Direct Download Link at Download.com without CNET Installer
Most computer users would probably agree that the rise in recent years of adware and extras such as toolbars and other options while installing software has become a growing menace. The problem also isn’t just about inadvertently getting this junk installed onto your computer, in some cases such as the Babylon toolbar, it’s also about getting rid of it effectively again. Most people understand the need for developers to make money, but some software installers have become quite devious and all but trick ordinary users into installing their wares.
It was all the more frustrating when download portals started wrapping their software downloads in adware wrappers which means instead of you just downloading the setup installer like before, you download a small executable which offers various adware and junk before downloading the real installer for you. One of the biggest websites to implement this first was CNET and unfortunately several others have followed suit. Even the once respectable SourceForge has started using this method on open source software, which has dismayed users everywhere.
Of course, you can find other websites or the developer’s official website to download the program from if possible, but there’s no denying a website with a vast wealth of resources like CNET is still handy to fall back on every now and then. One good thing is not all software hosted on CNET is bundled with the “CNET Installer” so you’re not going to find it in your way every time you go there. If a software is being bundled with CNET’s installer, you will see a button that says “Download Now CNET Installer Enabled“.
If you move the mouse cursor over “CNET Installer Enabled”, you will get a popup box that explains:
The CNET Download.com Installer is a tiny ad-supported stub installer or “download manager” that helps securely deliver your downloads from Download.com’s servers. We also include offers for carefully screened software that complies with Download.com Software Policies as part of our Installer process.
Click on Download Now, and you’ll get the CNET Installer executable which when run will offer various junk such as toolbars, browser helpers (which change your default homepage or search engine) and other utilities that are rarely of any use. After you get through those windows by accepting or declining whether to install the extras, the installer will download the original setup installer from the CNET servers. The problem is the process is not reversible as there’s no back button, so if you accidentally click accept for one or more adware items, you cannot go backwards and need to close the window from the taskbar or task manager.
You don’t necessarily need to download the CNET Installer though as thankfully there is another option available on every download page where the wrapper is used. If you look just below the green download button, there is a “Direct Download Link” option where you can download the software directly from Download.com without the CNET installer.
Prevent CNET Installer Links From Showing
If you or somebody uses CNET quite often and would like some protection from downloading the CNET Installer by mistake, there is a way to do this if you use Firefox or Chrome via an extension. Firefox has an add-on called Greasemonkey which allows you to run custom users scripts on web pages, Chrome (and Opera) uses a similar extension called Tampermonkey. To install the CNET Installer blocker:
1. Install Greasemonkey from the Mozilla website for Firefox, or Install Tampermonkey from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Go to the NoBadWare script page at userscripts.org and click the green Install button at the top right. When prompted click Install in your browser to install the script.
3. Now visit a page on CNET which has the adware Installer enabled on the download button, Nokia PC Suite is one such program that has it.
You should now see instead of a separate direct download link, it says “NoBadWare: CNET Installer link replaced with direct download link”. Clicking the Download Now button will download the real setup installer just like any other software page that doesn’t include the CNET wrapper! You no longer have to worry about checking the links for the presence of the CNET adware installer.
A Solution to Stop You Clicking on CNET Installer Buttons
Another option is to use a program to stop someone pressing the wrong button if they download the CNET Installer and run it by mistake. Although this might seem impossible, there was a tool released at the end of 2013 that can help. Unchecky was designed specifically to stop users clicking on the wrong options when installing software that contains adware. It does so by constantly monitoring your system and when it recognises your are launching an installer or in this case running an install wrapper, will uncheck the boxes to automatically install unwanted options or warn you might be trying to install adware.
Download and install Unchecky, then if you run a CNET Installer and accidentally click Accept, the Unchecky tool will attempt to warn you that you are potentially clicking on an option to install adware. This will at least offer a chance to think again before the Accept button registers the press.
The Unchecky program will work on many other setup installers that contain adware as well as other wrappers such as the one from SourceForge. Do be aware that Unchecky is currently still a beta version and is certainly not foolproof, so a degree of care should still be taken with ad supported installers.
If You’ve Installed CNET Installer Adware
If you’re unlucky enough to accidentally install any pieces of adware from the CNET Installer, most of them should be easily uninstalled from Control Panel using Programs and Features or Add and Remove Programs. To help clean up any leftovers, something like AdwCleaner can be used to scan and remove files and registry entries.
Another tool that can help you restore your browser default search engine and homepage while also removing unwanted toolbars the CNET Installer may have inadvertently placed onto your computer is called Auslogics Browser Care.
This free program currently only works on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome but allows you to easily restore the options most adware supported setup installers might leave behind. Simply run the program and then check your start page, search engine and which addons are installed and enabled from within the program’s window. The layout and usage is easy to understand and each browser you have installed is located on a separate tab. Browser Care works on Windows XP up to 8.1.
