Have you ever been disturbed by fake download buttons? If you have a habit of downloading cracks or torrent files, I bet you have been.

Most of the fake download buttons lead you to completely unrelated web pages, maybe a scam or malware. That’s why you should be extra vigilant to spot and avoid fake download buttons.

How to Avoid Fake Download Buttons?

Avoiding fake download buttons is not a sweaty task. You can do it in the matter of seconds with simple logics. You can read a few tips to identify and avoid them.

#1. Examine the Download Buttons

If you see a beautiful download button in front of you, you must be vigilant because 80% of the times you will end up visiting a shi**ty site.

Moreover, you see a special symbol at the top-right corner of the ad (as in the image) for Google’s ads.

That’s how you can spot it in one way. Google gives you an option to report ads so that you will never see the same ever again on any website.

#2. Lookout for a Plain Download Link

When you see an attractive download button on a website, you need to scan the entire page to spot a plain download link (not button in most of the cases). There you go.

You will get it.

#3. Lend Ears to Google’s Warnings

You might have got this (look at the image down below) when trying to visit websites, right?

Google displays such notices to give you warnings about the strategies that a particular site adopts to make profits. They skillfully deceive you and make you click that fake download buttons. So, don’t visit sites with such warnings.

#4. Hover Mouse Pointer over the Link

The best way to identify and avoid fake download buttons is to hover the mouse pointer over the same. You will see the target URL on the left (usually) bottom part of the browser tab.

Make sure it includes a file name extension at the end (like .exe, .dmg, .zip, .mp3, .mkv, .mp4 etc.). If you don’t see one, you will be redirected to an unwanted page most probably.

You know yts.ag, don’t you? It offers torrent downloads of movies. They have incorporated two fake download buttons on every download page in a perfectly. One can never find it fake until it is clicked. Or, you need to hover the pointer over it and, it will return a javascript instead of URL. So, avoid it.

#5. Download .EXE Files only from Reputed Sites

Executable files are the best way to inject malware or adware into your computer. So no matter what, you shouldn’t download such files from unreliable websites.

Softpedia, FileHippo and some other reputed sites are there that provide software downloads.

Wrapping Up

I hope you now know how to avoid fake download buttons, don’t you?

Try to avoid those sites with tons of pop-ups and pop-unders. Use legit websites and stay safe.

If you find this useful, don’t forget to share the same with your friends as well.