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Author Topic: be careful downloading free screensavers  (Read 15381 times)

mouser

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be careful downloading free screensavers
« on: March 09, 2006, 06:47 PM »
http://www.vcn.com/k...e/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):


lanux128

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2006, 07:28 PM »
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"... ;-)
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6444/startup3zu.png
be careful downloading free screensavers


this is one of the milder case...
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5142/spybotsb15jj.png
be careful downloading free screensavers



btw, Top 10 tricks causing spyware epidemic...

best regards,
lanux

mouser

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2006, 07:49 PM »
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.donation...dex.php?topic=1996.0

lanux128

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2006, 08:07 PM »
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

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2006, 02:03 AM »
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.

jgpaiva

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2006, 05:34 AM »
I generally stick to the blank screen or WinXP logo and then have my monitor turn off after twenty minutes.
I think you'll like the findings in this post. ;)

tinyvillager

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2006, 06:11 AM »

  The screensaver file i.e. .scr is an executable just as if it where a program file ,.exe.


I know i'm already preaching to the quire,but just say no to executables,i.e. .exe .scr,etc. And set your email client
to view in plain text.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2007, 09:43 PM by tinyvillager »

Mark007

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Re: be careful downloading free screensavers
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2006, 10:48 AM »
I tried to get Deozaan stuck on Electric Sheep a while back, but later found out that both he and I were sick of it :) I may try some of the others though. They sound interesting.