I've been aware of this sort of thing for decades (I used to have high security clearances too, until I 'retired' from the world, and even back then I was rather privacy sensitive.). This thing from google was just new to me, and a quick web search from an alternative search engine didn't turn up anything that seemed to mention what I experienced.
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On the bright side, a System Restore seems to have cleared up the problem with Spybot being locked out of the files and folders.
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Thank you , everyone, for your replies to my vanity thread.
I'm still never going to use google again, voluntarily, although I know that nearly every web page these days has embedded google stuff in them, and even modifying my HOSTS page won't defeat them all.
Try adding this to /etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net
I did that a while ago, and that one line made a noticeable difference in my perceived browsing speed.
Doubleclick's not supposed to slow the internet down, but it does in practice, because your average web author is too dumb to follow guidelines as to its usage. As a result, pages hiccup pending its response, instead of rendering properly, then updating when the ad arrives. Google underinvested in its infrastructure, causing their costly ad-server to become a bottleneck. That, combined with failure on the part of your average webmaster to code around its performance limitations, made it a stand-out web irritant!
Fortunately, the above one-line, code-free solution exists! Now, I don't mind a few ads, as long as they don't slow me down. But doubleclick became a bottleneck. So screw 'em! If GOOG had invested, I wouldn't have bothered. But they didn't, so I edited /etc/hosts, and now it's very unlikely I will ever get around to un-editing it.