Busy Body Browsers

[MilesAhead]

Now I see that every time I download one of my utilities from my page using chrome browser, after the download is complete I get a reg circle with a minus sign in the middle and this message "yadda yadda is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous"  A Discard Button is displayed.  The Keep Button is only accessible after hitting a drop down arrow.

I can see how this is going.  If not made by one of the big boys all software will have a scare blurb attached.  They don't even virus scan it now..  Just slam it as "not one of ours."

[cranioscopical]

It is a double-edged sword but their edge is the sharper.  That stuff is annoying!   

[mouser]

Miles, I had the same reaction -- it's not quite as bad as saying "We refuse to download this software because it will probably give you cancer", but you can see where we are going -- scaring people away from downloading stuff made outside of their channels.
The intentions in this case may be good -- to keep people from installing malware -- but independent developers are going to suffer.

[MilesAhead]

Miles, I had the same reaction -- it's not quite as bad as saying "We refuse to download this software because it will probably give you cancer", but you can see where we are going -- scaring people away from downloading stuff made outside of their channels.
The intentions in this case may be good -- to keep people from installing malware -- but independent developers are going to suffer.

-mouser (April 04, 2015, 08:16 AM)

You may have a more benign estimation of humanity than I.  I have the tin foil hat patent.  I don't charge licensing fees in order to encourage widespread usage. 

[MilesAhead]

It is a double-edged sword but their edge is the sharper.  That stuff is annoying!   

-cranioscopical (April 04, 2015, 08:00 AM)

I prefer the definition of "swordsman" that has more to do with loving than fighting. 

[Innuendo]

The people who implement things like this do have their hearts in the right place. However, generally speaking, people are stupid. They will click through any message, no matter how strongly worded, in order to have a chance to see the latest, hottest celebrity du jour naked or to have a chance at scoring music or software for free.

Wording the message stronger or making the process to get to the "I accept the risks. Download anyway." option more difficult to coerce the user into reading the warning only results in the users moving to browsers that are easier to use to download stuff.

The only real solution, which isn't really a solution, would be to bundle a full-blown malware/AV into the browser so only genuine threats were flagged, but who in the world would want to tackle that coding job, ongoing maintenance, *and* listening to critics declare your browser as bloatware?

I'd love to see a browser with a dialog that had two buttons. One displayed a thumbs up to download. The other displayed a thumbs down to cancel. The dialog would simply read "Idiots gonna be idiots. YOLO"

Now I want someone to code a Firefox/Pale Moon extension that does that.

[Jibz]

The only real solution, which isn't really a solution, would be to bundle a full-blown malware/AV into the browser so only genuine threats were flagged, but who in the world would want to tackle that coding job, ongoing maintenance, *and* listening to critics declare your browser as bloatware?

-Innuendo (April 04, 2015, 09:26 AM)

Surprisingly many of those also greet anything that looks even the slightest bit unusual with a big red Threat Found! dialog saying the user has something along the lines of Yadayada.Win32.Malware.generic-- where the thing to note is the generic keyword, but what most users will think is just "OMG I ran that file and I got a virus".

It's hard when most users have little idea what threats are, and it's safer for protection software to warn on anything to not risk missing a detection.

[/AV Rant]

[MilesAhead]

I think there is an Avira browser and maybe an AddOn for Firefox or two that allows scan on the backbone before downloading to your machine.  But how reliable is that anyway?  It seems like the most accurate detection is for tracking cookies and perhaps a few very specific rootkits.

Another annoying thing if I try to scan one of my zip files with VirusTotal and it has already been scanned(who knows how long a history they use) instead of scanning the file it says "this has already been scanned" and offers to show the results.  Gee that's really helpful.  The old version showed 2 bad reports out of 57 scanners so we will never look at a file with this name again.  Just tell you it was "bad" once upon a time in the west.

[Deozaan]

it's not quite as bad as saying "We refuse to download this software because it will probably give you cancer", but you can see where we are going

-mouser (April 04, 2015, 08:16 AM)

But they already do that as well:

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=38693.0

Chrome just says the file is malicious and the only option is to dismiss the notification. You actually have to open your recent downloads list to be able to override this behavior and download the file. Chrome itself does not mention this workaround.

