Download.com Now Wraps Downloads In Bloatware

MrSeb writes "At Download.com, page designs have been repeatedly tweaked over the years to push its updater software (now called TechTracker), TrialPay offers, and the site's mailing list. Bothersome, perhaps, but certainly not inexcusable. They've got to make money off the site somehow, after all, and banner ads don't always do the job. Now, things have taken a turn for the worse: Cnet has begun wrapping downloads in its own proprietary installer. Not only will this cause the reputation of free, legitimate software to be tarred by Cnet's bloatware toolbars, homepage changes, and new default search engines — but Cnet is even claiming that their installer wrapping is 'for the users.'"

Comments

Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[elrous0]

Jeez, you expect this stuff out of fly-by-night crapware sites. But even I trusted CNET (until now, anyway), and I'm about as cynical a bastard as there is when it comes to downloading software apps off the net.

So, is Tucows still around? I have occasionally used SourceForge, but I never felt confident they were policing their binaries very well (that could be an unfair presumption on my part).

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[Immostlyharmless]

Last time I tried Tucows, same thing. Some crap installer kept popping up. God only knows what the hell it installed on my system. :o(

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[larry bagina]

Use sourceforge. You can just download the code, review it, and compile it yourself with proper optimization and architecture flags.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[Moryath]

More and more download sites are doing this.

Hell, even reputable companies are doing this. I see it all the time. We wind up cleaning off "Ask Toolbar" and other sorts of shitty crapware all the time, and it wandered in as a tagalong with Adobe Reader and Java updates!

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[uniquename72]

I always try to use Filehippo. They're the only download site where I've never seen an ad deceptively disguised as a "Download" button.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[russotto]

Hell, even reputable companies are doing this. I see it all the time. We wind up cleaning off "Ask Toolbar" and other sorts of shitty crapware all the time, and it wandered in as a tagalong with Adobe Reader and Java updates!

OK, so that's Adobe and Oracle... what were the reputable companies doing this?

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[ge7]

Well, Google does it with their toolbar for IE, Google Desktop Search and Chrome. I think most slashdotters think Google as somewhat reputable company.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[0123456]

At least I can still turn off my TV in the middle of an advertisement.

And TV ads don't eat into your download cap and infect your TV with malware.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[djdanlib]

* Yet.

Lots of newer TVs and Blu-ray players now have Java... it's only a matter of time, I think.

Scary thought!

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[hairyfeet]

Your best bet is Major Geeks. I have found the selection at the Major to be incredible, both of the latest and older stuff, and they don't try to push the crapola like CNET does now.

Heck i'm surprised it took /. this long to run a tory about it, as I've been warning folks to stay away from CNET for a few weeks now. if I'd have known it had been run I'd have put it up awhile back but I just figured somebody else had done it and I didn't want to dupe.

But if you want the "basics" your best bet is Ninite which always has the latest CCleaner, flash, Java, klite, etc and NO TOOLBARS in software like CCleaner, all automated and easy peasy, and for the more offbeat stuff you can't beat the Major. those are my two "go to" sites now that CNET has become just another adware spammer.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[Moryath]

So far with Java I have seen Ask Toolbar, Bing Toolbar, and one other (I forget what). Adobe tends to push Ask Toolbar and Google Toolbar.

What really gets me about the Bing Toolbar is that on any computer with IE8 or IE9, Bing is already the fucking default search engine for the search box anyways. So why the fuck does MS have to push a goddamn toolbar everywhere?

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[_0xd0ad]

I cleaned the Ask toolbar off one of my friends computers after it broke the new tab shortcut and menu item in Firefox. Yeah. "...huh?" The only way to get a new tab was to drag something into the tab bar or open a link in a new tab.

(found that Ask was the culprit by disabling extensions one at a time until the Ctrl-T shortcut started working again)

Oh well, nothing of value was lost. I probably would have cleaned it off anyway, but I wanted to know why the shortcut was broken. And it actually surprised me that it was so poorly written that it broke stuff like that.

Re:Wow, when you can't trust CNET

[X0563511]

And, snarky sarcasm aside, plenty of projects host the binary builds alongside them as well.

You just have to actually look in the files "directory" of the project, instead of just going with the "latest" link somewhere near the top of the page.

Sourceforge is no alternative

[gad_zuki!]

The last few Windows apps I've downloaded from there came with their own "INSTALL TOOLBAR FOO" now in the installer. PDFCreator is one example.

This is why we're headed towards managed computing and app stores. The game is just too dirty. Joe User has no idea whats going on. His computer has a dozen toolbars and all he's done is follow his geeky friend's advice to install stuff like PDFCreator or other GPL products. I'd rather just be microbilled 20 cents or whatever they make per install. Shame no one has properly cracked the microbilling nut.

Re:Sourceforge is no alternative

[GameboyRMH]

That's not sourceforge's fault any more than getting an infected crack from TPB would be TPB's fault. Sourceforge just hosts whatever the hell you upload.

No, it's CBS

[MrEricSir]

c|net is long gone, they are now CBS Interactive.

Re:Driving users to the App Store

[isorox]

Apple already has an App Store for the Mac, and Microsoft will soon as well for Windows 8.

Moves like this will drive users in droves to download applications from a known, clean source.

I've been a fan of a collection of app stores since I moved to Debian 2.2, 11 years ago, nice to see the non-oss world catching up.

Premium?

[superdave80]

From upload.com:

If you would like to opt out of the CNET Download.com Installer you can sign up for a Premium subscription or PPD promotion, both of which are being excluded at this time.

If find it hilarious that they are talking about how this is 'for the users' and such a great thing, yet the 'premium' subscriptions don't have to deal with this bullshit. If it's sooooo great, shouldn't it be available only to premium users?

Re:Driving users to the App Store

[mark-t]

One of the biggest problems with the Mac App store, IMO, is that it apparently cannot recognize applications which have been purchased before the app store was available, and thus cannot upgrade them via the app store. It would be nice if there were a way to tie prior specific purchases (that one still has record of) with one's Apple ID so that they could use the app store in this way... and have a relatively smoother upgrade path to follow in the future.

A Software Author's Perspective

[stegre]

I just sent the following email to Download.com:

Please be advised that your your "CNET Download.com installer" is in violation of the terms of my software. Section 4a) permits distribution UNMODIFIED copies only. Additionally, section 4c) does not permit "bundling" with other software components.

Please remove my software from your site immediately, as the reputation of my application is now at risk.

Sincerely,

Steven Greenberg
Author, GSpot Codec Appliance

Re:A Software Author's Perspective

[advocate_one]

you were lucky... I had to fake my death to escape from Reader's Digest...