Hi nbtruthman,
I have no problems viewing any of the pages to which you link, partly because (presumably) of the browser+plugin combination that I use, and partly because of a simple technique that works on some of the publishing sites: opening pages in a new private/incognito browser window.
My setup: Firefox with the (relevant) plugins Adblock Plus, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, and Cookie Autodelete. (Edit: Oh, and I also have Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection turned on).
I do not use either of the apps / browser plugins to which you refer: Avast and PC Clear. Nor, though, do I see any ads on any of these sites.
Here are my results for each of the pages to which you link:
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...254594002/ Adware block
No block. Clear to view as-is.
Some other selected articles from this site though result in a demand for a subscription to view. Opening them in a private/incognito window does not get around this.
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/...23m-crewed Adware block
No block. Clear to view as-is. No apparent limit on article views before subscription is demanded (tested up to four or five articles).
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhLmEQ...R_w/videos No article
I see a YouTube channel titled "Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies" with a list of videos. No action required to obtain this result.
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://medium.com/on-the-trail-of-the-s...372c0c0553 Paywall after a few free articles
I see a paywall after a few free articles too, however, it is easily avoided by opening any given paywalled article in a private/incognito window (which is most easily accessed in Firefox by right-clicking on the link to the article and selecting "Open Link in New Private Window").
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/ca...xperiences Paywall after a few free articles
As immediately above (i.e., for Medium articles).
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/...gn=3146224 Paywall
As for the previous SCMP article above.
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescal...9ad26819b4 Adware block
As for SCMP above: no block, clear to view as-is, and no apparent limit on article views before subscription is demanded (tested four or five articles).
(2021-08-26, 04:59 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/scien...video.html Paywall
Paywall can be avoided using the open-in-a-private-aka-incognito-window trick.
I hope that this is of some use to you.
Laird