Freeware horror stories

[brian57]

When downloading and installing Gom player I had forgotten to untick the box for the AVG security toolbar which then came along with it, thought no worries I'll uninstall it later. It installed itself in my other browsers as well with pop ups telling me to activate or enable it , so I disabled the thing in all browsers only to find more pop ups again.
Right!!...I'll fix you I thought, so when I went to uninstall it I couldn't find it, just wasn't there, so thought I would try a few other uninstall managers that I have and not there either. Only ccleaners uninstall manager had it clearly visible so I was able uninstall it from there.

I'm not a pc geek so I don't know how or why ccleaner was the only one that showed that this thing was actually installed,but who cares I finally got rid of this pesky thing....

If you have any freeware horror stories please feel free to post them , as i'm sure that i'm not the only one that would love to read them.

 

[C-Man]

I had a nice adventure uninstalling the useless Ask and Xfinity toolbars from my aunt's computer.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

When downloading and installing Gom player I had forgotten to untick the box for the AVG security toolbar which then came along with it, thought no worries I'll uninstall it later. It installed itself in my other browsers as well with pop ups telling me to activate or enable it , so I disabled the thing in all browsers only to find more pop ups again.
Right!!...I'll fix you I thought, so when I went to uninstall it I couldn't find it, just wasn't there, so thought I would try a few other uninstall managers that I have and not there either. Only ccleaners uninstall manager had it clearly visible so I was able uninstall it from there.

I'm not a pc geek so I don't know how or why ccleaner was the only one that showed that this thing was actually installed,but who cares I finally got rid of this pesky thing....

If you have any freeware horror stories please feel free to post them , as i'm sure that i'm not the only one that would love to read them.

Slight irony is that CCleaner attempts to install Google Chrome, unless that's changed of late. Most people look at the word "Free" and think in terms of monetary value when you should be thinking in terms of how does this item respect my freedom. Any software that is a wrapper to install some other product you didn't want or agree to is adware - purely and simply.

 

[MrJim]

I get my freebie software from filehippo and sourceforge and no where else and usually no trouble.

Did put some freeware on the Mac once and it was the only serious crash I ever had with it..can't remember what it was anymore.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

When downloading and installing Gom player I had forgotten to untick the box for the AVG security toolbar which then came along with it, thought no worries I'll uninstall it later. It installed itself in my other browsers as well with pop ups telling me to activate or enable it , so I disabled the thing in all browsers only to find more pop ups again.
Right!!...I'll fix you I thought, so when I went to uninstall it I couldn't find it, just wasn't there, so thought I would try a few other uninstall managers that I have and not there either. Only ccleaners uninstall manager had it clearly visible so I was able uninstall it from there.

I'm not a pc geek so I don't know how or why ccleaner was the only one that showed that this thing was actually installed,but who cares I finally got rid of this pesky thing....

If you have any freeware horror stories please feel free to post them , as i'm sure that i'm not the only one that would love to read them.

The problem is that if you download a package or image from somewhere on the internet, the original producer of the file may not be malicious, but the file you download may end up being malicious. A hacker could use a vulnerability to change the file or replace it with something that installs ad-ware or mal-ware, a mirror could be compromised or changed to redirect you to a malicious site, etc.

 

[Qyöt27]

The mistake was trying to install GOM Player.

Seriously, though, Media Player Classic Homecinema or any libavcodec-based media player (mplayer and its kin, VLC, LAV Filters*) would have been enough, and there's no threat of bundling with them.

*not a media player, but important enough on its own to merit a mention.

The most important piece in a computer user's tool set is doing the research to know that:
A) the software is being downloaded from a reputable source (this includes the site itself, not just the developers; Sourceforge, for example)
B) taking the installation process (if there is one) slowly enough to read the fine print and opt-out of anything you don't want.

 

[DaisyDay]

Adobe Reader & Flashplayer always try to install McAfee if you don't remember to uncheck the box when upgrading. More of a nuisance than a horror, though.

 

[Friar Tuck]

I once installed pc tools antispyware with its own security toolbar for IE and found that I couldn't use my other browsers , only IE would work.
I uninstalled and everthing was fine. Ya gotta wonder!

btw...I googled avg security toolbar and looks like you ain't the only one that got stitched.

 

[freezerman2000]

When it comes to the free package pages,I just click"no thanks"on all of them.
After install,I run my AV and AMW just to be on the safe side.They normally STOP installation if they find something suspicious and ask you if you want to continue.

 

[ulu]

recently installed a video to mp3 converter and with it came a bogus search assist thing that is now my homepage no matter how often i try to delete it.

 

[FreedByte]

- redacted -