I strongly disagree that you made it more obvious to opt out of the malware installation than the Yahoo toolbar. I have installed pdfcreator many times and always deselect yahoo toolbar because it is not appropriate.
if there was any opportunity to opt out of Babylon products, it was in no way obvious.
Furthermore, regardless of the answers you give after Babylon takes over the computer, it does what it wants. It does not uninstall with the uninstaller and it makes changes to the browsing behavior that are likely in the registry. I will check that out later but just wanted to get my 2 cents in here before people start believing this public relations comment you have posted.
Maybe you have changed the installer since I downloaded and installed so that it is more obvious but on mine there was zero opportunity to opt out as far as I am concerned.
As for money, don't put on a mask and rob it from the pockets of users who are then forced to suffer time consuming ill effects of your eagerness to accept a penny or two here and there by making deals with unscrupulous companies.
yes, you are right that the Babylon offer was not obvious. Our offer partner changed the screen and did remove the "Decline" button. You would not have received the Babylon offer if you had unchecked all check boxes, but we have complained about this already and are now showing different and obvious offers from a different partner, starting with PDFCreator 1.4.0 .
Please accept our apologies for the way the offer was presented.
I have just updated to v 1.4.0. I found if I run the installer when the previous version is still installed I do not get any obvious warning that Babylon is being installed. However if I uninstall the previous version before installing 1.4.0 I do get a prompt and can decline the offer of Babylon.
I have to echo the dissatisfaction expressed with the bundled software in the installer. My experience had my search provider changed on IE and Chrome and installation of Weatherbug even though I unchecked the option. I will have to find a different product to use for this purpose.
You might be able to change the "/silent" switches in the batch file to "/verysilent" so the install is invisible to end users. A reboot will not be necessary if you follow the steps in the batch file, but forcing a new install to overwrite an existing install will most likely require a reboot, and "/VerySilent" will trigger an automatic reboot according to the page above.
WKPG has a page which may help:
PDFCreator - WPKG | Open Source Software Deployment and Distribution http://wpkg.org/PDFCreator
After repeatedly being prompted to upgrade to PDF Creator version 1.4, I did this morning. During the install, I unchecked the option to install WeatherBug, but it installed it anyway. It also reset the home page on both Internet Explorer and Firefox to mystart.incredibar.com, as well as adding tool bars for its search engine. I did not ask for any of this. It was very annoying to have to spend time cleaning the junk off of my pc. I know this is a free product, but I had begun to trust sourceforge.net for what it offers.
I have found a way to install PDFCreator without toolbars. I wrote a batch file to do it, but it can be done manually by using the steps below. This works on 32-bit XP and Win7. You may need to tweak paths for 64-bit Win7, where 32-bit programs like PDFCreator are installed not in “C:\Program Files” but in “C:\Program Files (x86)” by default.
Save the following lines between the lines of “==” signs as PDFCreator.inf in the same folder with the current downloaded PDFCreator-n_m_o_setup.exe (where n_m_o is the current version, 1_4_1 as I type this):
Is the code example you have published here a "script" to install PDFCreator.? I am looking for a way of installing the product silently. Can you please advise. Would also appreciate input from others regarding any appropriate technique to silently install as part of a larger software package install.
I chose Custom Install, carefully selected/deselected options, and never saw any mention of Babylon Toolbar.
And yet, it was installed automatically, and hijacked my Search Provider and Homepage settings in both Crome and IE.
I've been a long-time PDFCreator user and advocate, but... no more. I may consider trying it again if/when they have an ad/malware-free (paid/donation) version. Until then, though, I'd rather pay for Adobe Acrobat for all my users than have to clean up the junk this (otherwise unbelievably great) software comes with.
I deliberately created an account, so I could post and state my complete disgust and those people in this forum who obtain something for gratis, then still expect level 1 support from the developers when they see something they don't like.
Well bugger off and buy your alternatives, but don't come here whinging; you're not qualified.
note: I am not a spokesman for the developers, nor do the developers endorse my opinion.
If this were truly 'gratis' people would not be complaining. Should not be complaining.
But when malware (very hard to uninstall software/mal-configuration) is bundled, and the installation installs that malware by default, and the process is designed to make any decline option confusing... well, this deserves the complaint in the strongest terms.
I am of a mind that Mozilla ought to block installation of this Babylon crapware to save us all the bother of those occasional mistakes... but PDFcreator makers should not be relying on such crapware for making a few cents... yes! request voluntary or compulsory donations -- I cannot believe that that Babylon is paying much per installation, and the software is definitely worth a dollar or two if that is what it takes to keep it free.
Now, what shall I do with all my clients using this good PDF creation software? They will make mistakes when upgrading it, and it is unethical for me to leave them to the mercies of such crapware only to charge them for support when they call me, or, worse, find that they stop using the internet because of the crapware... the knock on effects of such crapware should not be under-estimated... bundling this is a large step backwards to those horrid days when crapware was hidden in most 'free' software.
