Watching Porn sites with protection doesn't do it for me.

I prefer my sex unprotected despite the risk of viruses.

NightOwl2255: Firefox, AdBlock and NoScript are your friends.

So much this.   Don't forget Ghostery so you can block things like web bugs and and tracking beacons that monitor your web surfing and online behavior.

Chrome sandboxes scripts so they don't have access to the OS or the rest of the filesystem, but there, FlashBlock is still a win.

airsupport: hypothetically speaking, how can this "malware" attack your computer if you don't click on the ads?

Scripting.  Scripts are automatically executed when you go to the site just by loading the URL.  Most of the time they are harmless, and in many cases essential to running the site.  However, an untrustworthy site can use those scripts to nefarious purposes.

Noscript is your friend.  You'd be amazed at how many scripts some sites used, and how many are completely unnecessary to the actual running of the site.

Also, way-back-when, the Windows Metafile vulnerability meant that malicious code could even be hidden in an image file, and by loading the image itself the computer would execute a program without the operators permission and knowledge.  That was patched back in '06, but it was a fairly gaping hole in Windows security and a bonanza for malware sites (because the pictures themselves were the malware, so even if you saved them offline and redistributed them, they still win).

Fano: give me doughnuts: Religious sites have more mal-ware than porn sites.

Mysteriously, lyrics sites seem to be some of the worst that I visit for malware.

Church sites are that way because they're invariably done for free by some congregant's nephew who "knows computers", but nothing about server security, and they get hacked in short order.

Lyrics sites are that way because they're illegal in the US (publishing poetry without compensating the copyright holder), so they're as fishy as any black market.

/angling to replace Ric Romero when he retires

What's the deal with those sites that won't let you close or navigate away without clicking an OK button? I assume clicking that shiat is not in any way good.

For the BBC, this is Sir Ric Romero reporting.

Religious sites have more mal-ware than porn sites.