Please, No Open Candy - I'm willing to pay!

[JamesAndersonJr]

Dear Support

 

I have a suggestion, in agreement with Chris (it seems as though he stole the words directly out of my mouth; as I came here to post, I saw he already did), please provide a paid version of your software without the "Open Candy". It is flagged by my anti-virus, and I'm sure countless others too. Even "Optional Open Candy" can wreak havoc on a Windows computer and riddle it with even more Mal-Ware than included in the installer.

 

 

Please, I'm begging you...Pleeeeeaaase, remove the Open-Candy malware from your software installer.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-James A.

Edited March 15, 2014 by JamesAndersonJr

[dgurrol]

James,

 

My friend, nothing in life is ever truly free :-) I understand your request fully and while I have ZERO affiliation with ImgBurn, other than that of my daily use of the application, I have to say that with a little research and maybe a better antivirus application your concerns may be promptly addressed.

 

1. OpenCandy is not MalWare - it should be properly classified by any good AV program as AdWare
    
2. OpenCandy runs during installation of ImgBurn 2.5.8.0 and once the installation is complete and you exit the installer's window(s) OpenCandy cleans itself up.
    
3. OpenCandy is truly doing no more than any installer displaying graphics, notes, and self advertising, the only difference is that the OpenCandy enabled installer profile's your computer and displays advertising that may be more targeted to you specifically based on the profile.
    
4. http://www.opencandy.com/faqs - a quick read should give you a better sense of things
    
5. http://oclink.us/occleanup - nabs a nifty little cleanup tool from a dropbox account
    

I have Avast Endpoint Protection (a business version) running on my PC, I also have Kaspersky Endpoint Security Business SELECT 10 running on my other PC and neither of these top rated AV products flag the ImgBurn 2.5.8.0 installer with any warning or issues whatsoever.

 

I scan all installers with my AV before install and contribute to cloud analytics with any AV application that contains the option. My AV settings also san ALL files on open/execute.

 

The optional software you are asked to install after the start menu selection is more than likely OpenCandy's work. Select custom and uncheck the install option. Easy as that.

 

I don't think enough of us would pay, I also think there would be more people stealing the software through credit carded copies, cracked versions, keygened, take your pick, I am pretty sure I am right too. The developer deserves something for the work (or their work). The fact that this extremely well written program is and remains free just floors me. I for one could not afford to buy the three copies I would need and use daily.

 

I only posted to this thread because I simply just can't stand missinformation and OpenCandy is not MalWare period. I have seen nothing in ImgBurn to warant such a classification. I read what appear to be the developer's posts on this forum, answering some of the most ridiculously formed questions ripe with gramatical and spelling errors, as well as jumbled thought processes and I am left impressed and appreciative of both the developer and the application.

 

I am not a srill for the application or developer, I am a Senior Systems and Network Engineer with 30 years deep and wide IT experience. I have seen a LOT of crapware, malware, and adware, this application, even with, what many tag as dubious, OpenCanday included to offer me optional software to install.

 

Pay attention to your installations, read what is in front of you, and no one gets hurt :-)

[JamesAndersonJr]

Hi dgurrol,

 

Thank you for your timely reply, though I was preferably eliciting a response from an admin, or better yet the apps dev(s).

 

I didn't mean my actual anti-virus program (which is Avast too, btw). I was using that term loosely. I meant one of the most popular anti-malware applications for Windows available, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, which by the way you should know of given your "30 years deep and wide IT experience". MalwareBytes flags it as "Optional.OpenCandy" which it would have no reason to warn me if there was not a potential problem or threat (it's not known as one of the best for giving false-positives).

 

I'm well aware of how OpenCandy works. The primary reason that developers wrap it around their software is to monetize their "poisoned candy" i.e. "mal-ware, with freeware as bait". As you implied in your comments more people would accidentally click through a free product ("Hurry, hurry! Gimmie, gimmie that free candy!!"), than be willing to pay a fair price for it, so it's more lucrative for the dev(s) to use OC than to actually charge a fair fixed price...which I find very frustrating because licensing "clean" software out to users is much more ethical if not lucrative to do than throwing out mal-ware infested "candy".

 

It's a shame this is common place, because some of the free software wrapped in OC installers are otherwise REALLY GOOD! Take Freemakes (http://www.freemake.com) software for example. Their Video Converter is AMAZING! DXVA and NVIDIA Cuda accelerated, beautifully simple, functional, and clean interface, well-coded -an altogether excellent app. That too along with all its sister apps is infected with OpenCandy! Fortunately, I got ahold of the devs and was able to find a "clean" version I could purchase.

 

In fact, I've talked to several developer's of software I use regularly, either by phone or by email, and all of them have always had a purchasable ad-free version of their software available, where I could buy. I'm reaching out to the developers of ImgBurn in somewhat the same way, albeit less personal (I don't have any contact information for them).

 

I hope you can understand.

 

P.S.  When you said "srill" did you mean "shill", as 'srill' is not an English word. :-)