Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   How to avoid fake Download buttons
   You know the old saying, "Look before you leap"? Let's give that a modern-day twist: Look before you click.

   http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/how-to/how-to-avoid-fake-download-buttons

   You know the old saying, "Look before you leap"? Let's give that a modern-day twist: Look before you click.

   See that screenshot up top? It's from popular daily-download site Giveaway of the Day. On the left, there's a description of the day's freebie. On the right, a big, tempting Download button. Obviously that's what you click to get the software, right?

   Wrong. That's actually an ad for something called Download Manager, which itself is actually a collection of garbage you don't want: toolbars, adware, and so on. But many an unsuspecting user will get so far as to install all of it before realizing it's not the program they wanted. Quite the opposite.

   ads that masquerade as Download buttons.

   Posted 12 years ago #
2. 

   Tiffany
   Member

   I've never had any problem but yeah I read before I leap.

   Surprising there are the few who always click the first button there. My sister will attest to that. She always manages to stuff up even an update for CCleaner.

   Posted 12 years ago #
3. 

   Nass
   Member

   Ha, well I DON'T see that screenshot up top. However, I've been around here long enough to know what they're talking about. There have been times when I've been tired and not paying enough attention when I've almost pushed that wrong button.

   I've seen worse on other sites though. I've seen sites with a bunch of download buttons and I spend half an hour trying to figure out which is the right one! I really hate going to an unfamiliar download site to be faced with various buttons. Its usually one of those signs for me to leave right away.

   Posted 12 years ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   I got a phishing e-mail the other day that was a bit scary... return address was Paypal & legit -- graphics were links to the real Paypal stuff on their servers -- couldn't easily tell where the click here button took you on-line [that can be hard with legit e-mails]. Was not the usual spam with poor English & such -- I can see some people falling for it.

   Posted 12 years ago #
5. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   I agree w.r.t. those PayPal emails that look so real; that said, I know there would be no reason to suspend my PayPal account and I know that PayPal do not ask for personal information, in fact, apart from receipts for purchases made, PayPal do not send out emails to users (unless you are registering an account or verifying an account); so, when I see any email from PayPal that I know isn't a receipt for purchases made (those receipts arrive within seconds of making a payment) I just delete them without opening them.

   As for the extra buttons found on the giveaway pages, they have never confused me, that said, when I first started visiting the giveaway project back in November 2006 giveaway pages were free of such buttons. Only the link to the download page and the actual download were evident.

   I'm surprised they have used giveawayoftheday as an example as I can think of far worse including PCWorld themselves.

   Posted 12 years ago #
6. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   As for the extra buttons found on the giveaway pages, they have never confused me,That good but some say I got 32-bit and its say you need 64-bit

   not hard to see as # 1. Post said 32-bit & 64-bit GOTD please note

   Nass Ha, well I DON'T see that screenshot up top. You will not see it with Firefox and some ad-ons

   Tiffany I know some like that one day he go and download then said to my I can not find the *.exe I find it for him he save it as *.jpg

   Posted 12 years ago #
7. 

   Tiffany
   Member

   LOL. Said sister has downloaded games from this site and she can not find them. I go through and find she has downloaded it 3 times. No wonder the computer has a hissy fit.

   And those PayPal emails, argh. I got so sick of them that I emailed PayPal myself and they said there was nothing wrong with my account and to forward them all to spoof@paypal.com.au

   I haven't had any more since.

   .

   Posted 12 years ago #
8. 

   Nass
   Member

   Thanks, hotdoge3. I somehow feel better knowing its actually there because it just felt so weird. Now I know it was just hiding from my Dragon :)

   Posted 12 years ago #

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