Freemake Video Converter

Unfortunately this kind of installation policy is bad and very common, a black mark for good software.

I agree, it gives a very bad and shady impression to any software that uses it. It would be one thing to just have bundled offers and be honest about it. Ask me if I want to try this or that, and give me a clear Yes/No choice; why not? But all these efforts to hide the installation, be sneaky, and try to disguise the adware as an integral part of the software you actually want. Do they really think they can make money from someone that they trick into having the software installed? That just doesn't make sense and is definitely why the bundled offers already seem past their peak.

I understand that something has to pay the bills. But whenever I'm installing software like this, I feel like I'm on a warez website of the 90s. The link or button you want is always the smallest, unassuming, almost invisible one all the way at the bottom. Always click the thing first that you would click last in any other situation.

I suggest to install Unchecky to avoid all the unwanted programs: it unchecks and deny all the other softwares the installer "propose".
In this way you can click next freely and install only the main program :)

Unchecky is a must-have program for all the Windows PCs!

Thanks for the tip, I'd not heard of Unchecky.

A good antivirus software like ESET should detect, advise and block it, my Smart Security detected and blocked all install tries.

[Edited by KeyJey, December 22]

Another way to avoid Opencandy, in an installer that contains it for sure, is run the exe with the parameter /NOCANDY.
Personally, I use RunWithParameters to do this :)

I think a better way to deal with these malware installs is to not support the application or developer. I totally don't mind and like supporting devs by paying for applications, but won't use any that use these crapware installers.

During the installation of the the latest version 6.4.2 (b 212) for Mac you'll be offered to install additional software: Safefinder, Mackeeper for Mac & Booking.com. You can always "decline" it and install only Frostwire. But if you are like me and are used to click "continue" without reading the content, you're likely to end up installing software and malware you didn't wanted. So read carefully before clicking.
Safefinder seems to be malware and Mackeeper for Mac is questionable.

> I think a better way to deal with these malware installs is to not support the application or developer. I totally don't mind and like supporting devs by paying for applications, but won't use any that use these crapware installers.

while i understand the sentiment, more often than not, it's not the developer adding the crapware to the installers. For that dubious honor you can thank the sites that literally EVERYONE keeps going to. C/NET and Softpedia being the two biggest offenders that immediately come to mind

AND QUITE OFTEN I HAVE SEEN THE NORMAL no/uncheck REGIME BE OVERRIDDEN AND THUS INSTALLED ANYWAY

true, a few dev teams have tried the bundle route (even FireFox does it....) BUT most small apps have "teams" as small as a single geek who puts all his spare time into improving his "baby" to the detriment of looking after the "copyright security" of the useful utility kicking the tail of it's big bucks competition.

then, when he burns out, along comes the bundle demons.... they add their thirty pieces of silver snatching crap-jacket around the beautiful but sadly released as public domain software. not even open source is immune to the poison if they don't have the foresight to us a license that restricts the malware bundling .... (open source licensing only keeps other geeks safe, you need to know how to use a make-file in order avoid precompiled bundleware)

so, the only person you can blame is YOU !!!
boycott C/NET & SOFTPEDIA ... only AFTER their bundle money stops ALL THEIR AD INCOME (they both sell ads on site so don't even look until they stop bundle-ware)

> then, when he burns out, along comes the bundle demons.... they add their thirty pieces of silver snatching crap-jacket around the beautiful but sadly released as public domain software. not even open source is immune to the poison if they don't have the foresight to us a license that restricts the malware bundling .... (open source licensing only keeps other geeks safe, you need to know how to use a make-file in order avoid precompiled bundleware)

Quite often, not even the license helps to prevent this, because these download sites don't bolt their adware to the software you're trying to get itself, but to an installer that downloads the (clean) original file from their servers. So even if it's a closed-source, proprietary freeware, as long as they are granted rights to redistribute, they will try to get you to use their "download helper" instead of downloading directly through the browser, so they can take over your system…

@ qazwiz · Jul 2017
I agree with you about CNet completely (and their alias Downloads.com)
But in many years I have had only one "bad" download from "Softpedia"
They can't possibly be monitoring their 30,000? apps for sneak ware.

