Installers Hall of Shame (Unwanted add-on): August 09, 2015

[Train]

Installers Hall of Shame (Unwanted add-ons)
http://calendarofupdates.org/index.php?topic=2.0

[fink]

+1

That list contains a number of programs that at one time were safe to install without much thought about unwanted bundling.

Avira a/v
Norton products
Hotspot Shield
Irfanview
Oracle Java
Winzip

Just to name a few.

[HAN]

Wow! WinZip includes RegistryBooster! I can't even imagine how fast my computer could go if I had that!!

If I developed or sold most of the programs on the list, I could not sleep at night knowing what I was a part of. Shameful and unbelievable!

[jdc2000]

Note that the list includes both items that have add-ons that CAN be de-selected and not installed, as well as programs where you can't choose not to install the unwanted add-ons. The Adobe products, IrfanView (the last time I checked), and others will allow you to deselect the unwanted add-ons. The paid Norton software is not a problem either, at least it hasn't been for me.

An addition to the list is the latest version of YouTubeDownloaderHD. It includes OpenCandy, which, although it is claimed not to be AdWare or SpyWare, is actually both. It shows you ads you don't want to see, and it does send information about the software installed on your computer back to the software publisher.

[Derp]

Malwarebytes Pro does a great job of catching and removing OpenCandy.

[jdc2000]

Do you know if it can remove OpenCandy completely AFTER it has been installed? I would like to install the latest version of YouTubeDownloaderHD, but I don't want the OpenCandy junk that comes with it. If MalwareBytes can remove the OpenCansy files and registry entries, and leave me with a functioning version of YouTubeDownloaderHD, I might try it. I know it will flag the installer as having OpenCandy.

[HAN]

From OpenCandy's website FAQ

How do I avoid OpenCandy offers?
Simply decline any OpenCandy recommendation(s), and OpenCandy will disable and delete itself when the main installer you are running completes. If any offer does install without your consent, this is likely from some other 3rd party and is not an OpenCandy offer. It is a violation of our network Policies. Please notify us of the app you were installing and the offer which was installed and we will take steps to remedy the situation or terminate relations with that software developer.

For those of you still unconvinced, try any of these steps:

Beginner: disconnect your internet connection (beware some software needs the internet to complete its install)
Intermediate: run the OpenCandy powered installer from the command-line with /NOCANDY
Advanced: add a domain block in your firewall for *.opencandy.com

What I would do are the both Beginner and Intermediate steps. This has worked for me in the past with the few OC items I've ran. My understanding at the time was that the OC dll file was unpacked/unzipped during the installation of the program I did want, but that OC routine never actually ran... As long as I was unconnected from the web and used the /NOCANDY switch.

I do think Malwarebytes does see OC. How deep it goes to remove any/all system references of it I do not know. I also know Hitman Pro sees it too.

Has anyone seen anything different from this?