How Oracle installs deceptive software with Java Updates

Eh? I've never had Java try to install anything other than Java.

YES, thanks for sharing that Brink! The most obvious case is that you have to watch it closely as the dialog boxes go by. There's one that I think defaults to installing something other than Java and you have to uncheck it before proceeding (assuming of course you don't want it). As the article points out, they also have more veiled attempts at installing other stuff. LovingWindows, watch the dialog boxes carefully on the next update. If you're installing Oracles' standard Java environment, the unwanted stuff is in there.

mbratch said:

If you're installing Oracles' standard Java environment, the unwanted stuff is in there.

Click to expand...

Java 7 Update 11 installer:

1:
View attachment 15265

2:
View attachment 15266

3:
View attachment 15267

Nothing but Java installed, no extra dialogs no extra anything.

Well... that's interesting. Mine has an extra dialog in there with a checkbox for something. It's either before #1 or between #1 and #2. I'll have to try it again tonight or tomorrow and see if I can snapshot it. Not sure what governs whether that pops up or not.

mbratch said:

Well... that's interesting. Mine has an extra dialog in there with a checkbox for something. It's either before #1 or between #1 and #2. I'll have to try it again tonight or tomorrow and see if I can snapshot it. Not sure what governs whether that pops up or not.

Click to expand...

Mind you this is directly from java.com, not a third party website. I've seen third party websites before take official downloads, repack them with ad crap and put them up on their site for their viewers/readers.

LovingWindows said:

mbratch said:

Well... that's interesting. Mine has an extra dialog in there with a checkbox for something. It's either before #1 or between #1 and #2. I'll have to try it again tonight or tomorrow and see if I can snapshot it. Not sure what governs whether that pops up or not.

Click to expand...

Mind you this is directly from java.com, not a third party website. I've seen third party websites before take official downloads, repack them with ad crap and put them up on their site for their viewers/readers.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. And I can't say for sure whether the last installer I pulled was direct from java.com. It's possible it was a hijacked installer. A lot (I mean A LOT) of those kicking around the internet. Thanks.

LovingWindows said:

mbratch said:

If you're installing Oracles' standard Java environment, the unwanted stuff is in there.

Click to expand...

Java 7 Update 11 installer:

1:
View attachment 15265

2:
View attachment 15266

3:
View attachment 15267

Nothing but Java installed, no extra dialogs no extra anything.

Click to expand...

Luckily until now, I've only seen this clean setup. I always installed when offline.

So probably when you're online, a lot of crapware, or just one it's possible to appear as options.

I don't install Java on my host anymore: it read it became a minefield, so I sandboxed it in a VM.

At least the last three times I've installed Java it's tried to install 3rd party software, can't remember what, but it certainly has. Last one was only a few days ago.

I do remember, it was the Ask Toolbar, just about everything you install has either that or the Google Toolbar.

mbratch said:

LovingWindows said:

mbratch said:

Well... that's interesting. Mine has an extra dialog in there with a checkbox for something. It's either before #1 or between #1 and #2. I'll have to try it again tonight or tomorrow and see if I can snapshot it. Not sure what governs whether that pops up or not.

Click to expand...

Mind you this is directly from java.com, not a third party website. I've seen third party websites before take official downloads, repack them with ad crap and put them up on their site for their viewers/readers.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. And I can't say for sure whether the last installer I pulled was direct from java.com. It's possible it was a hijacked installer. A lot (I mean A LOT) of those kicking around the internet. Thanks.

Click to expand...

That's a good lesson to download software only from its developers sites

The Java update will try to get you to install the Ask Toolbar. I haven't seen this with a fresh Java install.

Yep, lots of applications are also installing crapware, like the Ask toolbar when you install them. I just reinstalled Nero Burning Rom and it also tried to install Ask and several other pieces of crapware that you have to deselect a couple times. VDownloader, Piriform's CCleaner and Speccy, and others programs that I don't recall at the moment all try to install crapware. Nero has the unmitigated gaul to call the crapware "perequisites", which will lead many people to think thay MUST install it.

I have had it ask me if i want norton active scan or McAfee as well on occasion. i have never seen it with a full download of the software only on update.

TonyB, Yes, I've seen those two also. Most older PC's I have worked on for people (family, friends, church) have several crappy AV programs installed on them, slowing performance to a standstill and the owner has no idea where the AV programs came from or that they're even on the PC. I think this is how it happens... and it's unethical and should be illegal.

Yes i agree i was at my sisters house in Seattle she asked me if i could look at her pc she said i think i have virus. But in reality she did not she had like 7 AV software on her pc i was OMG did you do this. she was like nope i wasn't aware. I told her i remove this and all be ok. I then told her next time look at the stuff you install.

TonyB said:

Yes i agree i was at my sisters house in Seattle she asked me if i could look at her pc she said i think i have virus. But in reality she did not she had like 7 AV software on her pc i was OMG did you do this. she was like nope i wasn't aware. I told her i remove this and all be ok. I then told her next time look at the stuff you install.

Click to expand...

This is a very good example of what happens if you only click "next" when installing things.

Yes, the miscreants make the "add-ons" look like they need to be installed or put the place to deselect the add-on crapware in an unconspicouous place on the screen. It's hard to tell a non-techie exactly what they should and shouldn't install. My mother will not install ANYTHING unless I tell her it's OK. My father (retired detective) installs EVERYTHING and I have to clean things up!

Some of these things not only install the toolbars but they also reset your browser home page to the cr*pware site. You have to be very dilgent installing almost anything.

Another pet peeve: software that drops an icon on your desktop (even with an upgrade) without bothering to ask. Adobe Reader is a big culprit: every time I update it I have to go back and delete the desktop icon it pus on my desktop. Does it bother checking whether I have the shortcut on my desktop already? Of course not!

Oracle will not stop bundling what critics describe as "crapware" and "foistware" with its Java installer anytime soon, a company representative intimated last week.

The practice of offering up other software alongside Java updates, including emergency security updates to patch critical vulnerabilities, again came under fire last week as new reports surfaced of deceptive installation techniques.

Click to expand...

Oracle will continue to bundle 'crapware' with Java - Computerworld

OK, here's the one that that pops up when I am doing the direct-from-Oracle java update. This came just before the "3 Billion Devices Run Java" pop-up.



You just have to watch carefully and not just click "Next... Next..."