What happened to Threatfire?

[mark3]

It seems it isn't there for download anymore.

http://www.threatfire.com/download/

 

[Nobody > (Revisited)]

It seems it isn't there for download anymore.

http://www.threatfire.com/download/

Works here;
http://www.threatfire.com/download/
gives:

CNET link
http://download.cnet.com/ThreatFire...26873.html?part=dl-6257086&subj=dl&tag=button

From PcTools
http://www.pctools.com/mirror/tfinstall.exe

FWIW/IMHO...
I quit using the free TF about a year ago, far too many false alarms
and/or cryptic/worthless alerts, and no way to configure those away.

--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum

 

[mark3]

Works here;
http://www.threatfire.com/download/
gives:

CNET link
http://download.cnet.com/ThreatFire-AntiVirus-Free-Edition/3000-223
9_4-10726873.html?part=dl-6257086&subj=dl&tag=button

From PcTools
http://www.pctools.com/mirror/tfinstall.exe

FWIW/IMHO...
I quit using the free TF about a year ago, far too many false
alarms and/or cryptic/worthless alerts, and no way to configure
those away.

I can't get it to work on the threatfire page.

It did work on the PCTools page.

I don't go near CNet with there "wrapper" crap sending down junk I
don't want with the program I do want.

I just wanted it out of curiousity, but your mentioning the false
alarms and useless alerts kind of dissuaded me from screwing with it.

I hate firewalls, AVs and security programs that drive me nuts with
nonsense alerts.

Matter of fact, I feel the same about those damn radar detectors that
want to warn you about everything 2 miles ahead of you, including
pedestrians crossing the street, road work and loose sewer covers. I
don't like slamming on my brakes every 20" for such junk, thinking it's
an actual radar alert.

Thanks for the info. I'll take a pass.

 

[James E. Morrow]

I don't go near CNet with there "wrapper" crap sending down junk I
don't want with the program I do want.

<snip>

This is a very good point. I just left C-Net downloads after updating
FLV Player. I had to go uninstall the crappy Ask dot com tool bar.
Never again. The tool bar is optional, but they like to slip it by you.

 

[mark3]

<snip>

This is a very good point. I just left C-Net downloads after
updating FLV Player. I had to go uninstall the crappy Ask dot com
tool bar. Never again. The tool bar is optional, but they like to
slip it by you.

I went there about a week ago to download something and I ended up with
fr'kn Google Chrome on my machine. I'm not trusting them ever again.

Yeah, this time it was easy to get rid of, but what about in the future
if they get aggressive and *install* crap that is almost impossible to
uninstall? This kind of behavior has me updating my drive image of C:
at least every other day, just in case I get screwed by some malware or
site like CNet.

 

[VanguardLH]

It seems it isn't there for download anymore.

http://www.threatfire.com/download/

The "Get Free" button is wrongly defined. It's <A> tag is defined as:

http://www.threatfire.com/download/#

Well, all it's pointing to is an anchor on the same page. Since no
anchor name is given (just the "#" is listed), it takes you to the top
of that same web page. This has been broke for a long time. Have no
clue why they never fixed this stupidity.

Actually the <A> tag is defined as follows:

<a class="LinkButton2" onclick="pageTracker._trackEvent('Link', 'View',
'Download TF Install Dialog Box', 'Download'); DownloadDotCom();"
href="#" style="display:inline-block;height:34px;width:120px;">Get
Free</a>

They're expecting Javascript to pickup on the onclick event (when you
click on that object). They want to use some pagetracker function to
monitor how many visitors get redirected to the download.com page. The
function isn't defined within that web page but gets loaded from another
file. I didn't waste time to go look at the script src file.

If you have your web browser configured to block some advertising sites
then it's possible their pagetracker function won't work. I use the
InPrivate Filter in IE8 (which is enabled automatically on IE8 load via
a registry edit) and import an .xml file with domains that I want to
block their content. So what happens for me is that the Get Free button
just redisplays the top of this web page because I'm blocking access to
some tracking site that their script wants to use (and which is not
their own). If I disable the InPrivate Filter and refresh the page,
their button then works to popup a pseudo-window that points at the
download.com link.

Comes down to them wanting to track visitors that click on the button
but you blocking the tracking service they want to use. I'm using one
blocking method incorporate to IE8. Another would be using a 'hosts'
file that blocks advertising, tracking, and malware sites. Another
could be some anti-spam or ad-blocker add-on. Basically you're blocking
access to a "bad" site that they want to use. Wanting to track users is
rather rampant these days.

 

[VanguardLH]

mark3 says...


<snip>

This is a very good point. I just left C-Net downloads after updating
FLV Player. I had to go uninstall the crappy Ask dot com tool bar.
Never again. The tool bar is optional, but they like to slip it by you.

How do you know that CNet added their wrapper to the PC Tools download?
Some authors will house their software at download.com and it is their
download without the CNet wrapper.

Personally I'll go to Softpedia.com to get the same software before I
waste time at CNet's site. Besides the wrapper issue (which is just an
issue of users actually LOOKING at the installer dialog and NOT
selecting the defaults), there's also the issue of visual misdirection.
CNet likes to present a download page that tends to misdirect its users
into clicking on the wrong link so they end up downloading something
other than the software they intended to target.

 

[James E. Morrow]

I went there about a week ago to download something and I ended up with
fr'kn Google Chrome on my machine. I'm not trusting them ever again.

Yeah, this time it was easy to get rid of, but what about in the future
if they get aggressive and *install* crap that is almost impossible to
uninstall? This kind of behavior has me updating my drive image of C:
at least every other day, just in case I get screwed by some malware or
site like CNet.

That's a good idea. You can't be too carful. While it might not be
Malware, that doesn't mean it is not crap. This is sort of drive by by
social engineering. Hurry, get your free downloads while they're hot!
But it is best to look before clicking at C-Net. Read before
downloading and backup, backup and backup. Thank you for installing
Crapola. Your click through has been registered. Have a pleasant day.