Misleading bloggers and the use of "free".

|I recently read a blog where the blogger provided a link to a site
| where I could download a free software program. "The download is
| free", he said.
|
It sounds like the blogger was a shill for the
program. It is common, though. At one time people
were honest and software download sites were
just listing sites, with honest reviews and straight
facts. They always stated clearly what the license type
was and what charge there was, if any. Their
reputation depended on it. CNet was one of the first
to start charging software authors to get their software
listed "sometime this year". From there it went downhill.
The software listing sites just were't making enough
money. But rather than come up with an honest solution
they started selling listings and reviews, while pretending
to still be neutral listing services.

These days most such sites can't be trusted, in
terms of clean downloads, reviews, or especially
use terms. And a lot of software hides dependencies.
You start installing it only to see a message saying,
"downloading .Net Framework". The software author
intends to install hundreds of MBs of stuff onto your
system without asking or even explaining!

It's always important to go to the author's site,
to make sure you get the latest version, any
important support info, and a clean download, as
well as info about dependencies and any potential
cost.
But even at the author's site it can be difficult
to find out exactly what the deal is. I found that
recently at Corel. I kept going in circles just trying
to find the price of their software. AV companies
will often have a free version, but you have to run
a gauntlet of trick download links to find it, with
each link trying to get you to download a paid
version.

Also, prices and quality can vary wildly. Often
one brand gets popular in a category, but it's
not always the best brand. I find that I typically
spend hours looking for the best option when I
need something. But once I find it, I don't have
to do that research again.

On 6/18/2016 9:21 PM, Mayayana wrote:
|I recently read a blog where the blogger provided a link to a site
| where I could download a free software program. "The download is
| free", he said.
|
It sounds like the blogger was a shill for the
program. It is common, though. At one time people
were honest and software download sites were
just listing sites, with honest reviews and straight
facts. They always stated clearly what the license type
was and what charge there was, if any. Their
reputation depended on it. CNet was one of the first
to start charging software authors to get their software
listed "sometime this year". From there it went downhill.
The software listing sites just were't making enough
money. But rather than come up with an honest solution
they started selling listings and reviews, while pretending
to still be neutral listing services.

These days most such sites can't be trusted, in
terms of clean downloads, reviews, or especially
use terms. And a lot of software hides dependencies.
You start installing it only to see a message saying,
"downloading .Net Framework". The software author
intends to install hundreds of MBs of stuff onto your
system without asking or even explaining!

It's always important to go to the author's site,
to make sure you get the latest version, any
important support info, and a clean download, as
well as info about dependencies and any potential
cost.
But even at the author's site it can be difficult
to find out exactly what the deal is. I found that
recently at Corel. I kept going in circles just trying
to find the price of their software. AV companies
will often have a free version, but you have to run
a gauntlet of trick download links to find it, with
each link trying to get you to download a paid
version.

Also, prices and quality can vary wildly. Often
one brand gets popular in a category, but it's
not always the best brand. I find that I typically
spend hours looking for the best option when I
need something. But once I find it, I don't have
to do that research again.

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.
He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.



--
PeterN

In article , PeterN
wrote:

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.

scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert.

in the future, *never* do this.

whatever you downloaded *installed* malware.

He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

yep, and you can't be sure it's all gone because you have no idea what
exactly they did. it *might* be all gone but how can you be sure?

the safest thing to do is restore from a trusted backup.

On 6/18/2016 10:46 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , PeterN
wrote:

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.

scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert.

in the future, *never* do this.


I know better, but I was working on 2 hours sleep.

whatever you downloaded *installed* malware.

Yep!

He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

yep, and you can't be sure it's all gone because you have no idea what
exactly they did. it *might* be all gone but how can you be sure?

the safest thing to do is restore from a trusted backup.


I will probably cave in and Install Win10. At the same time i plan
further changes in my machine, including a new C drive, adding USB3
using an expansion slot.
Or, I may just get a new machine.

--
PeterN

On Sat, 18 Jun 2016 22:44:12 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 6/18/2016 9:21 PM, Mayayana wrote:
|I recently read a blog where the blogger provided a link to a site
| where I could download a free software program. "The download is
| free", he said.
|
It sounds like the blogger was a shill for the
program. It is common, though. At one time people
were honest and software download sites were
just listing sites, with honest reviews and straight
facts. They always stated clearly what the license type
was and what charge there was, if any. Their
reputation depended on it. CNet was one of the first
to start charging software authors to get their software
listed "sometime this year". From there it went downhill.
The software listing sites just were't making enough
money. But rather than come up with an honest solution
they started selling listings and reviews, while pretending
to still be neutral listing services.

