Problems commenting on software

I made an effort to inform that Izarc 4.1.8 does not allow opt out of their extras in 4.1.8. It's take it or leave it and taking it means you get the extra installs. This is different than the MG warnings about these things. Check it for yourself and let me know if I'm in error.

Whatever the trick to using my Gmail account to accept comment gave something about Discus which I refused. There is going to be a point where MG accepts too much of this intrusion and will hurt the site.

Commenting at MG should be commenting at MG and not be redirected to Discus or whatever it is.

 

loninappleton...

I think Discus you typed is Disqus, which is a commentary site that tracks comments on pages. It's sort of like a thumbs up or down at YouTube if you know about that.

I suppose you may have clicked on that link rather than a major geeks links. Those kinds of links are available to users around the internet, so they can leave a rating on a page, etc. If you look toward the bottom of the forum pages here at MGs, you will see "Contact Us". That takes you to a page with information containing the e-mail address Plodr listed below.

I am sure they would like to hear your comment. Administration here is really outstanding...and the help too when it's coming from one of the real vets like plodr...:-D

 

As far as Izarc goes, you are partially correct. The take it or leave it part is "OpenCandy"(possible to circumvent but I'll not go into it here).

If you were to continue with the install, "OpenCandy" would have offered other suggested items to install which you could have opted out of. At that point the install would have proceeded as normal with no ill side effects from "OpenCandy" or "opted out of" suggestions.

 

I had a look at the Izarc 4.1.8 installer and there is an outer wrapper for the installer. Provided that this wrapper can obtain network connectivity, then you'll be foisted with agreeing to install another program in order for the Izarc installer with opt out OpenCandy to continue.
The attached screenshot shows this 'Special Offer'. Note that this is prior to accepting the Izarc/OpenCandy EULA. Pressing cancel aborts the installation of anything.

 

Umm, yep that's new. The Izarc 4.1.8 installer I'd used previously was from last Dec. It didn't have the "Special Offer" dialogue.

Before trying to get around this new "Special Offer" of "Search Protect" as well as "OpenCandy" I took some precautions.

• Added these lines to the "HOSTS" file: See attached text file: "CandyLines.txt"
• Blocked "IZArcInstall.exe" at the firewall. < Thanks _nullptr.
• Ran CCleaner.
• Ran Tweaking.com - Registry Backup - MajorGeeks.
• Set a System Restore point.
• Backed up with Acronis.

Maybe overkill but "an ounce of prevention..."


Installation ordeal:

• Ran "IZArcInstall.exe" and the Izarc 4.1.8 setup wizard popped up.

Process Explorer showed that "IZArcSetup.exe" was running not "IZArcInstall.exe".
As _nullptr stated, it rolls on to setup if network connectivity is blocked.​

• Clicked "Next".
• The IZArc/OpenCandy EULA dialogue window popped up. Clicked "Cancel".

Everything Search Engine found "IZArcSetup.exe" in:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp\nsXXXXX.tmp\IZArcSetup.exe <-(5.1MB file)​

• Copied "IZArcSetup.exe" from the temp folder to C:\Test\
• Opened a "Command Prompt" window with elevated privileges
• At the prompt typed:

C:\Test\IZArcSetup.exe /NOCANDY​

• IZArc setup wizard popped up. Clicked "Next".
• IZArc/OpenCandy EULA dialogue window popped up:
• Selected "I accept the agreement" and clicked "Next"

From that point on it was a standard install. The default install location is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\IZArc\​

Nothing from "OpenCandy", "Search Protect" or any other "Special Offers". Although as soon as the finish install dialogue window pops up, the

"http://izarc.org/donate.html"​

page opens in the default browser. Which is fine. If more folks donated to developers of programs of this caliber, we would see less of this type of installation behavior, imo.

Besides the "IZArcSetup.exe", two other files self extracted from "IZArcInstall.exe" to temp folders:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp\is-XXXXX.tmp\OCSetupHlp.dll <-(763.9KB file)
and
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp\nsXXXXX.tmp\xml.dll <-(118.5KB file)​

I did not copy either of these files from their respective temp folder(s) as I did with "IZArcSetup.exe".

So far, AV, MBAM, SAS have found nothing, other than the "OpenCandy" PUP in "IZArcInstall.exe". No added tool bars. Microsoft Autoruns isn't showing any unusual start-ups. I'm not seeing any out of the ordinary processes running. No change in browser(s) behavior, no unusual connections and Windows isn't displaying any ill side effects. No hint of nefarious activity.

Blocking network connectivity to "IZArcInstall.exe" before beginning the install process is essential to stop the "Special Offer".
I don't know that all of those other steps are necessary, but I'm sure they work. Don't know if it's worth it or not though. But I'll think twice before un-installing IZArc after all of this rigmarole.

The straight on approach of not allowing "IZArcInstall.exe" network connectivity may work just as well.

My goal was to prevent "OpenCandy" from scanning the computer, reporting the scan results home(in the cloud somewhere) in order to determine what suggested offers to make from whom-ever, and avoid the possibilty of mistakenly "accepting" instead of "opting-out-of" said suggested offers.

A long winded way of saying/showing IZArc is freeware and can be installed without "junk-ware".