Do you know what AdChoices is?
Every computer user has encountered advertisements produced by AdChoices even though they might not even know that. These advertisements are marked by a small blue arrow which you can find on a webpage or web banner; if you see it, it means that you have come across an ad related to AdChoices. The biggest possibility to detect ads brought by this service is if you visit such websites as youtube.com, yahoo.com, and the like. You should not be scared of these ads because they are legitimate as well as are not going to expose you to malicious software. However, you should also be aware of other software which might cause you a wide range of advertisements, i.e. advertising-supported programs. They usually get onto the computer and then produce various ads. Advertisements brought by AdChoices are not affected by your system and they will still appear regardless of the browser you use or the version of your operating system.
AdChoices itself is a service used by such internet corporations as Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, and other major companies. These companies use this advertising service because they are eager to keep various services free of charge. AdChoices itself claims that all these advertisements are perfectly safe as well as are not going to annoy you in any way because they are based on your interests. You cannot choose whether you want to see those commercials; however, you are allowed to select the ads that you prefer to see: more relevant or less relevant ones. If you do not want a more personalized type of advertising, you can always turn it off. As it has been mentioned above, it does not mean that you will not see any of the advertisements anymore.
Do you wonder how companies know your interests? First of all, you should know that some kind of information related to your browsing habits is collected and stored in your browser with the help of cookies. All this gathered data helps advertising providers to predict your interests and display the more relevant content. As AdChoices service claims, personally identifiable information is not of the main interest. The most relevant information includes your search queries, the websites that you visit, and the ads that you click on. Your approximate location is determined as well.
If you do not wish to see various commercials brought by AdChoices, you should know that there is, unfortunately, no possibility to do that. As these ads are not dangerous or intrusive, you will basically not even notice them while you are browsing the web. However, if you do not see the small blue arrow near the ad, it might be true that it is brought by other unwanted programs, for instance, adware. You should scan your computer with a reliable antimalware tool like SpyHunter in order to check whether there are no infections on your system.
In non-techie terms:
AdChoices is not the service which is aimed at infecting your system. It is a legal advertising service which shows personalized advertisements on all the popular websites like youtube.com. These advertisements are not harmful; thus, you can trust them. However, you will not be able to turn them off if you decide that you do not want to see them anymore.
Aliases: AdChoices pop up.