Very suspicious of Baidu

[draftvader]

somewhat on topic, i was very surprised when i went to upgrade filezilla the other day that when i went to sourceforge and downloaded it i did not in fact download filezilla, but the 'sourceforge download tool', which then prompted me to install filezilla along with several other crapware programs and a toolbar. it never even occured to me to check carefully as sourceforge has always been a reliable and trustworthy download site which i have used for many, MANY years. very disappointing to find that they are now resorting to this trickery. lesson - ALWAYS read the installer details very carefully, even from a trusted site and a know and trusted application!

check out the screenshot, now that i look carefully it does say 'may contain bundled offers' and 'see additional download offers'. i guess it is filezillas site and not sourceforge itself doing the trickery, but i have never heard of (and do not have any need for) the sourceforge download tool.

Now that DOES suck. Seriously SF has gone down that route? I would imagine that it is an amazingly good download tool but 99% of people visiting SF are going to understand a thing or 2 about downloading and probably don't need any help (nor want it!).

[dharmabm]

Now that DOES suck. Seriously SF has gone down that route? I would imagine that it is an amazingly good download tool but 99% of people visiting SF are going to understand a thing or 2 about downloading and probably don't need any help (nor want it!).

i think you would imagine wrong, it gets even better. i went back to check it again, and the file itself is named FileZilla_3.8.0_win32-setup.exe, but when you run it you get this (if your antivirus doesn't grab it first, which GFI Vipre now does):

and then this (which brings us back on topic)

and if you are paying attention and are smart enough to decline you then get this

this is incredibly bad for SF, and there is a huge buzz about it.. just the comments alone on their announcement of this 'enhancement' is a gread read, but it's also all over reddit. The original announcement is here http://sourceforge.net/blog/today-we-offer-devshare-beta-a-sustainable-way-to-fund-open-source-software/ and the reddit thread is here http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1jk1gz/sourceforge_starts_using_enhanced_adware/

very sad day indeed for both developers and free software advocates.

[dharmabm]

i should point out that, if i am reading this correctly it is the choice of the developer whether to do this or not, sourceforge is only allowing them to do it (which apparently they previously did not)

[draftvader]

Thanks for that. Very interesting and, fairly, depressing. I know that they need to make money but they have to know that their user base is not going to like this. I'm wondering what will happen next time FileZilla wants to do an upgrade!!

[BKKdreaming]

problem is the "real" companies like adobe will install stuff on your computer if you do not untick a box that you do not want it ,

so a 2nd rate small company might not even ask

how much do they get paid for each install ?

[draftvader]

problem is the "real" companies like adobe will install stuff on your computer if you do not untick a box that you do not want it ,

so a 2nd rate small company might not even ask

how much do they get paid for each install ?

I have only had problems with truly shady software and stealth installs. If you have a tight security policy on your computer (AV and Antispyware/Malware) then you should never get round to installing any of these anyway. If you do then this is why you have regular back-ups. Ask a professional about their backup and security and you'll be surprised how conclusive it is.

My personal stuff is backed-up to a separate internal drive then onto my HTPC and the MOST important stuff gets sent onto google drive too (photos, etc). This happens after 5 minutes of inactivity on my computer for these files.

My business stuff is the same but it also gets an additional backup onto my server in the UK. This happens after x number of saves for my business files and has a versioning policy in place so I can go back to a version of a file from weeks ago if needed. Again this is automatic.

My email is IMAP client so that is safe

This is a MODEST backup policy! I do have a decent security policy too but I come into contact with 3rd party code all day every day. Everything downloaded is automatically scanned but I have had 3 hard drive failures (not always primary) in the past 5 years and don't want an "oh no" moment when something finally does get through.

Back-up and then back-up the back-up....if you care about your data. Don't wait until you need to because then....its too late.