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ImgBurn - full of OpenCandy and other crap
Stoic Joker:
OC when I looked into it in depth is harmless.
https://cynic.me/2011/04/03/opening-up-opencandy/
You can opt out easily.
-Renegade (April 25, 2014, 11:01 AM)
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Indeed, and I don't believe that is being questioned (per se). But you article does confirm my suspicions above with this:
OpenCandy does not do that. What it does is to download a list of possible offers, then choose one of the offers and present it to a person during a software installation.
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Therein lying the problem ... If the offer of the day doesn't decide to play nice with 'Let the user say no' rule then everybody else in the chain gets shit on. So we end up with a classic case of one asshole (in this case apparently Conduit Search), screwing it up for everybody (ImgBurn/OpenCandy/Us in general) because they insist on being sneaky with their shitware instead of creating a quality product that people actually want.
Carol Haynes:
As I understand OpenCandy (which isn't very well to be honest) any offer from OpenCandy should give you the option to opt out BEFORE the installer is run - if not what is the point of allowing an opt out.
Having said that ImgBurn are obviously bundling other crap in with their own installer on top of OpenCandy because I have found the Ask Toolbar included directly in ImgBurn installer direct from their own server. As far as I am concerned Ask toolbar is also crap ware. It hijacks your browser and as far as I am concerned that makes it an infection.
I have no idea and no way of knowing if Conduit came in ImgBurn's installer or was dumped on my system by OpenCandy - either way ImgBurn is ultimately to blame. Nowhere on their webpage does it say "we will lump into the installer some random crap to get us money and annoy the hell out of you".
If they need money to be viable charge for the product - currently it is described as freeware - but software that can screw up your system isn't free.
I don't know how much they get from OpenCandy and the other crap vendors but if they charged $2 a copy they would probably get more income and we would have a good product. Personally I would have happily payed $10 for this useful app.
Renegade:
...any offer from OpenCandy should give you the option to opt out BEFORE the installer is run - if not what is the point of allowing an opt out.
-Carol Haynes (April 25, 2014, 08:21 PM)
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Carol, that's simply impossible/unreasonable/impractical. You're effectively asking that before the code runs, code runs to let you opt out. You have to run the code in order to be able to opt out.
The only way to do what you're asking is to use multi-file installers, which is a really bad idea. It's pretty simple to uncheck a box as it is.
Check the blog post I did previously on OC. I walk through it pretty well and get deep into the code/traffic.
Has OC changed radically since I looked into it? I know their compliance officer quite well, and he's pretty vicious at keeping the nasty stuff out.
40hz:
^
Ok. If that's the case, why not just ask people to opt-in by giving them an option to download and run Open Candy (or other bundleware) after the product they actually requested got installed?.
Oh. I see. They don't want to do it that way. Ok...got it. ;)
In fairness, I've seen some "free" products that state up front that they include Open Candy or other software with their installer. I have absolutely NO problem with anyone who does it that way. In fact, my respect for them goes up several notches because of their candor. What I don't respect is companies that try to slip things under the radar - and then get indignant when called out for doing so.
8)
MilesAhead:
^
Ok. If that's the case, why not just ask people to opt-in by giving them an option to download and run Open Candy (or other bundleware) after the product they actually requested got installed?.
Oh. I see. They don't want to do it that way. Ok...got it. ;)
-40hz (April 26, 2014, 10:50 AM)
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Does it seem to you there's a time wasting theme with the web these days? If there's one thing that frustrates me it's reading a whole list of features complete with screen shots and reviews, and there's no way to download the software on the page. Or every button points me to some zip archiver I never heard of.
The Web seems to be saying "Yes, you can still get free software, bit it's gonna' cost you!'
Maybe it's all a scheme to boost tranquilizer sales? :)
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