Trojan Hijacks Google Text Ads

According to an article at Network World, there is a trojan that is changing the HOSTS file on PC's that replaces Googles' text based advertisements and redirects them to ads from another source. This seems fairly innocuous except I can see this potentially serving other things such as viruses or just about anything else.

What I advise to any reader right now to do is to use the custom HOSTS file and to make sure that it is installed correctly, (set its attributes to read only) and make sure that your system is up to date, including your antivirus software. There are several viruses and trojans that perform this type of trick, and some are more malicious than just depriving advertisers of their profits.