These days most such sites can't be trusted, in
terms of clean downloads, reviews, or especially
use terms. And a lot of software hides dependencies.
You start installing it only to see a message saying,
"downloading .Net Framework". The software author
intends to install hundreds of MBs of stuff onto your
system without asking or even explaining!

It's always important to go to the author's site,
to make sure you get the latest version, any
important support info, and a clean download, as
well as info about dependencies and any potential
cost.
But even at the author's site it can be difficult
to find out exactly what the deal is. I found that
recently at Corel. I kept going in circles just trying
to find the price of their software. AV companies
will often have a free version, but you have to run
a gauntlet of trick download links to find it, with
each link trying to get you to download a paid
version.

Also, prices and quality can vary wildly. Often
one brand gets popular in a category, but it's
not always the best brand. I find that I typically
spend hours looking for the best option when I
need something. But once I find it, I don't have
to do that research again.

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.
He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

Today, I had about the 200th call from Microsoft Technical Services to
tell me that there was something wrong with my machine. My immediate
reaction was to tell him to "**** Off!" and hang up the phone. For
some reason he never called back.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On Sat, 18 Jun 2016 23:11:57 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 6/18/2016 10:46 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , PeterN
wrote:

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.

scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert.

in the future, *never* do this.


I know better, but I was working on 2 hours sleep.

whatever you downloaded *installed* malware.

Yep!

He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

yep, and you can't be sure it's all gone because you have no idea what
exactly they did. it *might* be all gone but how can you be sure?

the safest thing to do is restore from a trusted backup.


I will probably cave in and Install Win10. At the same time i plan
further changes in my machine, including a new C drive, adding USB3
using an expansion slot.
Or, I may just get a new machine.

I can recommend Super Anti Spyware Professional and Malwarebytes Anti
Malware. It's amazing what they have intercepted over the years.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

| I can recommend Super Anti Spyware Professional and Malwarebytes Anti
| Malware. It's amazing what they have intercepted over the years.
|

I'd be very careful with those. People raved about MB
so much on the Win7 group that I decided to check it
out. It found 10 problems on my computer and reported
them in a way that would have scared the wits out of
a novice computer user. Every one of the reports was false.
Four were connected with shutting off nags in the "security
center", but were reported as "threats". Five were harmless
Registry anomalies listed as "malware". The last one was
image.exe, which is the executable for BootIt, my partitioning
and disk imaging software. MB called it Backdoor.Bifrose. They
actually make up generic malware names to label stuff when
they really have no idea whether it's malware or not!

If I had allowed MB to do its thing I would have ended up
with lots of new ninny nags coming from the system tray
and a broken disk imaging program. It would take most people
some time to figure out that MB had broken their system,
because most people won't understand exactly what MB
is claiming to fix. People are too trusting of these programs.
And the design makes them more trusting. When they claim
to clean up 3 dozen "dangerous" Registry anomalies, most
people have no idea what was cleaned up and just assume
they escaped doom by the skin of their teeth.

I think a big part of the problem is that AV and malware
hunters get a far worse reputation from missing a bug than
from false positives. There are also far more bugs than
there used to be. Virus signatures go into the millions and
get updated every few hours. The whole system of looking
for malware is out of date. Also, people have become so
acclimated to restrictions and dysfunction on Windows that
they often operate in a very limited environment, using only
popular, corporate software products to do predictable things.

Those things combined mean that malware hunters
can almost get away with a strategy of just using a whitelist
rather than a blacklist: If it's not MS Word, Photoshop,
Outlook, Firefox, etc then it's suspect. If you're running with
any non-default settings, it's suspect. In other words, if you
take charge of your computer in any way or degree, it's
suspect. That works pretty well for the person who only
uses their computer to check email and maybe do a little
shopping, but it's not so good for people who do more.

I've had my own software tagged by Avira. A customer
wrote to tell me. Otherwise I would never have known.
In that case, too, Avira cooked up an official name for
what the exact bug was, which turned out to be a
meaningless but official-sounding catchall name. I recompiled
the software with slightly different parameters and Avira
stopped complaining. I wrote to Avira and got nothing but
robomail back.

