Download.com site feedback forum: Abandon CNET - installers repeatedly full of malware

Hi Kees,

I appreciate your responding, though it won't make much of a difference - the straw has broken the camel's back once and for all.

The most recent one was MobiPocket Creator; not sure what the previous one was since it was a few months back. As mentioned, I have tried everything (including the steps you linked to) and it has not solved the problem.

You know, I've seen the response about the direct download link in (the many, many) other posts that complain about malware in CNET installers and it just pisses me off. The point here is that CNET tricks people into installing #%@&$ malware, not that there is a way not to get shafted if you read the fine print.

If indeed the direct download is clean (which I for one is not going to try) then that's beside the point at best - a cynical mind would argue that it just shows that CNET *knows* its installers are full of crap. It's like telling parents that bought lead-filled toys from China that "oh, you should have bought our non-poisonous line of products hidden in the back of the store instead of the stuff we put on the shelves and advertise".

Can you please explain to me why in God's name CNET has anything whatever to do with claro-search? Or any of the multitude of similar crapwares the installers are filled with? Do you really expect people not to be furious about that? Is anyone noticing the deluge of complaints? I just don't get it, I really don't. CNET had so much credibility and goodwill built up over the years - all ruined for a few bucks (I assume). Hope it was worth it.

And how about Babylon.

I don't know how Babylon is classified by cnet, but it's a virus to anybody who's ever had their pc environment involuntarily re-defined by a program that was involuntarily installed.

That same person will absolutely confirm it's a virus once he or she has tried to uninstall it without leaving his or her system impaired.

cnet, shame on you! You have effectively transformed yourselves from a reliable online partner to a purveyor of malware. Shame on you.

I, too, have abandoned cnet.

Steve McCain