Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

be careful downloading free screensavers

(1/2) > >>

mouser:
http://www.vcn.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=385

The Bad News: Why You Should Never Download Free Screensavers for Windows

Free Waterfall Screen Saver!! Free Wallpaper!! Free Smileys!! 10,000 High-Quality screensavers!! Sports, Nature, Animals, and More!!

Have you ever seen advertisements like the above? Don’t be fooled. A huge number of these “free” screensavers, wallpapers, cursors, etc., contain spyware -- actually, virtually 100% of them contain spyware. There are many very sad stories of people who downloaded a cute goldfish screensaver and got their Favorites/Bookmarks filled up with pornography sites(here), or who had a new employee who downloaded a screensaver which then killed access to the internet and the office network (here).

So, do not download free screensavers! It’s just not worth it. Do not download wallpapers, themes, cursors, smilies, or anything of the sort, either. Just don’t ever download anything from an advertisement. This may seem like a strict and no-fun policy, but if you disregard it, you have a good chance of winding up very, very sorry.

The Good News: Rare Exceptions To The Rule

But what if you really want a cool screensaver? Screensavers can be a lot of fun. Aren’t there any good ones? Well, yes, but they're few and far between. So, I have scoured the internet to find those rare gems for any Visionary Customers who may enjoy screensavers. Here are a lot of clean, safe screensavers that don’t contain spyware (as of April 2005):
--- End quote ---

lanux128:
basically i can't understand the infatuation people have with *FREE* screensavers.
here's some of the "hell" i have to go thru' when i have to disinfect some of our centre's networked PCs...

try to spot which one of these is the "crap-ware"... ;-)
be careful downloading free screensavers

this is one of the milder case...
be careful downloading free screensavers


btw, Top 10 tricks causing spyware epidemic...

best regards,
lanux

mouser:
btw lanux if you want to its very easy to attach images to posts themselves instead of uploading to a site like imageshack (if you want to).  and you can even use thumbnails.

for more info see https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1996.0

lanux128:
aye mouser, i knew about that but when i find the images, i just right-click to upload via imageshack's quickload. btw, this is no free plug for the image-hosting web-sites, it has become a habit of mine... ;-)

Deozaan:
How can wallpapers or cursors contain spyware? Aren't they just images? Or is it that they use some sort of installer to set them up which also places the spyware?

On another note, I have yet to find a truly likeable screensaver that doesn't eventually bug me. I generally stick to the blank screen or WinXP logo and then have my monitor turn off after twenty minutes.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page