What’s this? Another Terms of service? Of course I’ll just click the green box right where my mouse already is and accep… wait a minute. So I left it unmarked and clicked onto the Next Step. Well, they didn’t manage to snag me on this one. The fine print next to it clearly says that it’s going to install SweetPacks toolbar! But alas, it was a trick! This wasn’t the TOS I was looking for, it was a installer acceptance box with light-gray text.

On the very second page of the installer was what at first glance appeared to be the Terms of Service checkbox for the app I was downloading. I went to CNET and decided to download a program called Mangofile using the CNET Installer. I was mostly convinced this was going to be bad based on previous experiences with bundled crapware, but the only way to be sure that the rumors were true was to give it a go myself. The Verdict – Is CNET’s installer just a scam to infect your computer? My Investigation is long and drawn out, so if you’d like to just skip to learn how to avoid becoming a victim of crapware via CNET, scroll down. At this rate it will soon be over 1 million downloads and likely close to as many computers infected with its alleged crapware.

According to CNET it has received over 751,418 downloads which included 97,556 just last week alone. If CNET’s download installer really is a crapware trap, the scary part is how many people are falling into it. It sounds crazy that a reliable company like CNET would resort to these kinds of advertising tactics, so I had to investigate for myself.

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