7/7/2023 0 Comments Cnet computer cleaner![]() ![]() Nmap is not the only program reported to suffer this wrapping process – reports of many other well respected free programs receiving the ‘trojan’ download treatment from Cnet are filtering through – the excellent VLC media player is just one more example.Ĭnet have been quiet on this but, for me, the damage is done – whatever they say or do after this point. When I ask people how they got programs like the Babylon or Ask toolbar on their computer (which mess with their preferences and may ruin their browsing experience) they don’t recall ever installing them – most likely because they were bundled up within another program – which is what are alleged to be doing. Such ‘foistware’ (toolbars etc that are foisted upon you by being bundled as part of a legitimate program’s installation process) are the bane of a repair tech’s life. ![]() His view seems to be backed by Virus Total (a service that analyzes suspicious files) which reports that Cnet’s own wrapped installation of Nmap is detected by 10 antivirus companies as a Trojan… Sadly, this appears to no longer true – the creator of popular free tool Nmap has written a blistering attack on Cnet for wrapping his free program in what he calls their ‘trojan’ installer, including the dreaded Babylon toolbar/search engine/homepage combo. opt-out, not opt-in) and does its best to lead you into agreeing – most people will just click yes a few times as they would trust not to insert anything sneaky into someone else’s free program… ![]() It appears to be taking some installation files (that it hosts on behalf of a program’s developers) and ‘wrapping’ them in its own installation file which includes unrelated toolbars etc that can change the way you browse, your home page and your default search engine :-(Īlthough you can choose not to install such apps (if you read the small print and click the right thing), Cnet’s installer package sets them to install by default (i.e. I say ‘used to be’ because it has come in for a huge amount of criticism in recent weeks. ![]() CNET’s is a free download directory website established 15 years ago – it used to be a popular source for free downloads of thousands of legal programs. ![]()
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