6 replies to this topic

[Matty_R]

Maybe some of you are aware of the recent discovery that cnet and their download.com hosting site have recently started wrapping all software in their own proprietary installer which has opt-in to install a toolbar and change your home page!
Now i realise that most who frequent this forum will just state that you should watch what your doing when installing a product, make sure to not just click next, etc, etc.
But is this really the point? Is it right that download.com are doing this, will a lot of people install the software and end up with said "improvements" on their system without really understanding why. They just wanted to install Malwarebytes surely. Maybe they allready have a malware issue and think this could be a consequence of that. Is this really the Bing homepage or a phishing site!
Apparently not all software is yet wrapped (btw, even paid for listings are being wrapped) but it seems that it could be a case of the next time you upload a new version of your program, it will happen.

I don`t agree with it, is it really acceptable in this day and age, especially when it`s a security company involved...

[1PW]

Hello Matty_R:

At this time only the legitimate Malwarebytes' installer file is definitely downloaded from download.com

Let's hope it remains that way.

[Matty_R]

1PW, on 23 August 2011 - 07:22 AM, said:

Hello Matty_R:

At this time only the legitimate Malwarebytes' installer file is definitely downloaded from download.com

Let's hope it remains that way.

Amen to that, allthough i do know they recenly changed their t+c`s to accomadate this. I suppose only the future will tell, or hopefully cnet will realise this is not a good move

Also they don`t seem to be the only hosters using this "buisiness model".

[tedivm]

At no point will MBAM be bundled with a toolbar and search engine changer- especially not one that you have to opt out of.

CNET is currently pushing out our legitimate installer, and as long as they are one of our official mirrors that will not change.

[DarkSnakeKobra]

CNET Installer does not repackage anything or install(except the toolbar junk). I believe it is just a download accelerator/manager of sorts as it downloads the author's original setup file.

[RamBurner]

I know that Palemoon has pulled theirs because of the wrapper, and that goes against their redistribution policy.
I do hope that cnet does not try to start using their wrapper on Malwarebytes.
I do carry Malwarebytes (current version and older ones) on my flash drive to install on computers that sometimes are having problems accessing the internet.

[nosirrah]

They will not be adding a wrapper to our software, it is just that simple.