CNET....Go Away!

Governments block your website for a reason

Techies avoid your website for a reason

Regular users use your site because they don't know any better.

But yet you still insist on including "CNET Bundleware" with these downloads

Don't you already make money from the overwhelming amount of "Ads/Tracking" that exists on your site?

Quit shoving/enforcing all this crapware down our throats, we don't like it.


Sorry, I had to rant....CNET makes me mad lol

HaHa, even though I don't use it anymore

 

Maybe I should say why I'm a little mad at CNET

One of my clients got infected with CNET's so called "Safe" bundleware.

 

The bundled junk is annoying. I just stopped downloading stuff from CNet whenever possible.

However, CNet is still a nice place to go for reviews, news and articles.

 

LOL at your rant. What's CNET...I forgot all about that site. That site went to the crapper quick.

 

I don't download from them either, softpedia is my primary choice for downloads.

I just don't think it's a good move on CNET's part, especially for the people who don't know what to do/the ones who just click next, next, next.

Looks like I have to take a trip to their home to make sure it's a false positive, they said their avast! and Malwarebytes started going crazy.

They are good with reviews, news and articles...I'll have to agree with you there.

 

HaHaHa, Sorry, I get that way sometimes

I agree, at least when it comes to their download section + tracking and advertisements.

 

Its all good I understand. Yep I'm definitely talking about that. I used to recommend people go there to download software. Now I say softpedia or filehippo.

 

CNET bought out another download site in the early 90's, which I use to recommend very highly...I just can't quite remember the name.

Ugh! Darnit, hahaha this ones going to keep me up tonight

 

Was it something like Win95.com? I don't know if that was the exact URL or what, but I remember the site had clouds in the background (similar to the Win95 boot screen).

 

I stopped using CNET right after they started bundling software with their crapware! If I find something on CNET i'm interested in then I go to the developer's website. If they only host their software on CNET then I just don't use it. It's sad though since I used CNET for many years. I learned about security software like Prevx, Spysweeper, Avira, Avast.... basically all of them on CNET in the beginning. Now I rarely visit CNET.

 

Can I just check something here.

If I download a file from cnet, lets say Malwarebytes Antimalware, are you saying I will also download something else that I am not aware of?

 

No, all I remember was that it had a blue color in their page theme.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VersionTracker ?

 

I barely go there either, except for reading the occasional article.

 

Hmmm, no...that wasn't it either.

Oh gosh, this is going to drive me nuts hahaha

Thanks for searching around for it, I appreciate it.

 

It's not in all downloads, but here is an example of a download that comes with CNET's bundleware http://download.cnet.com/MailWasher-Free/3000-2382_4-10192298.html?tag=mncol;1

I don't recommend downloading it, unless of course you know what you're doing or if you're executing in a virtual environment.

 

Even though i dont have experience with CNET myself as i download from other sources,But some major software vendors still have confidence in them.Look at avast for instance,its primary download site is CNET.

 

Software vendors use CNET because it's still the worlds largest/widely used download site.

The more the visitors, the more people find out about that certain software.

In turn, it gets their name out there

I would imagine software vendors such as avast request for CNET not to include it's bundleware with their executable, in respect to their customers.

I would imagine those software vendors that do agree to include CNETs bundleware, are simply looking for a cut of money, especially if a user makes the decision to install the adaware, toolbars or even sometimes malware.

 

Malware accusations

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNet_download.com

 

That may be true, but given CNET's practices I think you have to question software developers who choose to distribute their software via CNET downloads. Especially those software developers who direct users to CNET downloads rather than provide their own downloads and/or direct users to a more "reliably ethical", I'll say, download service. IOW, perhaps the heat and criticism should be focused on those software vendors rather than CNET.

 

Too bad they still own the domain download.com, which will attract lots of newbies.

 

I had to re-install Malwarebytes on my Daughters computer recently, and MBAM directed me to CNET to do the download. I was promptly infected with a virus that took the computer down. Lucky I was able to quarantine it in Avast! quickly. I then downloaded it from Major Geeks with no problem. Thanks CNET!

 

As long as there are sites like majorgeeks.com, filehippo.com, and softpedia.com, there is no reason for anyone to ever go to CNET. I actually had this conversation with someone at work a couple of days ago because she picked up some ad-ware on her system and suspected it came from CNET.

 

CNET was always suspect to me. I don't like all those download portals with one exception: filehippo. - Either I go there or I download from developer directly. This is what I would suggest to anyone who is in doubt.

 

You can mistakenly click an ad, or a download for something that you thought was MBAM (forex, a button may say "Download here" on the same page as MBAM, but it is something else). I am discouraged that MBAM does not host their own downloads. Someone suggested it is because they want to get the recognition as far as being a popular download on the CNET site. I don't know. I just wish they would distance themselves from CNET. Otherwise, I am a big fan of MBAM.