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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

#161

Post by tomaskafka »

matrixagent wrote: post #144
coob wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Piracy is rampant on jailbroken iOS devices.

Indeed. I only learned recently just how rampant – not even half of the copies of a "App Store best of the year" game were bought. ( https://twitter.com/ustwogames/status/552136427904184320 ) I wouldn't even have imagined so many people would even jailbreak their phones anymore.

Isn't this partially a result of selling iPhones in countries where majority of population doesn't have access to any means of payment that would work with App Store?

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

#162

Post by benihana »

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.

Yep. This ruined my Apple for me for about half a decade. I refused to use any of their products because my only interaction with them was with their shitty Windows software, so I assumed all their software was shit. It wasn't until I worked with a Mac fan who let me use his 2005 MBP that I realized that they can actually make decent software.

Microsoft seemed to do the exact opposite in this time period. Their Office software was very Mac-like and worked very well on OS X.

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

#163

Post by simonh »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #63
simonh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A colleague managed to get one of thse toolbar things on his computer. It was a nightmare. It installed a second hidden browser plugin to keep re-installign the toolbar and re-setting your default search engine every time the browser restarts. Then there was a startup exe installed to re-install the plugins and toolbar on system restart. Then there was something else rooted in there somewhere that kept downloading an…

On Windows, Restore Point are (still) a good one-stop solution against this kind of crap. The most annoying malware I've removed this way was one that automatically killed any instance of cmd.exe and regedit.exe that you opened.

You have to admire* their tennacity.

* Warning: No actual admiration included.

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

#164

Post by feld »

petecooper wrote: post #143

Mobile computer tech, here. War story follows. I handle high single-figures of these adware and/or potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) infestations every week. Mostly it's Windows 7 and 90% adware/PUPs-centric, occasionally ransomware. In the huge majority of cases, the following will get a computer back up and sorted in a sensible amount of (billable) time: First, bring known-good copies of AdwCleaner, Junkware Rem…

You have the worst job on the planet. Thanks for doing it.

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

#165

Post by rhia »

pjc50 wrote: post #148
matrixagent wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I only learned recently just how rampant – not even half of the copies of a "App Store best of the year" game were bought. ( https://twitter.com/ustwogames/status/552136427904184320 ) I wouldn't even have imagined so many people would even jailbreak their phones anymore.

I boggle at people going to that much effort to pirate such cheap games. Is there a region restriction issue?

I know quite a few people who are too cheap to pay the < 1$ for most apps...

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

#166

Post by jjoonathan »

_nedR wrote: post #132
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…

I agree with you partially. But Apple has taken its own interests into consideration. Apple is not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts - They take a fat cut out of each sale. Have you seen the Debian repositories or the Ubuntu Software center. They have a great selection of software, are easy to use, while at the same time not taking away your freedom or resorting to Orwellian tyranny.

> They have a great selection of software

The Debian repositories are great, but don't kid yourself: unless you're a developer, it's very likely that there are at least a handful of mission-critical apps missing from the Linux ecosystem.

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

#167

Post by bcj »

pjc50 wrote: post #80
iSnow wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Apple are quite happy to trash another company's OS. The Windows iTunes experience was terrible : it ate resources, was opaque in operation, didn't always sync properly and could occasionally wipe your devices. It used to be required for OS updates. The "nailing shut" is an increasing problem for anyone that believes in a free market in software. Which isn't helped by all these sites shipping value-negative software.

I'm not going to lie, that does sound similar to my experience with iTunes on OS X (though I do remember it somehow being even worse on Windows).

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

#168

Post by dec0dedab0de »

username223 wrote: post #128
glesica wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Every sane piece of Mac software: download a big disk image (dmg), mount it, copy the application folder to /Applications. To uninstall, drag it to the trash. Adobe software: download a tiny disk image, launch the hideous Adobe installer program, give it root, have it download and install God-knows-what to God-knows-where. To uninstall, open a terminal and go medieval on everything with a name containing "Adobe", "Ma…

Adobe creates the most user-hostile software that is not pure malware.

I have always had a problem with adobe, and I used to say it was because 'they specialize in non-standards', but I think you have a much better point. It just feels like you're getting screwed every time you see that A.

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

#169

Post by theandrewbailey »

easytiger wrote: post #47
austinz wrote: post #10

Even the Windows Java client installer tries to get you to install the Ask toolbar (or at least it did; I haven't seen an update recently). I imagine it must be quite lucrative for Oracle; either that, they stopped caring about Java's reputation as a user-facing technology for web content or desktop applications, or users just don't notice these things.

There was a discussion on here recently. Apparently Ask.com makes something like $400+ mil per year. Mind boggling. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8762663

Oracle makes $billions per year. There's no reason to bundle Ask. Despicable.

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

#170

Post by scrabble »

tdicola wrote: post #6

I had to install the DirectX user runtime recently and was pretty shocked to see Microsoft has loaded it up with lots of crapware. First when you click download from its page at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35 you're prompted to set MSN as your homepage, download the malicious software removal tool, and download IE11 (if you're on Windows). Then after you skip that you get the download and…

I stopped trusting Microsoft installers when Windows Update listed the Bing Desktop as a Critical Update.
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