Digsby has gone to the dark side.

[+Warwagon MVC]

After recently downloading a copy of Digsby at a customers house. I was shocked what I found. I was so shocked I rechecked that I hadn't been phished about 4 times.

While all of the stuff in new install is opt out. Its still a step back. Whats funny is that after you see all of that spyware being thrown in your face a box pops up at the end of the install wanting your email address. If that doesn't make you worried on some level even if just for a moment, you need to listen to some "security now".

Here is what I posted on the digsby forum regarding the new installer

First of let me start by saying I downloaded the first beta that was made available to the public. When I say I was quite impressed I'm not kidding. Never before had I fallen in love with an IM client that I continued to use for months and still use to this day. I tried other IM clients like Pidgin or Miranda. But they got deleted after about a day of use. They just never felt right. The previous IM messenger I used was trillian. With the new Astra release taking forever and the god ugly default UI, well let's just say Digsby came along just in time.

About 2 weeks ago I was at a customer's house. I do computer repair and I was there on a repair job. I just finished reinstalling Windows XP from a malware infection. I was going to have them try Digsby, in hopes this would prevent them having to run 4 different messengers at once. I went to the site and downloaded the installer. Once I opened the installer to start installing Digsby, to say I was surprised is an understatement. I was so surprised that I thought somehow I had been phished by miss typing the URL. So I checked it, double checked it and triple checked it. Surely this installer couldn't be related to Digsby? So I checked it again. At this point I closed the installer hopping I just didn't catch some kind of infection on this nice clean xp machine. I don't know what frightened me more about that installer. The fact it looked so doggy or all of the different things I could potentially infect (yes I said infect, most of that stuff is spyware) this machine with.

I don't know if it's because I'm computer savvy, or the fact I listen to the podcast "Security Now" every week and just had a gibsonian response(a response Steve Gibson would have if he ran your installer).

I realize that you make all of the items on the installer opt out. Being in the computer repair business you see just how stupid people can be. People will infect themselves will all sorts of stuff without trying very hard. Unfortunately I feel your new Digsby installer gives people an even easier way to accomplish that.

I know you guys want to make money. After all, you are making something for free. I just have to imaging there is a better way to accomplish this than by using your new frightenly infectious installer. Remember how bad the buzz surrounding Kazza was from installing tons spyware on peoples machines? At this point in time I feel you are really no different, other than the fact you ask people before you do it. The truth of the matter is people are too stupid to opt out.

I would try a donation button first. See how that goes. If you offered free life time upgrades I'd buy a copy of your product for $20. Just please do away with your new installer. While I guess you guys mean well on some really hard to figure out level, in the end your shooting yourself in the foot. Keep it up and you will be known as the Kazza of instant messengers.

Adam

And now for the photos

Edited December 30, 2008 by warwagon

[giga Veteran]

Barring the spam ads, that installer is pretty damn ugly.

[Impact]

Wow that's horrible

[Reacon]

Wow... Just wow. Even excessive banner ads and possibly a few "surveys" before you download the installer would be better than promoting malware.

[39 Thieves]

I noticed this awhile back, dumped it and won't ever use it again. Shame, really.

[afusion]

This installer showed up on and off it's not official.

I remember seeing that from an installation before the one I recently installed.

[argonite]

But, but, you can completely* remove SmartShopper, MyFreeze, and Registry Power Cleaner via Add/Remove Programs if you really don't want it.

* may only hide said programs from your view :laugh:

[DavidM]

The installer I got was the same as the pictures posted. I will never use their software.

[afusion]

The installer I got was the same as the pictures posted. I will never use their software.

They were doing so well too..

[lsquare]

This isn't new. Digsby has been doing this for months now. It seems like the developers want to cash in and is selling out. I just stopped using their software and moved on to something else.

[afusion]

Is Trillian Astra out of beta yet?

[wellofsouls]

I realize that you make all of the items on the installer opt out

opt-out? It looks to me like all those items are actually opt-in by default in the installer, ie. if you just click accept accept accept, you'll get all those malwares installed by default.

this is really sad for Digsby, which was a nice program with a nice design before.

