EvilZone

I don't get why these clowns do things like this. They aren't going to get any pages views, if that's what they want(atleast not willingly)

I'm guessing those are PPV ads so this would roughly be the scenario:
1. Shove adware down the throat of thousands of people
2. Wait and hope someone gets to the landing page and bites the bullet
3. ????
4. PROFIT!!!

@OP
NoScript, RequestPolicy and AdBlock with a few good lists may take a while to get used to but they are lifesaving addons.
As for the adware, look for anything suspicious in your profile folder or scrap the one you're using now and make a new one to see if the problem persists. Optionally, ditch Chrome together with all the stuff it leaves after an uninstall and switch browsers.

Here are the pdfs for anyone interested:

1. Operating Systems a Primer
2. How Functions Work
3. Introduction to Debuggers
4. Dive into ROP

...

Funny how checking throwaway emails for spam leads to something potentially useful.

Sorry to break it to you Chris, but at this point you're just full of it. You go on and on about the shiny new stuff like Joe Average gives two shits about them, and many of your arguments are contradictory to say the least. Not to mention the easy solutions to most problems you have listed. I don't side with Windows or Linux because I use both, the former because I have to, and the latter because I like it.

I've got an idea! Why don't you do some more research beyond reading just the [insert popular tech news site here] trending articles headlines and become more familiar with Linux in general? Maybe broaden your view and understanding of both operating systems so we can avoid having these over-vs-under type flamewars?

Granted, them taking everyone information is wrong and unlawful, but you must realize the fact it cannot and will not be used against you unless you are a terrorist.

So you acknowledge that they're breaking the law and you know it's wrong, but that's ok because... what? Do you think you have a say in the NSA's definition of a terrorist? That term has become pretty flexible in the last decade or so.

...they are able to record you and obtain your information without permission, but they require a warrant to actually access your files. No judge is going to grant a warrant unless the NSA can provide sufficient proof that there may be terroristic activities planned or happening.

Nothing that can't be fixed with a few threats and blackmails. Which they HAVE done in the past.

Besides, as long as you aren't getting involved in any actions like that or doing anything illegal enough to make the NSA start looking, you have nothing to worry about.

Have you ever found yourself facing legal charges? Interrogated by the authorities? Those people are trained to get the most out of you, and 'anything you say can and will be used against you' is a pretty powerful tool. I suggest you read about interrogation techniques to get a feel of how quickly they can build a case against you.

@lucid

I'm in sort of the same boat as you, last month my shitty old laptop had a surprise for me. It was working all fine and dandy, I went out of the house for a couple hours, came back and noticed the screen was all fucked up. Instead of properly displaying the black color, there was a mixture of 2px wide vertical blue and black lines. At first I thought it was the screen because I had issues with it before. Then after using the laptop like that for a few days my suspicion turned to the graphics card because the screen went back to normal for a couple of seconds on one occasion. Since the tinkerer in me had to do something about it, I took the heatsink assembly off the motherboard, replaced the paste and put it all together but that didn't solve the problem. Took it apart the second time and had I not accidentally tapped the heatsink while it was on a glass surface I never would've solved the problem.

It turns out the heatsink was slightly bent upwards so the chip on the GPU didn't have enough surface contact with the heatsink which caused the GPU to overheat and give me display errors. I remembered I had some copper foil laying around from unwinding those high freq. ferrite transformers you find in typical PC PSU's. After cutting it to size and making a sandwich of the foil and thermal paste and putting it between the GPU and the heatsink the old laptop works like a charm.

If I'm not mistaken the E545 is the latest of the Edge series with the retarded clickpad and if it comes with Win8 you'll probably have to mess with UEFI. The older T series fit the bill perfectly but they lack an hdmi port.

Oh wow, that's a cookie worth material man!

Not sure if sarcasm or not, but it seemed appropriate. I'm not saying it's some treasure trove of great info but it might help OP. That being said, consider switching to another operating system and learn as much as you can about it. Installing shitloads of programs doesn't really help if you don't know what you're doing. Changing the users habits and trading a bit of conveniency for more control goes a long way.