A Cr*pware Paradise

As some of you know, I am always on a crusade about using extreme caution when you download something. The vast majority of computers I work on have problems due strictly to this issue. While this article is a bit long, the accompanying pictures illustrate the kinds of things you MUST be aware of! And this is all from Download.com which is from CNET who even guarantees their downloads will NOT be loaded with cr*pware. PCPitstop has started removing all their downloads from this website after reading this article.

A Cr*pware Paradise

Thanks Draclvr.

Thanks Draclvr for this great info and link, what is also frustrating and have to watch out for is when you try and download Free and/or Trial software from other *reputable? sites, they use Download.com as their One and only download site to get their product, needless to say that I say NAY to this.

*I wish I could remember some of the stuff I wanted to try out so I could give some examples, but my short memory, well... If I think of one or two I will come back and post it.

Here's How-To-Geek's follow-up to his tirade against Download.com that Draclvr linked to above: Yes, Every Freeware Download Site is Serving Cr*pware (Here’s the Proof)

Exactly, Uncle Reg. I had posted a similar article earlier (I'm sure everyone gets tired of me preaching about this!) showing how they ALL are doing this and only listed Download.com as one of them. I'm glad they posted this follow-up. I have so many people who STILL don't watch what they are doing and these articles have my favorite - screenshots. I was crushed when the first article I posted some time ago listed Tucows... Back in the day, they were the best!

These articles from How To Geek also just crack me up!

Thanks Draclvr and Uncle Reg. Interesting articles. Drac, I say keep preaching. We can all use the reminders. I know I appreciate them!

I agree with you oldroad, we can never get enough reminders and what is maddening is even sites where we "Need" updates for our machine can come with Cr%pware like Adobe Flash Player as just one example where you have to be careful not to download extra Cr___.

Draclvr

Your reminders are greatly appreciated !!

What do you think about classic shell for Windows 8? I watched a video on YouTube and the interface looks workable for those people who are horrified by the new look of Windows 8. The reason I'm posting this question here is because Microsoft doesn't offer it. You have to download it from classicshell.net. According to what I've read online, the site doesn't try to feed you any cr*pware with the download but I'm somewhat skeptical after reading these posts.

Classicshell is a fine bit of software used by many people. I don't have any experience with it as I like Windows 8.1 as-is and have gotten so used to it I'd never want to go back to Windows 7. As long as you download it from the source, you should be fine. I understand it's very fussy to set up, but if you persevere, it works quite well. I assume it will also work on Windows 10 should you upgrade this year.

Go for it!

Do you have any experience with Windows 10? We're looking at having our network stations set up to Windows 8 and then upgrading them all to Windows 10 when it's released. What happened to Windows 9?

I downloaded the technical preview, but never got around to installing it. Now Inland DID install his and he said it's a great improvement and he is liking it so far. I'd bend his ear about it. Everything I read is saying it's what Windows 8 should have been to begin with.