Sunday, September 16, 2012

Foistware - a BAD Example


Recently I read about the free video download and converter software FVD Suite. I thought some of it's functionality might be helpful so I downloaded and installed it.

And during installation it showed it's true colors. The Installer offered altogether FOUR pieces of typical foistware, some of it IMHO outright bad stuff. And on top of that it used a tricky switch of the method to avoid this unwanted stuff.

Here are the four installer windows that attempted to trick me into installing the additional junk.

1.  The first window has Quick Installation preselected. I am usually careful with my computer so I selected Advanced Installation. The switches to install Babylon were preselected and got greyed out immediately! That means I could not turn Babylon off anymore.  IMHO Babylon is outright CRAP! Pardon my French. it figures as translation software but why then do they need to change my default search engine and my browser's home page? Did I already say crap?

I had to switch back to Quick Installation; then I could remove the check marks in the three entries for Babylon and switch back to Advanced Installation. By then I was on high alert, trust me. 


2. The second window wanted my permission (naturally preselected!) to install Shop To Win and QwikLinx. I always think TANSTAAFL seeing this sort of garbage software.

This window required to deselect only one check mark.



3.  The third window offered PricePeep. See above, TANSTAAFL.

BUT: Since I wanted to avoid PricePeep this window required a change in the method to avoid the PricePeep gunk; I needed to click the Decline button. The graphic design of this and the next window is such that on first glance one might think that Decline would decline the installation of FVD Suite and thus click on Next Step. Which would be just the mistake the originators of this deceptive tactic want us to make. Decline affects PricePeep only. Tricky, tricky to say the least. 


4. Window #4 used the same method as #3, I had to click Decline to avoid getting WaJam installed.

Plus it had a graphic element resembling a check mark in a circle; only after reading the text behind this little thingy I realized what it meant.

 
That was this.

I hope you don't get bored by me repeating and repeating over and over again:
  • Take the time to read EVERY little window when installing downloaded software
     
  • Watch out for preselected check marks
     
  • THINK before you click
     
  •  When in doubt don't install what tries to trick you!
It is getting worse and worse every week; stay safe and keep your computer clean!

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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Saturday, September 15, 2012

On Line Backup - Not For Me


Yesterday I wrote in my article "Free Trials - User Beware!" the following:
In my opinion some of these services are bordering on useless and/or the promised services lack a sound technical base. An example for the latter are in my opinion the numerous online data backup services. All these offers pitched to the unsuspecting consumer do not mention the speed problem.

Practically all normal Internet connections, whether via DSL, cable or wireless technology have the same big drawback in common: The transfer speed from your computer up to the service's computers is significantly slower than the download speed that you experience when you browse web pages or watch a video or peruse Facebook.
Today I can give you numbers from the hard reality of what that means in real life terms.

I read on a fairly techie-oriented website a glowing endorsement of the online backup service CrashPlan and decided to give it a try. I downloaded their software, installed it and set it up to back up only the minimally required folders with my most important data.

Several hours later I wrote this email to Crash Plan's customer support:
Based on a recommendation at Lifehacker.com I bought your xxxxx plan for 2+ home computers instead of signing up for a trial. What a mistake.

After paring down the directories to the absolutely necessary minimum your program tells me after over 5 hours of run time that it still estimates another 12.2 days of run time remaining.

I am sorry, but this is absolutely unacceptable for me.

I herewith cancel my purchase. I have stopped the transfer by killing the process in Task Manager. I have uninstalled your software and deleted the downloaded installer file.

According to the promise on your web site

Our risk-free cancellation policy will automatically credit you for the
remaining unused months on any plan if you decide to cancel at any time.
I request that you please refund my payment.
Well, I warned you and promptly, on the very next day I stumble by my own free will directly in the trap. Dumb old man that I am!

As usual I welcome suggestions right here in the blog.

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Friday, September 14, 2012

"Free" Trials - User Beware!


A recent article on PCWorld titled "The truth about free trials" caught my attention. It is quite lengthy and I had some ideas how to make the material more palatable. Let me begin with some background information.

Something that bothers me for quite some time are "Free Trials". Not only "free" manufacturer installed software packages that mostly have only one purpose, to make you pay for things like update subscriptions, license fees, upgrades to "pro" versions and so on.

Now all this junk has been joined by an ever increasing number of various offers of a wide variety of online services.

In my opinion some of these services are bordering on useless and/or the promised services lack a sound technical base. An example for the latter are in my opinion the numerous online data backup services. All these offers pitched to the unsuspecting consumer do not mention the speed problem.

Practically all normal Internet connections, whether via DSL, cable or wireless technology have the same big drawback in common: The transfer speed from your computer up to the service's computers is significantly slower than the download speed that you experience when you browse web pages or watch a video or peruse Facebook.

UPDATE 9-15-2012 (only 1 day later) re. online backup: Please read this article

Uploading large files like pictures, music and videos just takes too darned long to be practical!

Most online services offer free trials; sounds good, right?

But what happens when you realize that the service is actually not quite what you had expected and you want to cancel? Many users have nightmarish experiences.

PCWorld had a similar article already in 2006 and I will compare the results in an easy format. As to be expected there were services where canceling was easy and straightforward; there were services that took some detective work and tenacity to get rid of and then there were some that made it very difficult if not almost impossible to cancel. Nothing new here; everybody who years ago wanted to dump AOL has experienced that.

If you have ever listened to me on WTKM or are my customer you know that I call a spade a spade. Here are the names of the services PCWorld dealt with in 2006 and in 2012, grouped by difficulty to cancel.




BIG hassle, really hard Difficult & time consuming Easy 
2006 31% 22% 47%          of total number

AOL EarthLink Ancestry.com

BlueMountain.com Equifax Credit Watch Gold Audible.com

Classmates.com Flickr.com Consumer Reports Online

ESPN GameSpy Arcade Ediets.com

MSN Internet MLB GameFly.com

Napster.com Netflix GotoMyPC

NetZero RapidFax Match.com

Real Rhapsody
Mvelopes.com

Real SuperPass
Reservation Rewards

True.com
Salon.com



Stamps.com



The New York Times Select



The Wall Street Journal



Vonage
Vongo





BIG hassle, really hard Difficult & time consuming Easy 
2012 30% 42.5% 27.5%        of total number

TrustFax BeenVerified eFax

LifeLock GameFly Netflix

GameHouse CalorieKing Shockwave Unlimited

IdentityGuard YouSendit TrustedID

Spotify Foreclosure Radar Britannica Online

RealPlayer Super Pass Identity Protection SugarSync

Tech Support for Dummies Match.com Weather Channel Desktop

FreeCreditScore.com Audible Listener Gold Adapted Mind

ESPN Insider Cook's Illustrated Ancestry.com

IMDb RealtyTrac Hulu Plus

GoToMyPC Club Pogo Merriam-Webster

SociallyKnow Rhapsody


American Greetings


Dr. Laura


My Total Money Makeover


Blockbuster Total Access


OnlyMyEmail
Two things seem to be remarkable to me:
  1. Most of the services that in 2006 were a big hassle to cancel are gone for good and/or don't play a significant role anymore.

    Companies in this category in 2012 might take heed; the warning is written on the wall.
     
  2. The huge shift from 2006 to 2012 between the Difficult and the Easy categories. The percentages are reversed. Does this imply that it pays to make canceling difficult (but not next to impossible)?

    Has Netflix learned a lesson? They went from difficult to cancel to easy.
Please draw your own conclusions and please tell us about them in the comments. Thank you in advance.

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