Stop by the Chrome Web Store to find extensions

It sounds the opposite, but hear me out. If you are looking to try a new browser extension, or would like to download one that is recommended, stop by the Chrome Web Store to search it.

While I have the utmost confidence that you, a tech-savvy Lifehacker reader, will not be sucked by scam extensions in the Chrome Web Store, AdGuard recently reported that 300 as such rogue extensions were responsible for sucking clean 80 million Chrome users (minus all bots).

While a number of these extensions were your typical “crappy-sounding extensions that everyone with a brain should avoid,” there were enough that were close enough to a ridiculously sounding add-on to cause problems. For instance:

• Ad-block for YouTube
• Adblocker for YouTube
• A-warder
• UBlocker
• AdBlock – Stop ads on each page
• Adblocker-X
• AdBurner
• AdBear
• StopAds
• Adkill

These were all fake ads that have since been removed from the Chrome Web Store, but only because AdGuard could get the attention of Google. Up to that point, these expansion scams have attracted millions of total users since their launch. And none of the add-ons on that list, for the record, were legitimate – the extension you would have want to is “Adblock for Youtube, ”From AdRemover, but how is an ordinary person expected to know that?

It feels like we are writing this kind of story with an alarming frequency. To me, that indicates that Chrome has a pretty big issue on its hands within the Chrome Web Store. It feels a bit like the Wild West, where anyone can apparently upload any add-on, which is either a malware-laden clone of another, or just the smallest little else to not make Google suspect something is wrong.

Of course, though, if “Adblocker,” “Ad-block”, and “Adblock” all have similar descriptions and icons, is something clearly op. But if you are not very tech savvy, how do you separate the malware from the must-have extensions?

AdGuard does a great job summarizing the guidance we would typically offer:

• “If you are going to install a browser extension, think again. Maybe you do not really like it?
• Install add-ons only from the developers you trust.
• Do not believe what you read in the description of the extension.
• Reading user reviews does not help either. Most of the evil extensions have excellent reviews and yet they are evil. “

And I’m glad to see that their endpoint reflects what I’ve been thinking lately:

• Do not use the internal search of the Chrome Web Store, follow the links directly on the websites of trusted developers.

It feels a little weird to say that a Google entity, of all things, is not as reliable when it comes to searching (and instead of using it, you should just use Google). I would not advise regular people to use the Chrome Web Store to find everything they did not already know about; even then, the chances of getting caught with malware are still too great.

I mean, hey, I just found a simple search for “block ads”, like any normal person might, and these results all seem a bit sketchy:

Do not install from the Chrome Web Store unless you are absolutely sure that what you are installing is a legitimate extension. To make sure you don’t get asked or angry by any other crappy extensions, search for the original developer of an extension – a website, a GitHub, a Twitter account, whatever – as a review site you trust, and use the links sy to pack your Google add-ons. You will be much safer for it.