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CEO of Brilliant Defends Sneaky Installation Practices

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the make-money-fast dept.

Em Emalb and other readers sent in follow-ups to our earlier story about yet more bundled crapware with Kazaa. Kazaa says they didn't do anything wrong; and so does Brilliant's CEO. I don't understand why anyone is still installing Kazaa, given their track record. Brilliant's brilliant plan is to use your computer to distribute their advertising, and give out Altnet resource dollars in exchange.

6 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. That's "Mister Karma Ho'" (how to remove it) by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's how to remove the "Brilliant" code.

  2. Just get KazaaLite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    www.kazaalite.tk

    Extra Features compared to original KaZaA
    - No Adware
    - No Spyware
    - No banners
    - No bitratelimit for mp3 files
    - No irritating websites loaded into KaZaA
    - No crappy BDE Viewer
    - No f*cking Bonzi Buddy
    - Set up multiple users with the included PseudoTrack tool

  3. Get Kazaa Lite by spav · · Score: 5, Informative

    Um....Get Kazaa Lite...no more crapware, same old Kazaa.

  4. How to remove - quick version by tartanboy · · Score: 4, Informative
    1.In the Windows Control Panel, select an option called "Add/Remove Programs." One of the options will be "b3d Projector." Highlight this and click the "Change/Remove" button.


    You may get a message that the uninstall has been successful.

    Search your computer for a "BDE" folder, which most likely will be found in the "WinNT" or "Windows" directory. In this folder will be a file called "bdeclean.exe". Run this to finish the first part of the process.

    Delete the BDE folder.

    Caution: An unrelated piece of software called Borland Database Engine also creates a BDE directory. If you think you may have this software installed, or if there is any confusion whatsoever, do not delete this directory.

    2.In the "Temp" directory (this will normally be found inside the "Windows" or "WinNT" directory) is a folder called "Brilliant." This contains many files. Delete the entire folder.

    3.After performing steps 1 and 2, you will need to locate and remove some additional Brilliant Digital files that have been placed in critical system-level computer directories. CAUTION: Deleting the wrong files could interfere with the normal functioning of your computer. These files will most likely be in the "Windows\System" or "WinNT\System32" folder(in windows XP I found them in Windows\System32\):

    bdedownloader.dll
    bdedata2.dll
    bdefdi.dll
    bdeinsta2.dll
    bdeinstall.exe
    bdesecureinstall.cab
    bdesecureinstall.exe
    bdeverify.exe
    bdeverify.dll

    Delete these files.

  5. Why I still use KaZaA by seldolivaw · · Score: 4, Informative
    1. Morpheus is dead, and Gnutella clients are improving, but are not nearly good enough yet.
    2. I find what I'm looking for. The user base is huge, 1,000,000+ users online at any time, so I'm very seldom disappointed. Using LimeWire and Bearshare (which I tested out when Morpheus first died) successful results take longer and downloads are more likely to abort unsuccessfully.
    3. It's slick. Morpheus 2.0, BearShare and LimeWire were all huge resource hogs, and took hours to even find some servers to connect to, far less find me any media. And -- a minor but significant point -- their interfaces suck big time. LimeWire's was the best GUI, but the worst results, sadly.
    4. Only moron users can't tell that KaZaA is loaded with spyware. If you're moderately experienced, it's piss-easy to choose the "custom install" option when installing KaZaA. All the spyware programs are clearly listed in that install, and avoiding them is as easy as unchecking the boxes (though the install program is cute, and asks you not to "in order to support our software").

    The ALTNET / b3d client does seem to install itself without asking you, but it sits quietly in the "installed programs" list, and can be uninstalled in 3 clicks (which I performed yesterday after reading Brilliant's plans for ALTNET).

    Summary: I use KaZaA because it works, and only morons can't uninstall the spyware.

    1. Re:Why I still use KaZaA by Tom7 · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is an excellent troll. So much so that I can't even resist responding!

      KaZaa asks you about a *few* of the many spyware apps they want to install on your computer. But MANY of them are installed regardless of what you choose. Try running Ad-Aware on your machine, or check out the uninstallation instructions for their newest thing (they one that this article is about).