[spenser.d]

Yeah I got that installer last time I did a full install. It's pretty bad for those unsuspecting who will just click accept. I'm not like that way though and immediately went to the decline part figuring if it stops the installation, I just won't use Digsby. I'm still using Digsby though because, barring the ridiculous installer, it is a really good IM client.

-Spenser

[Srugie Veteran]

That's a lot of crap!

[iamwhoiam]

I stopped using Messenger Plus! a long time ago because of the addition of adware in the installer. It looks like this is yet another one that will never touch my PC.

[MasterC]

Wow. That's really bad. I hate programs that try to stuff that kind of crap down your throat. :/

[wellofsouls]

After reading this blog post :

http://blog.digsby.com/archives/68

it seems they also opt-in by default to use your computer for some "research to make the world a better place".

Curiously they don't tell you want those "research to make the world a better place" really are... and considering those spywares pushed by their installer, I won't trust their choice of "research to make the world a better place" :shiftyninja:

[-KJ]

Bummer, and someone just recommended me Digsby.

Thanks for the heads up!

Edit: Also, like the guy above me mentioned:

If you think this is bad, you should check out their new 'help digsby do research' option that's buried in their menu structure and ENABLED BY DEFAULT. This allows your computer to join a computational botnet that does commercial work that the Digsby team gets paid for (think folding@home for money). Notice your laptop fan whirring away unexpectedly? You're probably doing protein analysis for some drug company. Totally shady. I'm dropping Digsby like a hot potato, I've lost all trust in the developers if they somehow think this is 'okay'.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/24/ne...oat-and-adverts

Edited December 30, 2008 by psygn

[zeroday]

Yike :unsure:

I stopped using Messenger Plus! a long time ago because of the addition of adware in the installer. It looks like this is yet another one that will never touch my PC.

Messenger Plus doesn't install it if you click Decline.

[lardiop Veteran]

Epic fail Digsby (N)

The spyware installers are one thing, eating my CPU time to automatically crunch your numbers is something entirely different.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

:/

They should offer a "slim" installer on their website as well at least if they're going to pull this with their main installer.

Plus opting people in by default for some research application is wrong, that should be at user discretion only.

[d4v1d05]

Never used digsby, but that installer looks shocking... What extra features does this have over aMSN or Pidgin? I only use my client for chatting with friends and sharing photos/screenshots, which is why I use adium on my mac. As far as I'm aware, pidgin, aMSN and adium do not require you to install any supporting software, and yet are still turning out semi-regular updates... Perhaps these guys have real jobs as well and are doing their projects as an aside, or perhaps they get enough donations to make it worthwhile. Whatever the case, perhaps someone should make a digsby-clone and make it open source, if it has enough features to make it worthwhile putting the effort in...

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Excessive. I'd rather pay a small amount for software than deal with optional spyware, to be honest.

[Mercellus]

Just decided to install this in a sandbox virtual machine after a friend recommended it to me and I have to say, I'm not impressed. The installer itself looks like spyware, and the fact that they are using your extra CPU cycles and therefore slowing down your computer (if for instance the client starts utilizing cycles while another program is in the middle of something important) is a complete turn off.

[SMELTN]

Great post because this REALLY P I SS ED me off....

When Digsby came out, I was excited, and immediately switched from Pidgin over to Digsby.. I loved the theme options, ease of installation/changing of themes, and recommended Digsby to every friend, co-worker I had. (We use AIM at work to communicate).... But I recently had to do a reformat on one of my employee's machines, and after downloading the latest digsby and started the install, noticed these boxes come up and was completely shocked... Honestly I thought I had gotten a fake version of Digsby or something.. I cancelled the install, and redownloaded from the site, again to my horror it was there.... I went back and installed an OLD version of AIM on their machine and told them this would work great for now.....

I am honestly going back to Pidgin now, just because of the spam they are adding into Digsby.. Now I know they its a freeware program and such, and they have to do something to help generate revenue, but it being the way it is, really bugs me, and I don't plan on continueing to use the program.

[Menge]

i don't understand why people would use Digsby when there's a GREAT open source alternative called Pidgin available.

It even looks like Digsby.