McAfee warning on GC pages

Not 100% convinced that is correct
Even the BBC isn't beyond being targeted by malicious software but browsers even more so.

 

What is much more likely is some previous malware modified the browser settings, routing all traffic through a proxy. The proxy gives you the page you asked for, but chucks in its own little bit of nastiness for good measure. It used to be a common malware attack vector until people started to realise they need to protect their machines. Now the most common attack vector is social engineering, where the malware, unable to genuinely breach security because of your antimalware suite, tricks the user into deactivating their defences to let the real payload through.

 

One of the reasons I gave up designing websites in the '90's - the industry moved faster than I could contend with

 

That's the same type of attack that I sometimes get when I visit here.

It's very common. As far as the system is concerned nothing is wrong, because it's just using perfectly standard messaging functions. They can do nothing to your machine. It's the social engineering trick is mentioned. It can't get through, so it tries to scare you or annoy you or otherwise goad you to do something. Then because it was you that did it, your security thinks you've given permission for the malware to do its thing. So it does so, unrestricted and unhindered.