[rgdot]

People's stupidity has brought us to this point. You think people don't or wouldn't blame the browser makers/authors if they get infected?

[bit]

There used to be an acronym for this:
NIH - Not Invented Here
"Nih!" is like a phonetic take-off on "Nah!" as in 'no thanks' (b/c we didn't invent it).

[TaoPhoenix]

Now I see that every time I download one of my utilities from my page using chrome browser, after the download is complete I get a reg circle with a minus sign in the middle and this message "yadda yadda is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous"  A Discard Button is displayed.  The Keep Button is only accessible after hitting a drop down arrow.

I can see how this is going.  If not made by one of the big boys all software will have a scare blurb attached.  They don't even virus scan it now..  Just slam it as "not one of ours."

-MilesAhead (April 04, 2015, 05:31 AM)

"If you are absolutely sure that MilesAhead is honorable and trustworthy and only says bad things about people from 5:17-5:38 on Thursdays, then go to the bottom floor, take a left, enter the broom closet, go through the window, jump into the elevator shaft and go around the broken elevator, to the bottom floor, open the door that says "beware of the leopard", feed the leopard exactly 40% pepper jack and 60% cheddar cheese, sing it a song to put it to sleep, pull the usb out from under its rump, and you can download the program.

HOWEVER YOU CAN'T READ DIRECTIONS WHEN THE PARANOIA FACTORY IS BUSY YELLING AT YOU AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO MILES IS, SO WHY NOT JUST DITCH THE PROGRAM BECAUSE IT CAN'T BE ANY GOOD IF HIS NET WORTH IS LESS THAN A BILLION DOLLARS."

 

[TaoPhoenix]

I'd love to see a browser with a dialog that had two buttons. One displayed a thumbs up to download. The other displayed a thumbs down to cancel. The dialog would simply read "Idiots gonna be idiots. YOLO"

Now I want someone to code a Firefox/Pale Moon extension that does that.

-Innuendo (April 04, 2015, 09:26 AM)

To the Coding Snack Bus!
 

[MilesAhead]

IT CAN'T BE ANY GOOD IF HIS NET WORTH IS LESS THAN A BILLION DOLLARS."

-TaoPhoenix (April 04, 2015, 11:41 PM)

Heh heh.  That reminds me of this radio ad playing now.  Yet another "system" for making big bucks with other people's money in Real Estate.  The book is free the class is free so the announcer asks why that is.  The entrepreneur explains "I made millions in Real Estate.  Now I want to help people."  Right.  And the used car salesman just volunteered to nurse those suffering from Ebola.  Never give a sucker an even break. 

[cranioscopical]

The entrepreneur explains "I made millions in Real Estate.  Now I want to help people." 

-MilesAhead (April 05, 2015, 06:55 AM)

Your problem is solved; ask nicely and he can give you a house! He'll feel better and you'll have done him a favour.
 

[MilesAhead]

The entrepreneur explains "I made millions in Real Estate.  Now I want to help people." 

-MilesAhead (April 05, 2015, 06:55 AM)

Your problem is solved; ask nicely and he can give you a house! He'll feel better and you'll have done him a favour.
 

-cranioscopical (April 05, 2015, 07:38 AM)

I'm afraid he'll insist I learn to flip it.  Anything larger than a one bedroom condo I'd probably throw my back out. 

[cranioscopical]

Your problem is solved; ask nicely and he can give you a house! He'll feel better and you'll have done him a favour.

-cranioscopical (April 05, 2015, 07:38 AM)

I'm afraid he'll insist I learn to flip it.  Anything larger than a one bedroom condo I'd probably throw my back out. 

-MilesAhead (April 05, 2015, 08:44 AM)

It's a tricky move; you have to know when to re-lease it.
 

[MilesAhead]

Your problem is solved; ask nicely and he can give you a house! He'll feel better and you'll have done him a favour.

-cranioscopical (April 05, 2015, 07:38 AM)

I'm afraid he'll insist I learn to flip it.  Anything larger than a one bedroom condo I'd probably throw my back out. 

-MilesAhead (April 05, 2015, 08:44 AM)

It's a tricky move; you have to know when to re-lease it.
 

-cranioscopical (April 05, 2015, 03:44 PM)

I hear you have to be hip to Judo to throw one of those two bedroom two bath suckers.