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dpauldalton
Known Participant
February 18, 2013
Question

McAfee installed even though I UNchecked the box to authorize installation.

  • February 18, 2013
  • 2 replies
  • 5578 views

I received a notice of an update to Flash.  I clicked on the link and was taken to the Adobe site, where I clicked on the Download link and specifically UNchecked to box for installing McAfee.  The installation file downloaded and, when it ran, it nevertheless installed the McAfee product, which I did not want. 

It's bad enough to have to OPT-OUT of having an undesired product installed, but when  the OPT-OUT instruction is ignored and  the undesired program gets installed anyway, it's REALLY unfair. 

Please fix this.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

D
DesiredScreenNameIsTaken
Participant
July 3, 2013

Adobe's behavior here is completely unethical. I know downloads like this often try to sneak in an installation of some companion product you don't want, and I usually keep an eagle eye on all the installation options so I can refuse products I don't want installed.  Firefox harassed me about updating Flash, so I finally gave in and followed the links to update it.  That took me to Adobe's website where it had me download an installation file.  I saved the file in a subdirectory of the directory where I archive all the installation files I've ever downloaded.  I then double-clicked on that file and looked for any checkboxes or other widgets that defaulted to "Install crap Adobe wants to slip by you that you don't want."  I didn't notice anything of the sort or I would have delesected them.  I told it to install the Flash update, and the next thing I knew, the installation code was telling me it was installing McAfee as well as Flash!  I most emphatically DO NOT WANT additional security software on my machine because it will interfere with the security software I already have installed, and the two pieces of software fighting with each other will most likely overload the capabilities of my hardware and slow my machine to a crawl.  After the installation, I immediately uninstalled McAfee, but I have no idea what damage it may already have done.

Even worse than that, I went back to the directory where I'd saved the install file, and it's gone!  Not only is Adobe trying sneaking in an installation of crap you don't want, but they're also covering their tracks.

This shockingly unprofessional behavior on Adobe's part borders on being outright malicious!  Who do they think they are?  Sony, with their infamous rootkit?

Class action lawsuit, anyone?

A
Anonymous
February 20, 2013

The same thing just happened to me!!!!! When I started my computer this morning, there was a popup saying I needed to update Adobe Flash. It took me to a website that started with something like "https://get3.adobe.com/flashplayer....". I downloaded the update and started running it. It immediately started the install, and I realized it was also installing MCAFEE, without even asking me!! I stopped the installation immediately!!!

This is unacceptable! I expect more ethical behavior from a company like Adobe. I despise McAfee -- and for Adobe to try and surreptitiously install it on my computer is quite offensive to me!!!!

M
muunkky
Participant
February 21, 2013

I almost installed this malware while doing what I thought was a routine update. I stopped the download and went back to uncheck it and downloaded again. So far it doesn't look like it installed.

As far as I'm concerned, any software that relies on user intervention to prevent installation as part of an affiliate program IS malware.

chris.campbell
chris.campbell
Legend
February 21, 2013

If you unchecked the "opt-out" checkbox and we still installed the third party offer, then this is a bug and something we'd like to reproduce and fix.  I'll let the team know you've experienced this but unfortunately this hasn't occurred in our testing.  If you can get this to happen again, please post back as we'd like to see this occur.

Please see this FAQ for details on how this is supposed to work.

Flash Player installation and update questions and answers

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