- #Cnet downloads avast free antivirus how to
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- #Cnet downloads avast free antivirus software
#Cnet downloads avast free antivirus software
I was absolutely sure not to accept any of the software that they planned to install, but as you can see in the screenshot below it still installed SweetPacks. So just letting the installer get to the download page will be enough for you to have fallen into the trap.
#Cnet downloads avast free antivirus install
It turns out that even if you don’t check the box to accept installation, the CNET installer will still install the crapware from the first box. The Fallout – What if you do fall for the scam? Well it made me suspicious, so I went to take a look. Luckily I didn’t have any unsaved data open it, but that was certainly odd wasn’t it? And then I noticed something strange, my Google Chrome browser that was running in the background crashed out. I didn’t even install the Mangofile that I was originally after. I let it sit for about 5 minutes and after it had made no progress I canceled. It got to 8.5MB out of 26.5MB and then stopped downloading. I clicked Decline again and was finally taken to the screen where the program I actually wanted would begin downloading.Īfter 3 pages of crapware installation attempts, guess what? My download froze. That makes 3 attempts to get me to install crapware. This screen is even telling me to “Click ‘Accept’ now to continue my installation” so that’s just what I’m going… wait a minute, this is another page of crapware! What the heck is Wajam? That’s not the application I was trying to download… The way around this one was to click the Decline button, so that’s what I pressed. This is another load of crapware! Look at the left side! DefaultTab Search Bar and TopArcadeHits? If that doesn’t sound like crap then I don’t know what does. What’s this? Another Terms of service? Of course I’ll just click the green box right where my mouse already is and accep… wait a minute. So I left it unmarked and clicked onto the Next Step. Well, they didn’t manage to snag me on this one. The fine print next to it clearly says that it’s going to install SweetPacks toolbar! But alas, it was a trick! This wasn’t the TOS I was looking for, it was a installer acceptance box with light-gray text. On the very second page of the installer was what at first glance appeared to be the Terms of Service checkbox for the app I was downloading. I went to CNET and decided to download a program called Mangofile using the CNET Installer. I was mostly convinced this was going to be bad based on previous experiences with bundled crapware, but the only way to be sure that the rumors were true was to give it a go myself.
The Verdict – Is CNET’s installer just a scam to infect your computer?
#Cnet downloads avast free antivirus how to
My Investigation is long and drawn out, so if you’d like to just skip to learn how to avoid becoming a victim of crapware via CNET, scroll down.
At this rate it will soon be over 1 million downloads and likely close to as many computers infected with its alleged crapware. According to CNET it has received over 751,418 downloads which included 97,556 just last week alone. If CNET’s download installer really is a crapware trap, the scary part is how many people are falling into it. It sounds crazy that a reliable company like CNET would resort to these kinds of advertising tactics, so I had to investigate for myself.
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