A couple of minutes after returning to my computer this morning, I see a Comodo popup warning about Freemake Video Downloader trying to install OpenCandy! Say what?
I downloaded this app a couple of years back, used it once or twice and since then it has been sitting on my system unused. So seeing an attempt to self-update (which I NEVER allow for any software, especially non-Windows system) was a bit scary.
Shortly after the 1st warning above (which I replied to “Clean”), I received a 2nd warning for the same software. I also replied “Clean” to that and did not get any further warnings.
However, I am puzzled as to how an unused piece of software suddenly decides to try and update itself?
This update was under the guise of Freemake but I wonder if I have a rouge install of OpenCandy? Sometime back I caught an app stealth installing OpenCandy even after I told the software that I was installing NOT to install anything and I had to manually clean that up.
Looking at a Wikipedia entry for this company, I can see that they have a reputation for installing PUP software with their apps, so I have subsequently uninstalled the Freemake app (wasn’t using it anyways).
If anyone has software from Freemake on their system, suggest they keep an eye on it and/or uninstall it.
Not detected by any reputable engine. This probably has to do with OpenCandy being bundled in the updater, not the actual Freemake program itself. Personally I pretty much disable everything from autorun through the task manager except for Comodo so there is not unnecessary things being loaded up without my consent. Freemake services were probably still running through some service or autorun entry.
On the page the actual version should be 3.8.0. - released at 12.05.17 ! But it seems that’s not the newest version ! Version 3.8.0.34 was the newest - released at 24.05.2017 ! >>> Freemake Video Downloader - Download - CHIP ( famous German PC Magazine and Online Download Portal) . I’m a little confused !!! :o
Hmm that’s strange. The download on that chip website has a different digital signature than the one on the original website. The one on the original is signed by INTERNET PROJECT LLC, the one on the third party website is signed by Ellora Assets Corp.
That is very confusing, I don’t get why there would be totally different publishers for same program. Maybe that version provided on the third-party website is the version which contains the
adware.
Maybe when freemake was updating it downloaded the adware version of the installer.
On the chip website, the authors warn against the non-deselectable adware ! They advise to choose another similar program ! But the Vendor Link on the Chip website is the same as yours ! Hmmmmm … !!! ???
