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Install Problems with ToomkyGames?

(21 posts) (6 voices)

Started 8 years ago by Dragonlair
Latest reply from Dragonlair

Dragonlair
Member

Am I the only one or are others having problems installing some games from ToomkyGames?

A few weeks ago, I had a game that installed on Windows 7 but hung with Windows 8.1. I reported it to ToomkyGames and when they finally gave me a download link, I had a terrible time using it because all the browsers kept saying the site (despite an https prefix) was not secure. That finally got it installed but I already had the game working with a "guts install" from my Windows 7 machine.

Now I've got one that I don't even want to try with Windows 8.1 because it won't work on 7!

It's the exact same behavior -- The install gives the "yellow" window warning me that it's unknown. OK, Windows may not recognize it but I'm fairly sure about it. Then it asks me to select the install language from a drop-down menu with English given as the default. OK, I just go on as I want English. At that point every thing stops!

I get no window to continue the install. I get nothing. Task Manager reports it as "not responding". It may not be responding but on Win 8.1, it was using 25% or more at times of the CPU. I have to use Task Manager to shut it down. It won't shut down any other way. With that CPU usage and no response, the install appears to be thrashing but I've not seen that kind of behavior in YEARS!

I've contacted them about the latest case (Snark Busters: All Revved Up) and I'm waiting for a response. The other game that gave me a headache was "Weird Park: Scary Tales".

Has anybody else hit this and if so, found a way to get the darn thing to run? Running in admin mode doesn't help; I've already tried that.

I have told ToomkyGames that I am becoming very concerned about their reliability. 2 game installs failing the same way in this short a time is not a good sign!

Posted 8 years ago #
Littlemaggit
Member

Hi Dragonlair! I've just installed Snark Busters: All Revved Up without any difficulty. I'm running with Windows 7 64-bit Home OS and it just carried on nearly as before (the only difference I noticed was with the extra software that I was offered - I declined as I always do). It did seem to be a bit longer than sometimes in starting the download (I use Firefox and in the bottom left-hand corner I could see it connecting to various things, but that may well have been due to a busy time of day).

The game is also running OK for me. Sorry - can't be of any help.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Littlemaggit,

In the hopes that they had updated the download, I just tried it again -- from a fresh download. The time for the download to start is not an issue. That's just the time the browser and the site get to talk to each other. That does not affect the actual file downloaded.

I am running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium and it did the same thing. Asked me the language and nothing. When I was trying to get Task Manager to stop it, the CPU was 40%. When it was out, it was 5%. That's a lot of overhead for NOTHING!

Posted 8 years ago #
Tiffany
Member

Stay away, stay away. I posted this a month ago......Toomky Games has OpenCandy and is a PUPs adware.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

I have not seen OpenCandy or any other unwanted software installed.

However, I frequently have both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 complain that it is not a known secure site for installs.

I finally got a response from them about these install issues. They say to disable my anti-virus and then install. Say, what????? NO WAY. Besides, with 8.1, I can't! From 8.1 and above, Windows Defender is not designed to be disabled.

If they don't fix my problem FAST, They're going to be removed from my freebie circuit.

I can't fuss with an install that hangs before it gets going and yet uses 25% + of the CPU while being reported as "not responding".

I'm not a happy camper.

Posted 8 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

Dragonlair,

Have you checked your security logs? Maybe you don't see OpenCandy because it's being blocked and that's what's causing the problem. I haven't installed anything from ToomkyGames in a long time but they do appear to be moving to an ad-based service which suggests OpenCandy.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

ChrisS,

I have checked MSE's logs and there is no reference to OpenCandy. I did find a few quarantined items from almost a year ago that I deleted but that was it. I ran Malwarebytes this morning and it found nothing.

I did a search of the registry (total) for "OpenCandy" and found 2 references to it being "offered" and both were GameHouse. Nothing about the software itself, just that it was offered. That was in Root and Local_Machine. Both had a value of "2" but I don't know what that means.

I do NOT have OpenCandy. It's possible that what is blocking those installs is just that fact -- it won't install unless I DO have OpenCandy and that's a dealbreaker!

They must have done something -- I decided to try it again to see if any events were logged on the problem and this time it successfully installed. I haven't done anything! The only thing different is I had "help" loaded to easily get to the event logs when I started the install. This does not give me a "warm-fuzzy" about them.

Posted 8 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

Yeah, they might well have modified the installation file to fix a glitch.

One thing you might try if the problem reappears is using either procdump or the Debug Diagnostic Tool to isolate what is causing the program to hang. Since two different PCs are involved the problem is likely not user fixable but the data might help ToomkyGames replicate the failure.

Posted 8 years ago #
Tiffany
Member

Seriously? They fixed it up so that you can not see OpenCandy. There is only so much you can hack and then you get found out.

Stay away from ToomkyGames. Just put ToomkyGames and OpenGandy in a Google search. You will be surprised what you find.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Tiffany,

What I saw was that SOME Toomkygames tagged for OpenCandy but others tagged as "Clean".

I also noted that they were said to be in London but my checking of the site says they are the Seychelles. That's a LONG way from London -- it's in the Indian Ocean east of Africa!