Recently I downloaded a Password reader from Softpedia, scanned it with VirusTotal, and I stupidly ignored the multiple threats identified by VT.
Wishful thinking on my part ... the download contained ransom ware.
Fortunately VoodoShield blocked the very persistent ransom. Faster than Bitdefender.
I used the Softpedia "advise us of updates" web-mail form, and within hours the crap program was taken down.
Considering the time differences between me and Softpedia, they were onto the problem very quickly (incl. an email back to me)
Softpedia do offer links to "developer" via the "External" link

I rarely download from Softpedia, but their blurbs, generally speaking, can be better than many developers and vendors.

The lesson is ... report bad downloads to the vendor (including AlternativesTo.net) AND homework/research/double-check

• and if your still not sure search for the developer by name

Yes, This happened to me once
Another way to avoid this is use the zip file instead of the installer.
It's also a good idea to share the program files so that you do not make the same mistake.

perfecto

yes

Danilo, you said, "Unchecky is a must-have program for all the Windows PCs!", but what if users like me are on a Mac? I mean, you clearly specified "for all the Windows PCs"

Unchecky ?
In my experience Unchecky assumes ALL vendors (good and bad) always posture as "do you want this extra?"
The trick is how the dodgy vendors have designed their OPTION description and the default value (assuming there is an opt-in/opt-out choice) !
Artificial intelligence (AI) is only as smart as the limits of the AI author.
Some of the false positives in Virus Total scans are an example of useless/inaccurate AI-guesses.
Trusting Unchecky to get it right 100% of the time is plain ignorant ... dumb !

The only solution to clean downloads is research .... homework and dont trust anybody.
Dont bypass "Terms and conditions" ... flick to the end where most (not all) tricksters conceal their intentions.
I use a 57 line checklist form of which about 50% are things I must investigate.
Over time and experience, some trusted vendors will become obvious ( IMO , eg, Nirsoft)
Domain checks are essential, but (in my experience) 98% of them are worse than feeble.
personally I use https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/ ... domain checker for website owners, to discover the flaws in their own domain.
Get to understand (learn) what some eye-watering expressions actually mean.

Unsecured (http:) domains are often the result of a web site host who assembles a download for us to take.
This does not mean all HTTP domains are unsafe and all HTTPS domains are ultra safe.

Downloads are a lot like being in love. Its all very exciting until the ugly truth becomes apparent.

Is there a portable version of the software or a "slim build"? Most of the time this is the version you can trust most because it doesn't / can't install any crap.

@Fry_McFly Unfortunately Freemake doesn't have portable or slim versions for its software. I prefer portable software too and I agree that slim builds without advertisement are more reliable, but they are so uncommon: only CDBurnerXP comes to my mind which has this download option.

I can confirm that and also my Panda Antivirus detected 2 threats during installation.

If you run malwarebytes antimalware, it will clean anything residual this will add. I personally have the premium version and when the installer of this starts, it kills the opencandy installer. That makes the options to not even appear while installing, since the opencandy installer is quarantined as soon as it tries to start.

Keep in mind, the Opencandy does not start when the installer starts. The installer will first offer you a couple of software and after it will start downloading the actual software. When the download will finish, the opencandy installer will launch. Just to point out, opencandy is NOT dangerous, but they are annoying advertisements. Opencandy installer is there only to show you the offers. With that said, I hate opencandy and I hate how it leaves stuff in my pc, without making sure I want it, whilst.. >.> they can jump off a cliff.

For better or worse, Freemake suite offers really good and useful tools, even if it comes with opencandy. I just categorize it to the good tools with annoying installers. I have been using it for years and it works great, although the latest versions have nagging "buy the full version" screens.

If anything, I suggest to skip their "extra ads" installer and download their software from their offline installers page http://www.freemake.com/offline/offline_all/

Thank you !!! I agree, I upgarde to 4.1.10 and now it takes age to convert a video compare to my previous version. Obvously, we can have a faster conversion by switching to the paid version.... I can understand the logo at the beginning of the video for a the free version and some options not available but have to wait 35 minute for a conversion that took less than 5 minutes in the previous version is a no go for me. Thank you for the old version link.