So I left it unmarked and clicked onto the Next Step. Well, they didn’t manage to snag me on this one. The fine print next to it clearly says that it’s going to install SweetPacks toolbar! But alas, it was a trick! This wasn’t the TOS I was looking for, it was a installer acceptance box with light-gray text. On the very second page of the installer was what at first glance appeared to be the Terms of Service checkbox for the app I was downloading. I went to CNET and decided to download a program called Mangofile using the CNET Installer. I was mostly convinced this was going to be bad based on previous experiences with bundled crapware, but the only way to be sure that the rumors were true was to give it a go myself. The Verdict – Is CNET’s installer just a scam to infect your computer? # My Investigation is long and drawn out, so if you’d like to just skip to learn how to avoid becoming a victim of crapware via CNET, scroll down. At this rate it will soon be over 1 million downloads and likely close to as many computers infected with its alleged crapware. According to CNET it has received over 751,418 downloads which included 97,556 just last week alone. If CNET’s download installer really is a crapware trap, the scary part is how many people are falling into it. It sounds crazy that a reliable company like CNET would resort to these kinds of advertising tactics, so I had to investigate for myself. CNET is literally getting paid to sneakily attempt to install garbage on your computer. And why does it do it? This crapware is put into the installer by companies paying CNET to put it there. According to a thread on a popular social media site, this program’s only benefit to a user is its claim to improve download reliability, but in reality the purpose of this software is its ability to sneakily attempt to install crapware on your computer. But what if ads and junkware were included by the company hosting a download for the software and it was ambiguous if any of the funds even went to the developers at all? This is what I heard about the CNET Installer, an application that I had never tried before since I usually download directly from the developer. I think most people understand that sometimes this is a necessary evil to support starving app developers everywhere. We’ve all seen it before, crapware packed into an installer for an otherwise great app.

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