Can I remove this crapware Babylon without turning the air blue with curses? about:config edit edit edit ... lots of lines ... what a bore? What a waste of time? what a worriesome set of hurdles for making a simple mistake with a decline options tucked in halfway through the PDFCreator installation wizard. Lots of curses here - get rid of malware, it has no place in legitimate software.
Ditto: Avoid Installing PDF Creator! I used to use it for years and installed it last night on a new PC only to discover to my horror that it now comes bundled with spyware/malware called "Babylon" which remains imbedded in your browsers even after uninstalling 2 components from the programs list. I am very disappointed to see the PDF Creators resort to this tactic so I am done using them and will now recommend against it for anyone else (the old "word of mouth" thing can help or not).
we have talked to the advertiser about this and got this resolved. The uninstallation process just now is improved and can be easily done through the windows system control panel.
Your latest malware selection of snap.do is even worse than babylon toolbar. What realy upsets me as this was an update not a new install. snap.do has hijacked all the browsers. IE, Firefox, Chrome. I have spent two days removing this crap from my computer. Even after unintalling the snap.do tool bar it presistis throught the browers. in firefox it disables the ablity to remove it as a search engine. if you removing it it locks the "Ok" key which leaves you the only option of clicking "Cancel" The software changed the keyword.url within the about:config settings which hijacks the browser if you mistype a url or do a simple search in firefox. Its time for you to growup, make your money through ligitamate channels and not on the backs of your users by making it a defualt to install 3rd party malware. You better be making a Sh%&# load of money from these 3rd parties because your are loosing your core users because of them.
Wow, reading all these comments makes me laugh. Especially about all the people crying about "it wasn't obvious". Guys it is very simple to read the few sentences an installer has in it. You might save yourself the troubles of geting unwanted software. I mean come on; a whole page on the installer dedicated to "Babylon Toolbar" asking to accept or decline a licence agreement for them. I feel that should be sufficient enough; i mean what do you want them to do? Put a big ole Green button on it that says "if you click this you will install this toolbar" and another big ole red one that says "if you click this you wont install this toolbar". This just goes to show how many people just "click" on through an installer to see how fast they can install the software. Insted of reading where it is being saved and what extras will be installed.
What isn't obvious about this page:
PDFCreator developers, you guys are doing an awesome job. The only people that seem to be dissatisfied are the ones who cannot operate a computer very well; so in that note they have no right to complain. Maybe they should take a computer class or somthing.
PS: If its malware, then the free version of Malwarebytes would take care of any "taking over, and not having control of your computer" instances. Do some research beforing going to forums and complaining.
I realise this topic has been beaten to death a bit, but it’s no less relevant for all that.
Lance de Witt and others: it’s a fact of life that the vast majority of users out there are either incapable of reading, or of ingesting, a large part of what is presented to them on a computer screen. and I really do mean vast majority. I work with users every day, from all walks of life, and from the youngest and brightest to the oldest and dimmest - and I do not mean to imply old=dim or young=clever - I see people missing important information that is plain as day.
Some even read me error messages over the phone and ask me what they mean. I tell them, in the same exact words they just read to me, and they understand. Don’t ask me to explain or justify it; I just observe it.
Now add to that the clearly, obviously designed-to-obfuscate screens (like the one you snapshotted above, Lance!!) and you have a recipe for installation of multiple instances of crapware. Some of my users have every “tool” bar I’ve ever seen - MyWebSearch, Babylon, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Speedbit and others… to the point where their browser window is too small to read anything useful in it.
Ok, granted, a lot of it can be put down to laziness. When installing software, most people just want to get through it - not read screens. But again, with the tiny print that a lot of these installers use, it is any wonder users don’t have the patience to go through them to find out what they are agreeing to accept?
And read it or not, stupid or not, again I say: many installers deliberately make their acceptance pages look and read like you are agreeing to the licence terms of the main software you are installing, not some ugly wart piggybacking on its ass. Again, the Babylon POS is a classic example - “By clicking you accept the licence agreement”. Oh yeah - what licence do you need to run a trojan? Ask a thousand people who have installed PDFCreator what that means and 999 will tell you the licence for PDFCreator.
Tell those same 999 people to clear the check boxes and click “decline” and they will all say "But won’t that stop the install from working?"
It’s dirty, underhanded, bandit marketing. I understand why PDF Forge and others do it, but I still don’t like it. And taking a superior attitude about not having a right to complain, or taking a computer class first, just shows you up for an arrogant nerd. Not everyone is blessed with your intellect, but that doesn’t give you the right to sneer.
it is not and never has been our goal to trick anybody into anything. We take these remarks seriously and work together with our advertising partners to implement suggestions made here.