As long as everything says clean and I have no other issues, I'll continue to try them. They put out another of those griddler games and it installed in both machines cleanly. However, the two different machines, with the same download, offered different "extras". Neither was taken.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

I got a rather snarky message from ToomkyGames about my install problems with some of the games. They insist my problems are my anti-virus and they said they will not change their install. Then they said they're "sorry" if I take them off my reputable site list.

Even without the developing reputation for adding OpenCandy, I would not stop my anti-virus to install their stuff. It's just not worth the risk. I won't even do that for GOTD products and I KNOW they're safe (it's just not important enough software to go to that extreme).

I'll use them as I can but I can see that writing them anymore or problems is a waste of my time. They just don't care about the people who get their stuff. They're more interested in simple visits, I guess.

Posted 8 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

If you've got MSE on both PCs then I'd go over the security logs again. AFAIK, MSE doesn't have a reputation for generating "false positives" so if it stopped the installation, as ToomkyGames is saying, then it might be useful to know why it was stopped.

They just don't care about the people who get their stuff. They're more interested in simple visits, I guess

If MSE is stopping the installation because it's finding OpenCandy (as an example only) then the reverse of your statement is true. They don't care about simple visits, they only care about people who install their stuff because that's how they get paid. Their business model has changed; or maybe it's just implementation of Step Two, where Step One was building a reputation for "free downloads with no ads, no spyware and no viruses". Now it's just "no viruses". You don't want to get to Step Three...

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Chris,

I'm afraid you're right. ToomkyGames is GONE from my list of reputable sites. I will be working to totally remove it from my "freebie list" spreadsheet but I will keep the games I already have (I have the installs downloaded, and zipped for re-install as needed).

They have some new small Valentine's day freebie today and I tried to download it. As soon as I hit clicked on "Download", Firefox intervened with a big red window that said:

Reported Unwanted Software Page!

This web page at dl.toomkygames.com has been reported to contain unwanted software and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Unwanted software pages try to install software that can be deceptive and affect your system in unexpected ways.

It was followed by two buttons -- "Get me out of here" and "Why was this page blocked?"

There was a tiny option in the lower right corner of the red box that said "ignore this warning" in white that was easy to miss on the red. You're obviously not supposed to hit that button!

My husband was looking over my shoulder when it popped up and suggested we try the "Why" option but it was just a standard Firefox page.

I'm done fighting this site. They have done a 360 in the past 6 months or so. They went from a site that was almost impossible to get past all the extra software to one so clean it squeaked to one you shouldn't touch with a 100 ft pole (10 ft isn't long enough).

Please, WhiteRabbit -- drop this site from any recommendations you give.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

One point. ToomkyGames insists my games were being blocked by my anti-virus. It's been my experience that when a program is detected as malicious or suspicious by the anti-virus, you get a message that such and such is blocked and so forth. Even Defender and MSE do that. This time, there was no message at all. It just spun it's wheels until I stopped it with Task Manager.

This sounds like a poorly designed installer that has trouble making a transition than any actual malicious intent. It's just to their discredit that it has led to all these other discoveries.

Posted 8 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

This sounds like a poorly designed installer...

It also sounds like how the GOTD installer behaves with some security software. The GOTD wrapper is designed to prevent reverse engineering of the installation process but also generally prevents any error messages and notifications from escaping during the installation process.

It's one thing to disable your security to install a GOTD offer since you have a 3rd party with a reputation and business to protect between you and the vendor; it's quite another matter if there's no 3rd party oversight. I can see where a game might need internet access, which should be an easily added firewall rule, but I can't see why it should routinely trigger a security issue.

The ToomkyGames installer may be poorly written or it may be very well written. I'd go for the "very well written" option because you have to expect that they are at least marginally competent and tested it numerous times.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Chris,

When users have their anti-virus block installs from GOTD, they get some sort of message or response or the install just stops. In the case of ToomkyGames, when it doesn't install, it just sits there taking over 25% of the CPU and requiring Task Manager to stop it.

There's no excuse for that. They should have something in the code (even if it's just a timer) to realize it's not going anywhere and stop. It should not just sit there hogging resources it obviously is not needing.

Posted 8 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

FWIW I would think that Sysinternals' Process Explorer would give you a better idea of what was consuming 25% CPU, but that's a moot point -- with Firefox blocking ToomkyGames along with the other problems you've had with them Dragonlair I'd agree it wasn't worth the risk.

Posted 8 years ago #
Terri218
Member

Are there any updates on this? Has anyone tried it lately or do you all suggest we stay away from ToomkyGames? Thanks.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Terri,

The last I saw, ToomkyGames is no longer a safe and recommended site for free games. They went from sticky cautious installs, to safe installs to total nightmares malware infected garbage in the matter of a few months. They stopped answering my emails and before that, when they did give me direct links to download problem games, I got malware warnings from Firefox.

I say to stay away from them at all costs now!

Posted 8 years ago #
Terri218
Member

OK I'll find the game somewhere else. I assume the games that were previously downloaded are still OK?

Thanks.

Posted 8 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Yes, they do not use "stubs" that are used to download the full game as did Jenkat and as does MPC (unless you know how to work around that) so any games you currently have from them before the switch-back are just fine.

Posted 8 years ago #

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