't realize that they have malware, and thats always a problem, completely aside from adf.ly in general. Getting any new malware on top of what You might already have can cause things to get really bad, really quickly. There are some really good programs out there for removing malware and viruses, however I won't mention them unless asked to avoid "advertising/plugging/etc".
They make money off of donations which is a WAY better system than Adfly, if they made hundred dollars off off Adfly they would need millions of downloads.
Please do not look at my old posts.
http://info.breadcraft.me/
Malware on the other hand is something that in most cases simply isn't actually detected by Your anti-virus, again regardless of which You use. MSE for example(I use it myself so I know this to be true) won't find most malware, while a program like Malwarebytes(Anti-malware program) will often find between 5-10 different pieces of Malware(often in the context of knowing You've likely downloaded an infect file or two in the past day or so).
Anti-virus programs are obviously a must-have, however when it comes down to it, 90% of the stuff that is going to cause You trouble isn't going to care one way or the other if You have an anti-virus or not.
Please do not look at my old posts.
http://info.breadcraft.me/