The whole industry is in a precarious position of being
halfway between being critical software and being a
dangerous scam. It's risky for the average person not to
use security software, but it's also risky for them to use it.

"Just stay in your car, ma'am, and let law enforcement do
their job. There's been a report of 3 escaped kittens and
we don't want anyone getting hurt."

On 6/19/2016 4:34 AM, Eric Stevens wrote:
On Sat, 18 Jun 2016 22:44:12 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 6/18/2016 9:21 PM, Mayayana wrote:
|I recently read a blog where the blogger provided a link to a site
| where I could download a free software program. "The download is
| free", he said.
|
It sounds like the blogger was a shill for the
program. It is common, though. At one time people
were honest and software download sites were
just listing sites, with honest reviews and straight
facts. They always stated clearly what the license type
was and what charge there was, if any. Their
reputation depended on it. CNet was one of the first
to start charging software authors to get their software
listed "sometime this year". From there it went downhill.
The software listing sites just were't making enough
money. But rather than come up with an honest solution
they started selling listings and reviews, while pretending
to still be neutral listing services.

These days most such sites can't be trusted, in
terms of clean downloads, reviews, or especially
use terms. And a lot of software hides dependencies.
You start installing it only to see a message saying,
"downloading .Net Framework". The software author
intends to install hundreds of MBs of stuff onto your
system without asking or even explaining!

It's always important to go to the author's site,
to make sure you get the latest version, any
important support info, and a clean download, as
well as info about dependencies and any potential
cost.
But even at the author's site it can be difficult
to find out exactly what the deal is. I found that
recently at Corel. I kept going in circles just trying
to find the price of their software. AV companies
will often have a free version, but you have to run
a gauntlet of trick download links to find it, with
each link trying to get you to download a paid
version.

Also, prices and quality can vary wildly. Often
one brand gets popular in a category, but it's
not always the best brand. I find that I typically
spend hours looking for the best option when I
need something. But once I find it, I don't have
to do that research again.

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.
He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

Today, I had about the 200th call from Microsoft Technical Services to
tell me that there was something wrong with my machine. My immediate
reaction was to tell him to "**** Off!" and hang up the phone. For
some reason he never called back.


I don't think MS does that. You probably did the right thing.


--
PeterN

On 6/19/2016 4:37 AM, Eric Stevens wrote:
On Sat, 18 Jun 2016 23:11:57 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 6/18/2016 10:46 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , PeterN
wrote:

Even if you think you are at the publisher's site, you may be wrong. I
made that mistake a few years ago, at a time when I was tired. The
"publisher" wanted to DL an app to "clean my machine," which I agreed to
let him do. H claimed he cleaned my machine and offered to give me three
years virus protection, including remote help on request, on three
machines, for $335. I pointed out that I had already paid for three
years of AV protection.

scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert. scam alert.

in the future, *never* do this.


I know better, but I was working on 2 hours sleep.

whatever you downloaded *installed* malware.

Yep!

He go all upset when I gave him the polite Japanese decline. (I'll think
about it.) Since the machine still seemed sluggish, I took it to a MS
store, they removed multiple instances of malware, apparently installed
about the same time I had called this AV company.

yep, and you can't be sure it's all gone because you have no idea what
exactly they did. it *might* be all gone but how can you be sure?

the safest thing to do is restore from a trusted backup.


I will probably cave in and Install Win10. At the same time i plan
further changes in my machine, including a new C drive, adding USB3
using an expansion slot.
Or, I may just get a new machine.

I can recommend Super Anti Spyware Professional and Malwarebytes Anti
Malware. It's amazing what they have intercepted over the years.


I hove found AVG to be effective, except when I do stupid things.


--
PeterN

On Sun, 19 Jun 2016 10:12:49 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

Today, I had about the 200th call from Microsoft Technical Services to
tell me that there was something wrong with my machine. My immediate
reaction was to tell him to "**** Off!" and hang up the phone. For
some reason he never called back.


I don't think MS does that. You probably did the right thing.

It's a well known scam which comes from call centers in various parts
of the world. This one sounded like India. I understand they lead you
through corners of Windows which most people don't know about and then
offer to install *helpful* software to fix your problem. God knows
what happens after that but I'm not going to hang around long enough
to find out. I wasn't joking about the number of calls I have had of
this type over about 15 years.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens