Auslogics now bundling conduit and search protect

[angry_geek]

Just what the title says. Auslogics is now including conduit and search protect with disk defrag installer.

 

[Xander]

Doesn't shock me. They were bundling some other toolbar a few months ago. Nick added it to D7's list on popular demand and the first time I tried it I got a "Let's install this while we're at it!" window. NOOOOPE!

 

[mr m]

Their Web page claims "no spyware, no malware."

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[angry_geek]

Apparently, they've been doing it for a few weeks. Customer called to ask if they should install what it was asking. When they read it to me, I told them to cancel the install entirely and never touch another auslogics product again.

 

[codegreen]

Excuse me while I go off and sputter with rage for a bit.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. I'm literally running their defragger on a client's computer right now. I noticed that there's a tab labelled something like "Other checks". Clicking it starts a "registry optimizer" which claimed at least 800 problems on this computer. Funny, none of those problems turned up as I was running through my tune-up procedure. I guess I'm a bad tech.

 

[NYJimbo]

Of all things why did they team up with the conduit people ?

 

[mraikes]

Of all things why did they team up with the conduit people ?

Right here:
toolbar.conduit(dot-com)/make-toolbar/make-money.aspx

And a special intro offer:
toolbar.conduit(dot-com)/bundle-software.aspx

It's all about the Benjamins. Dislike 'em or hate 'em, Conduit is one company that has figured out how to monetize the internet. They've roped a ton of folks into their scheme.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Easy workaround. Auslogics has a portable version of the defragger. Use that, no nice installers to worry about.

 

[angry_geek]

Easy workaround. Auslogics has a portable version of the defragger. Use that, no nice installers to worry about.

Yeah, but it's the principle. I can't trust a company willing to do this.

 

[NYJimbo]

Customer just dropped off a laptop. Boot it up and firefox started on its own and it wanted to know if I wanted to install "ValueApps" by Conduit.

 

[angry_geek]

Email I just sent to Auslogics:

Your company should be ashamed of itself. You have bundled a known adware and browser hijacker into your once great product. Conduit and search protect is beyond malicious. As a result of this, not only have I stopped using your products or suggesting them to my customers, I have included in our weekly newsletter a warning against any auslogics products. I have included a suggestion to all IT administrators to add rules to their content filters blocking all auslogics domains as well as flagging email from your company as malicious.

I hope you soon come to your senses. This is truly a bad thing for the IT world to see your company go down the rabbit hole for the sake of a few dollars.

We'll see if they actually reply.

 

['putertutor]

I doubt they will, but if they do, post it. I'd love to see if they defend themselves.

 

[cypress]

I hope they do reply Preston.

This sucks I really liked using Auslogics Disk Defrag. Won't be supporting that anymore and have uinstalled it from my personal Pc as well.

 

[JustInspired]

I used to use it but have been using MyDefrag lately. My colleague prefers the D7 auto Defraggler.

I know we're not 'supposed' to need defraggers in Vista+ OSes but I find a lot of machines really do benefit from a good defrag.

 

[carrcomp]

I support Pririform's Defraggler and CCleaner.

Just hoping they don't go down the same route.

 

[Xander]

I used to use it but have been using MyDefrag lately. My colleague prefers the D7 auto Defraggler.

D7 uses the cmd line version of Piriform's in its auto mode; Nick's never claimed it as his own.

I know we're not 'supposed' to need defraggers in Vista+ OSes but I find a lot of machines really do benefit from a good defrag.

Sure. Just because an OS says it's "acceptably defragged" doesn't mean it can't get done a little better. I usually run it till it's <5% so that, when I hand it back, it's as close to 'perfect' as I can manage. It won't stay that way for long but the goal is for them to remember how fast it was once I was done with it.


Nice letter, Loring.

 

[BrentfromZulu]

Does running a 3rd Party Disk Defrag really help the system since after Vista? I always run Disk Defrag on XP machines, but now I don't bother. Am I stupid?

 

[JustInspired]

D7 uses the cmd line version of Piriform's in its auto mode; Nick's never claimed it as his own.

Yep, I didn't word that right. I know Piriform makes it and wasn't implying that Nick was claiming it.

 

[angry_geek]

Does running a 3rd Party Disk Defrag really help the system since after Vista? I always run Disk Defrag on XP machines, but now I don't bother. Am I stupid?

Officially? Who the hell knows? In my personal experience, third party tools run after work performed or initial setup or whatever, seem to help a little with performance. It's probably not necessary, but it's nice to give the machine back knowing it's been done. Plus, the built-in windows defragger takes forever to run. It's ok knowing it will keep up in the background in the future.

 

[mraikes]

Does running a 3rd Party Disk Defrag really help the system since after Vista? I always run Disk Defrag on XP machines, but now I don't bother. Am I stupid?

Officially? Who the hell knows? In my personal experience, third party tools run after work performed or initial setup or whatever, seem to help a little with performance. It's probably not necessary, but it's nice to give the machine back knowing it's been done. Plus, the built-in windows defragger takes forever to run. It's ok knowing it will keep up in the background in the future.

With Auslogics on Vista & 7, I've found the normal defrag doesn't make much difference, but the "defrag and optimize" option usually results in a noticeable improvement in performance.