Q: I'm seeing excessive and/or intrusive ads on your site, why?

A: We certainly would not let any excessive or intrusive ads to be shown on GameKnot. Our goal has always been to make sure that GameKnot is one of the best and safest places to enjoy playing chess on the Internet, and allowing excessive ads would simply be a step in the wrong direction.

What you are seeing is most likely produced by so called "adware" or "spyware" programs hiding on your computer. It can also be caused by viruses as well, so make sure to check your computer. They hook into your web browser and "inject" their own ads (pop-ups, banner ads, text links, etc.) into the pages your visit, without the website's authorization or knowledge.

There are also legitimate ad-supported web browser plug-ins and extensions you might have installed, or that came bundled with another program you have installed, so try to disable all such plug-ins and extensions. Most often however, your computer is infected when you visit another website by clicking on a link (when googling for example, or in an e-mail, or on an adult website, software/music/etc. pirating website, etc.). All sorts of malware can install itself on your computer without your authorization by exploiting security flaws in your web browser.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do about adware/spyware from our end, as it resides on your local computer. Please make sure that your anti-virus and spyware protection is up-to-date and always observe safe and prudent practices when dealing with software downloads, clicking on unknown links and opening e-mail attachments.

» More info about adware/spyware.
» Free anti-virus programs: Google, AVG.
» Free spyware detection and removal tools: Google, Malwarebytes , Ad-Aware, SpyBot Search and Destroy.