SourceForge’s new Installer bundles program downloads with adware

http://www.ghacks.net/2013/07/17/sourceforges-new-installer-bundles-program-downloads-with-adware/ (H/T) @ Corrine

 

I been noticing that same insistence on quite a few download sites and when they show up the best thing to do is get right off that site and look for one that doesn't play that game.

 

Nice, real nice, sounds like they are following in the footsteps of CNET and bundling crap with installers, bad move IMO.

 

Agreed that is becoming more pervasive. BillP of WinPatrol wrote the dangers of downloading free software:
http://billpstudios.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-dangers-of-downloading-free-software.html

 

I hope ESET adds this to their PUP detection.

 

It's not a true PUA. It's third party foistware that has become the scourge of a lot of third party sites. It's a shame SourceForge has joined the club. ESET is aware, though.

Regards,

 

Thanks siljaline for the heads-up.

Just only meant as a little addition (but you already mentioned it in the original post!): not all installers at SourceForge do this. As Martin Brinkmann (author of the article) posted at Ghacks in one of the replies on that article:

 

Same as CNet they must do it to attract more people to use the site But it has the opposite effect on me

 

That should be noted, maybe it's the software authors you should be aware of. SourceForge simply offered them an easier option of monetization.

 

That's good. My sentiment remains the same. I hope they add detections for this, as it is definitely unwanted regardless of what it is called. Thanks for the clarification.

 

You're welcome. The onus is on the user to avoid - at all costs and instances, third party adware installers such as the one discussed in this thread.

Regards,

 

A prime example of a rather nebulous if not dangerous third-party software update check would be FileHippo's update checker.

 

Are you saying FileHippo bundles adware or the Update Checker itself is bundled? Or that it automatically installs the software along with bundled crapware? Cause I don't see your point

 

Well, thanks for the alert. Although it's not music to my ears, I can understand why some developers might choose to go ahead with the bundling.

 

Neither do i... an update checker needs to check the versions installed and check online if there´re newer versions. I use fillehippo update checker and never had any problems.

 

You're welcome for the alert - it's best to be aware than having a bricked PC.

 

Just had my first experience with this garbage trying to download FileZilla v3.7.2. Found a clean link on NeoWin: hxxp://download.filezilla-project.org/FileZilla_3.7.2_win32-setup.exe.

 

Also available on SourceForge, just not on the main page. You have to click on the "Browse All Files" link under the main download button which will take you to:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/files/FileZilla_Client/3.7.2/

The article linked to in the first post of this thread explains this clearly.

 

@MisterB: The link you provided is redirecting to hxxp://ak.pipoffers.apnpartners.com/static/partners/dynamic/SFFZ/SFInstaller_SFFZ_filezilla_8979715_.exe on my system. That's the page I was trying to download the new version from earlier today which prompted my post.

@JRViejo: Thanks for the additional link. I've saved it for future downloads.

 

I just checked the link. I get a list of links to the different versions of Filezilla with only the latest version link at the top linking to the installer. No redirection. Try the main page and try the "Browse all files" link. That is how I got there. I just checked the file I downloaded and it is the Filezilla zip file.

 

@MisterB: Either we're having a failure to communicate or our systems are behaving differently. I'm still getting redirects to the ad-bundled version using the URLs highlighted below. I'm baffled that it could be just me, but maybe it is. Either way it doesn't matter because I have some good links to use now.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood the word "redirect" in your post. I usually understand redirect to mean a whole web page automatically taking you to another. The links for the Win32 installer do take you to the stub installer. The Zip file does download. The Filezilla website does link to the real installer.

Filezilla was updated again today and the zip file I downloaded last night is no longer the newest version.

 

It's possible that I'm abusing the meaning of "redirect". Thanks for replying - I'm not losing my mind after all!