Preserving exif data mystery ??

[deadshot]

I downloaded irfanview but couldn't get the riot plug in so I decided to get the standalone version of riot here http://riot.en.softonic.com/ my AVG kicked with a malware warning and recommended putting it in the virus vault as malware .
I previously pasted this http://riot.en.softonic.com/ onto virus total free url and it passed ok.
Is there a better place to get it from ?? or should I ignore the red alert warning from AVG ??

[JimC]

Wow...

Well, it looks like the Irfanview developers may have started allowing the use of adware type installers. So, that may be causing your issues.

For example, if you use the software.com installer on this page (the first one that shows up as "recommended" when I view this page), it defaults to doing stuff like installing a Microsoft Bing toolbar.

http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm

So, that type of installer will often fall into the "Potentially Unwanted Software" category when scanned by Antivirus programs. That's my guess is to why your AV program is flagging it.

Personally, I don't use installers like that, and I'll keep that in mind before I ever recommend Irfanview to anyone again. This kind of thing really stinks and I was unaware that the Irfanview developers were linking to these types of installers now. As a result, I may not recommend Irfanview to anyone again, as I really despise adware type installers that include things like browser toolbars by default.



But, it does like the alternate installer link on the same page can install the plugins without using an Adware type installer. Here's the direct link to it. So, I'd give it a try and see if your Antivirus Program lets it through that way.

http://irfanview.tuwien.ac.at/plugin..._428_setup.exe

Then, when you get ready to save an image in Irfanview, it looks like you can use "File>Save to Web" and it will use the RIOT plugin. After you select Save to Web, you'll find a "Compress to Size" option under Tools.

But, personally, I'm not going to use or recommend Irfanview to anyone again, unless I'm convinced that they've stopped the practice of linking to Adware type installers (and I was unaware they were doing that until today).

Sorry, but that kind of software distribution is not OK with me.

[VTphotog]

I normally use MajorGeeks for downloading s/w, and that is where I got Irfanview through. Haven't had a problem with doing it that way. It has been some time since I got the latest Irfanview though, so don't know what is going on with it. It may just be the d/l site doing that, though.

brian

[JimC]

When I look at their plugins download page at http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm , the first choice says this (from my point of view, that means that they're recommending using that installer):

1. You can download ALL PlugIns as one large EXE (recommended):

Software.com - download IrfanView plugins

I haven't researched how they've implemented it, but I suspect that what you may get may vary by region based on your IP address or User Agent strings (for one thing, developers usually get more money when users in the U.S. install the Bing toolbar versus users in some other areas). But, there is usually money involved whenever end users install extras with those types of installers.

Perhaps it's only software.com making the money in return for hosting it, or perhaps there's some type of interesting commission structure where everyone is getting a "cut". I don't care how they've structured it, as irfanview site pages are linking to that installer and showing it as recommended, and that's unacceptable to me.

If you can't tell by my "tone", that kind of thing really makes me mad. For example, I was just installing the foxit reader recently and ran into the same type of thing, where the installer wanted to include the ask toolbar.

What made me furious was that I opted out of the Ask toolbar installation (declined it). Yet, there was a bug (intentional perhaps) in the installer and it ended up getting installed anyway (it didn't show up in FF 4, but ended up getting installed in IE 9).

More and more developers are starting to use these types of installers, and I'm going to stop using any software that takes that approach (partnering with adware companies that use installers of a questionable nature to include unwanted extras by default).

[deadshot]

Hi Jim,
I haven't got back sooner because of the time difference.
I have had another go using the Tuwain 428 link you gave and eventually the Software .com box that you have illustrated came up but I was not able to uncheck the Microsoft Bing Toolbar or the Design Software Discounts so I stopped there and deleted it.
I suppose I could have installed the whole lot then tried to uninstall the two I dont want?.

[VTphotog]

I have seen this crop up, and had forgotten that it was included with the Irfanview installer, but the opt-out worked for me. Just have to pay attention - it's easy to just click OK each time a new window comes up. I just write it off as the price I have to pay for 'free' software. Irfanview might make it as a commercial product, but the development has gotten beyond one man, and there are a lot of contributors. Hosting isn't free either, so there has to be a funding source.
Not that I mind paying for software, but I don't use Paypal, and only provide my credit card info to places I am reasonably certain are secure, and based in the US.

brian

[JimC]

The "No Thanks" choice at the bottom (very tiny text) looks like it might install the plugins without the extras (or it appeared to work that way when I tried it on my Windows installation).

Hmmmm... I didn't see the software.com installer when I used the alternative download for the plugins. This one appeared to install the plugins without installing anything else. But, I didn't check my IE install to make sure any toolbars were not there.

http://irfanview.tuwien.ac.at/plugin..._428_setup.exe

Anyway, it does look like there are more choices for how to install them.

But, I'm not going to bother with it myself, and I've already started restoring my Windows partition from a backup copy, just to make sure I got rid of anything like that being installed, as more than one software package I've installed lately has tried to include extras, and I'd prefer going back to a fresh Windows install to make sure nothing unwanted remains on my PC (not only from the irfanview plugins installer, but from other "questionable" installers I've used lately for other software programs, too).

I'd just reinstalled Win 7 from scratch recently anyway (and patched everything with the most current updates), then made a full disk image backup , as well as backup copies of individual partitions. So, it's no big deal for me to restore my primary Win 7 partition from a backup image of it (which I'm in the process of doing right now from within a linux distro).