10 replies to this topic

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

I just got another auto update from jucheck.exe. (I say this in imply i am using windows at this time)

Once again I had to verify the CheckBox was unchecked at the Install Ask.com toolbar portion of the update installer. Does anyone else think this is ridiculous/unacceptable?! I get the monetary benefit. But it just doesn't seem appropriate.

I use the auto update so that some of my work related java applications have the latest and greatest without me checking Oracles JRE releases every week. Of course with enterprise development i install whichever JDK release is relevant via zip distribution and configure a custom launch script for the jvm. I would never use an auto installer on a production server.

Im just asking for the sake of opinon/conversation.

[Wolf]

I'm not a fan of it. I, too, understand the monetary implications, but I don't like their underhanded implementation.

Basically, and "Light" users will see the update thing, and keep clicking "Yes" until it installs, and then get someone to uninstall Ask Toolbar if they can't do it themselves.

At the end of the day, though, nobody wants their stupid toolbar, and they would do well to just lie down and accept that Google beat them.

Google beat them 7+ years ago.

[SpleenBeGone]

It's pretty common practice. I have no real problem with it, though I won't use it. Hell, if anything, it keeps me with a job. "Why is this thing here? Come get rid of it!"

[Bowsette]

I noticed it when I finally updated Java after freakin'...a year or something. Unchecked the box and carried on with my day. Toolbars are basically useless.

[Bowsette]

I wouldn't call it a trick. It asks whether you want it or not, you're free to decline. And from my understanding, most 'lite' computer users (parents, the elderly etc) don't need Java at all. I know my mom's laptop doesn't have it installed because all she does is use Facebook and online shopping stores >.>

[Coconut Man]

Now you understand my burning hate for advertising and companies in general.

Soulless,demonic, bastardly, evil, cheap, uncaring, moronic, manipulating, self-centered, inhumane, space-wasting blockheads who wouldn't support the cure for cancer the solution to the energy crisis if they didn't get money off of it.

I even hate Apple on that count, although I admit their advertisements are creative.

Not only do I have innumerable adblocks, survey blockers and spam blockers, but I'm also using a program that will detect when the TV commercials turn on, immediately mute the TV and turn it off, recognize when the advertisements are over, then turn it back on (it's extremely buggy and occasionally I catch a split second or two of advertising/miss a few seconds of the show I'm watching but that's well worth it to me).

Spoiler

I'm just saying (and this is unoriginal) that if I were locked in a room with the person who created advertising, Hitler, Stalin, and Osama bin Laden, and I had a gun with 3 bullets, I'd shoot the advertising guy 3 times.

[K_N]

Immoral.

[SIlhouette]

I agree with emo, it is a trick, Ask.com is less underhanded then other bundles but it is still preying on people who don't know what they are doing or people like me who are so used to a system that we don't need to read anything anymore we just click the same buttons we have clicked 1000+ times before and so when they suddenly dump this in we have to chuck in google where this Ask toolbar came from. I actually didn't download the ask.com toolbar but I have downloaded many others because I just blitzed though the download screen (If thats where you tick the box on that particular install) or the install screen (which is where a lot of other bundled software asks to be installed) sometimes it will even be a malicious program. I had to get rid of TextEnhance from a friends computer because he downloaded it with an antivirus which I find very ironic because TextEnhance is a virus. Another one is Windows Virus Scanner which comes with certain Flash plugins, this is the virus that stops all .exe's from openning and states you need to buy their software to fix your computer.

Its all disgusting and even though Ask isnt malicious, in my eyes they are just as bad as these other companies who do package malicious software with their bundles. I download so much software monthly that I always get at least 1 toolbar each month even when I do read the websites and installers carefully. The most frustrating one was the Conduit search bar, god I had to reprogram my firefox to get rid of that crap.

[SushiKitten]

Just updated Java and I was asked about the Ask toolbar, so I thought I should make my comment here. I think it's silly. No one wants toolbars anymore. Anyone who has it only downloaded it accidentally.

 

I don't mind just unchecking one thing, but I remember when I was installing some freeware, I was asked three or four times if I wanted to download some toolbar or service. It's freeware, and they needed the money, but it's rather annoying, especially when these services seem questionable as to whether or not it's harmful to my computer.