Conduit and CNET

[micky]

Is Conduit good or bad?. Some places act like its a good thing, but I
don't think I want it.

I think I told here months ago about getting Conduit, and being
successful in removing it. But not knowing how I got it.

Now I think I know how. Recently I dl'd some program from CNet (and I
used to have very good results from Cnet) and I think it was during
installation that it asked for permissioni to install, as all programs
ask something. I couldnt' read all it said so I selected and copied it,
and pasted it in a text reader and it said.... I thought I saved that
but can't find it. It claimed it would protect your browser (meaning
IE, I think) but when I had it, the only search engines it woudl allow
were Bing and something else, not google. I'm not ready to give up on
google yet.

The permission request had two choices, Yes or No (in other words) I had
to click No twice


When I just started to DL Autoruns, CNET offerred it, but I'm going with
Technet or BleepingComputer or FileHippo. I hope those don't have
surprises for me.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Is Conduit good or bad?. Some places act like its a good thing, but I
don't think I want it.

I think I told here months ago about getting Conduit, and being
successful in removing it. But not knowing how I got it.

Now I think I know how. Recently I dl'd some program from CNet (and I
used to have very good results from Cnet) and I think it was during
installation that it asked for permissioni to install, as all programs
ask something. I couldnt' read all it said so I selected and copied it,
and pasted it in a text reader and it said.... I thought I saved that
but can't find it. It claimed it would protect your browser (meaning
IE, I think) but when I had it, the only search engines it woudl allow
were Bing and something else, not google. I'm not ready to give up on
google yet.

The permission request had two choices, Yes or No (in other words) I had
to click No twice


When I just started to DL Autoruns, CNET offerred it, but I'm going with
Technet or BleepingComputer or FileHippo. I hope those don't have
surprises for me.

Conduit is a PUP. CNET used to have a good reputation, but no more. We see
dozens of posts in the Forums every day about Potentially Unwanted Programs.

This is a common reply to someone that wants to get rid of Conduit.


Remove Conduit Search (Removal Instructions)
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/conduit-search-removal/

If it is not listed in the Control Panel, or you cannot remove it there,
skip to Step 2.

About those Toolbars and Add-ons - Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs)
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/for...-security-questions-best-practices/?p=3187642


I'm still trying this tool out that "may" help from getting PUPs, but I have
not drawn a conclusion about it yet.

Unchecky aims to keep potentially unwanted programs out of your computer.

Unchecky
http://unchecky.com/

 

[Paul]

Is Conduit good or bad?. Some places act like its a good thing, but I
don't think I want it.

I think I told here months ago about getting Conduit, and being
successful in removing it. But not knowing how I got it.

Now I think I know how. Recently I dl'd some program from CNet (and I
used to have very good results from Cnet) and I think it was during
installation that it asked for permissioni to install, as all programs
ask something. I couldnt' read all it said so I selected and copied it,
and pasted it in a text reader and it said.... I thought I saved that
but can't find it. It claimed it would protect your browser (meaning
IE, I think) but when I had it, the only search engines it woudl allow
were Bing and something else, not google. I'm not ready to give up on
google yet.

The permission request had two choices, Yes or No (in other words) I had
to click No twice


When I just started to DL Autoruns, CNET offerred it, but I'm going with
Technet or BleepingComputer or FileHippo. I hope those don't have
surprises for me.

Autoruns is a Sysinternals program. You would start at
sysinternals.com and look for an authentic copy.

I put extra effort into tracking down the source
of programs, to reduce this kind of risk. The only
program now, I would still recommend someone get from
CNET, is a copy of Macrium Reflect Free. If you pay
CNET enough money, as a developer, they'll serve
downloads with no PUP in them. But that's hardly a
reason to actually search on CNET for something to
download. Try to find the author's web site, to figure
out what you should be looking for.

Paul

 

[Mayayana]

NEVER download anything from CNet. Get autoruns
from the source:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

In general, if you can't get software from the people
who make it, at their own website, then you probably
don't want it. "technet or bleepingcomputer or
filehippo" are not the same thing. The software is from
technet. Other sites are just linking to it, at best. In
some cases they may link to an old version or may host
a malware-wrapped version.

I've had the best luck with MajorGeeks, in terms of
finding things and get the latest version without any
funny business, but it's still always better to just go
to the source.

I used to list my own software on CNet many years
ago. I think they got bought out by CBS, if I remember
correctly. In any case, they changed a lot. They
had originally been the best software listing site.
Then they started trying to force software authors
to advertise in exchange for getting timely, fair
reviews. Essentially they went from being a listing
site to an advertising site. Imagine if Craigslist
started accepting extra payments for prominent
placement and good reviews. CNet's business model
is understandable in a sense. They just couldn't
make money on banner ads. But they sacrificed
integrity in the process, making their site worthless,
at best, to my mind.



| Is Conduit good or bad?. Some places act like its a good thing, but I
| don't think I want it.
|
| I think I told here months ago about getting Conduit, and being
| successful in removing it. But not knowing how I got it.
|
| Now I think I know how. Recently I dl'd some program from CNet (and I
| used to have very good results from Cnet) and I think it was during
| installation that it asked for permissioni to install, as all programs
| ask something. I couldnt' read all it said so I selected and copied it,
| and pasted it in a text reader and it said.... I thought I saved that
| but can't find it. It claimed it would protect your browser (meaning
| IE, I think) but when I had it, the only search engines it woudl allow
| were Bing and something else, not google. I'm not ready to give up on
| google yet.
|
| The permission request had two choices, Yes or No (in other words) I had
| to click No twice
|
|
| When I just started to DL Autoruns, CNET offerred it, but I'm going with
| Technet or BleepingComputer or FileHippo. I hope those don't have
| surprises for me.

 

[micky]

NEVER download anything from CNet.

Okay. What a shame.

Get autoruns
from the source:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

Okay, I got it and will still have to read the output a lot to undestand
it all. . And it's full screen.

Thanks and thanks Bruce and Paul too. Bruce, I've followed all your
links.