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What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

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Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#81

Post by ekianjo »

lucaspiller wrote: post #16
weavie wrote: post #11

I regularly get called by people complaining that their computer no longer works. Pretty much every time it turns out that their machine is loaded with crapware. It amazes me how people just put up with random browser windows popping up and having to search via some random search engine that has been imposed on them. At the minute I just have to put up with spending a few hours removing the worst offenders and then r…

I feel your pain. Whenever family ask me to look at their computer I spent an hour deleting spyware and such. The worst bit is they do have antivirus and Windows defender, but they do nothing to stop it :/ The common advice to stop it before was "don't use IE". Everyone uses Chrome now, and so that's now where everything installs itself (check the extensions and there is usually something dubious). Google even have a…

> I feel your pain. Whenever family ask me to look at their computer I spent an hour deleting spyware and such. The worst bit is they do have antivirus and Windows defender, but they do nothing to stop it :/

Once I installed Linux for my folks, all these problems magically disappeared.

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#82

Post by kristofferR »

ZoFreX wrote: post #34

> And no matter how technical you might be, most of the installers are so confusing that there’s no way a non-geek could figure out how to avoid the awful. Or even a geek who is in a hurry. I came very close to accidentally installing crapware when I was downloading things from Sourceforge the other day. It's no wonder regular end-users end up with all this crap.

Unchecky fixes that.

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#83

Post by locusm »

Renaud wrote: post #14

Instead of dowloading from Sourceforge (loaded with ads and its own devious 'installer'), CNET, Download, etc, there are no-crapware alternatives that offer more management tools as well (remembering your list of apps across machines, automated updates, discoverability): Ninite: nice, simple, installer: just select apps and let the installer do it all for you. AllMyApps: all the apps, no crapware (at least for now).…

Add http://scoop.sh/ to that list.

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#84

Post by weavie »

ekianjo wrote: post #81
lucaspiller wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel your pain. Whenever family ask me to look at their computer I spent an hour deleting spyware and such. The worst bit is they do have antivirus and Windows defender, but they do nothing to stop it :/ The common advice to stop it before was "don't use IE". Everyone uses Chrome now, and so that's now where everything installs itself (check the extensions and there is usually something dubious). Google even have a…

> I feel your pain. Whenever family ask me to look at their computer I spent an hour deleting spyware and such. The worst bit is they do have antivirus and Windows defender, but they do nothing to stop it :/ Once I installed Linux for my folks, all these problems magically disappeared.

I can't find my InDesign icon... where have you put it?

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#85

Post by mxfh »

cturhan wrote: post #78
mxfh wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 8.x+ has an app store, but sometimes I think even Microsoft doesn't know it exists by all the crap and impostors it's listing in it. here are some common search terms: antivirus: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/search#q=antiviru... ccleaner: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/search#q=ccleaner...

Windows store is not a real store which you can download regular windows apps. I think they only want to use it for metro apps and I think their functionality are far from native apps.

You can get your desktop app listed in the store and point the customer to your own website for installation and purchase. It's obscure, but yes.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14944527/non-metro-app-fo...

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/06/08/list...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dn37...

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#86

Post by robobro »

Free software vendors make so much more money by bundling other software than they do by selling subscriptions that it’s pretty much the only business plan that anybody can consider using. At least Avast is bundling something good, so we can’t really argue with it.

Because when the product is free the real product is YOU.

His use of the term "free software" kinda bugs me here. Yes, "freeware" are harmful, but just because something doesn't cost anything doesn't make it bad. Because his article is intended for a general audience, I think he should offer links to legitimate free software vendors. Instead of going on a crusade against "free (and open source) software" he should go on one against "suspicious free (of cost) software sites".

KMplayer does have an option to add an Ask toolbar, but it doesn't have Search Protect. I really don't think that a lot of the big-name software containing trojans on Download is uploaded there by the project developers, but that's just the dreamer in me talking. On sites that let people upload executable files with little-to-no moderation, or on sites that are in and of themselves harmful, malware is unavoidable.

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#87

Post by kagamine »

iSnow wrote: post #51
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #41

And this is why Apple created Gatekeeper and made the Mac OS X App Store so ridiculously onerous for developers[1]. The software world is, for all intents and purposes, a thin sheen of gold flecks and diamonds atop a veritable cesspool of shit. You can just imagine the conversation at 1 Infinite Loop: Marketer: The Panic guys are considering pulling out of the App Store. Maybe we should reconsider our App Store strat…

Ironic, considering that Apple did exactly the same, when you installed QuickTime on Windows. They tried to trick you into installing iTunes and Safari and set them as default apps. Also, it stinks that Apple has nailed iOS that shut that even as a knowledgeable user you are not able to bypass it. They did not yet dare to do the same on Mac OS, but who knows when that comes.

Less ironic when you consider that all of those Apps are from the same reputable company and not malware, nor do they have any hidden purpose beyond trying to assimilate the WinClones to the Appleborg (although it seems to have given Apple such a bad rep among some Win users that it backfired).

Re: What Happens When You Install the Top Download.com Apps

#90

Post by glesica »

zxcdw wrote: post #66
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #41

And this is why Apple created Gatekeeper and made the Mac OS X App Store so ridiculously onerous for developers[1]. The software world is, for all intents and purposes, a thin sheen of gold flecks and diamonds atop a veritable cesspool of shit. You can just imagine the conversation at 1 Infinite Loop: Marketer: The Panic guys are considering pulling out of the App Store. Maybe we should reconsider our App Store strat…

> and that it's our own fault Whose fault exactly is it? Has anybody in HN worked with a company which does this crapware bundling, let alone creating? Or does anybody know anyone who's "in the business"? Because I, quite honestly, can't understand how or why people would be doing this. Is it really that "Well, I know this shit is going to infect thousands of machines with software which nobody would like to have, bu…

> Has anybody in HN worked with a company which does this crapware bundling, let alone creating?

If anyone here has worked for Adobe (Flash included crapware for a long time), Oracle (Java updates used to or still do include crapware), Google (browser toolbar was crapware), or Apple (Quicktime for Windows attempted to install iTunes and Safari), then yes.

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