Hi! and Thanks!
I’ve been using Unchecky for a few years, nothing to bother and it does the work!
Just download, that’s it!
Very light and nothing else to do.
I see that these comments are very old. But since no one else did until now, I just wanted to point out that FileHippo doesn’t bundle anything with their downloads anymore and only offers unadulterated installers – I don’t know for how long, since I didn’t use FileHippo when these comments were posted over 5 years ago, but I’ve been using that site for over an year now and never seen it.
What I love about FileHippo is that they keep older versions available for every program in their library. For some programs, it’s the only place on the internet where you can find downloads for older versions, in case you need it.
Nice explanation Raymond.cc good work keep it up
Thank you for the tip now i know what sites gave the malwares on my computer.
Major Geeks is one site that is adamantly against adware down loaders. They are not the largest site as the software that they provide has all been manually verified to be adware free. [www.majorgeeks.com]
I don’t know since when, but it seems that at least for some downloads, the option to download without the CNET Downloader seems to have been removed entirely from Download.com. The “Direct Download Link” option still shows on the page, but clicking it will download the CNET Downloader nonetheless. All of the Greasemonkey scripts supposed to circumvent it seem to have stopped working as well. I guess it’s goodbye, Download.com.
As for people looking for an alternative: FileHippo, Tucows, and Softonic all bundle malware with their downloads too. I think that covers all of the larger remaining download sites, there are no clean ones left. The only malware-free site of moderate size I still found was FreewareFiles.com.
It’s always best to download directly from the developer’s site. And to find those, AlternativeTo.net is a good option, as it includes great features to browse similar software.
I actually used to use sites like Download.com mostly for getting software for which the original developer site doesn’t exist anymore. File archives like that are a very valuable resource for that reason. For that use case, it might be a good option to check the Internet Archive’s software library (archive.org/details/software) which among other collections includes a snapshot of the entire Tucows library *without* malware. But of course it’s not an option for up-to-date downloads.
Maybe you know some of this already; it’s a bit irritating that there are not dates on the comments here.
FileHippo for me anytime.
Is there a way to thank and encourage them?
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but FileHippo is/was pushing adware wrapped installers as well, just like CNET…
So they are no better than CNET, if that is still the case.
Thanks for the information. However I just find it easier to stay away from CNET. I un-subscribed from all their newsletters and basically have nothing to do with their site anymore. If that’s the way they want to treat people who visit their site I’ll go elsewhere. File Hippo is now my number one stop.
Thanks. I so can’t stand that cnet installer. It makes me paranoid to even go to the site. This post helps explain ways around it.
I prefer currently DDownloads –> ddownloads.net/index.php/download/viewdownload/30-ddownloads-portable/124-ddownloads-portable-extract-wizard
nifty and fully portable tool with hundreds of direct download links for various apps.
filehippo is also a very good alternative.
Thanks for posting this information!! I remember the good ‘ole days when C/NET did not do this. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, and we have to resort to steps like this. This is one of the major annoyances, to me, with C/NET, and a lot of software authors upload to their site, so sometimes you just have to download from them. :)
Thanks for sharing
Hey there! I really enjoyed reading your article. Hope
you create even more such as this!
finally, less crap,i totally stopped using that site since they started using that down loader.
Well, that’s an eye opener because they’ve always gone out of their way to promote the downloads and adware, virus free, etc. It shows how vigilant you have to be and that’s alarming to find out if you say, “don’t accept,” “…it is already too late because the adware is already installed on your computer.” Now, just like TeXaCo_sr said, if CNET is the only choice to install, I’ll just pass.I have noticed that even going to the developer’s website for direct downloads now commonly results in linkback to CNET and/or some others. Good to know Softpedia is still reliable. Thanks for the wake-up call!
Hi Ray,
Since CNET started to push this adware with their downloads, I refuse to download anything from them. It’s the principle of the issue. They were once a reputable company and should know better than to bundle this type of stuff in their downloads. I guess now adding the direct download link is a concession because people are upset about the whole thing.
Well, until they remove the adware bundled installer all together, I will not be downloading from them. If it is something I need, I will find it on other sites like you mentioned softpedia or snapfiles.
I have run into one or two programs that I wanted to try out but found out you could only download them from CNET. So I decided that I could live without those programs.
Hopefully they will see issue at some point and fix it, but I am not holding my breath.
TeX
This is the very reason I now steer clear from Cnet and other similar sites that offer their bundled installers. Sometimes even when I’ve unchecked the “do not install toolbar” opttion, it still installs the offending crap-ware. Like you I now go directly to the source for my installer. I’ve also found sites such as Filehippo and Snap Files that offer just the installer and a link to the developer’s site. Thanks for this informative article, Raymond. Keep up the excellent work…
nice article. thanks
Download.com has made me very angry doing this. I have switched to alternative sites like FileHippo and Softpedia
I prefer filehippo.com