Let's Talk About Spyware, Baybee

[Lerf]

I was just playing Oblivion, and the stupid "Link" thingie decided to update itself resulting in Oblivion being locked up so badly I had to warm boot out of it.   

This is at least the second time it's updated in two days, and it keeps giving me stupid messages about updates to games I have absolutely no interest in.

I take it if I uninstall the stupid Link thing I can't play Pets....

 

[miros]

I think on the first page, it tells how to set your firewall to block it safely.  Something like "block outgoing traffic on port 80," but double check it yourself.

[Nivaya]

I used the EA 'Link' to download th holiday pack, last year, then, being a renegade, got rid of the accursed downloader, and all worked shiny and fine for me...Of course, my hard drive crashed last week, and I had to deal with it once more, to reinstall...and now it constantly spams me with oh-so-exciting updates and waargh.

On the spyware issue, I tend to agree with KevinTMC, the fact that it's there leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth, but I generally bask in the knowledge that I'm considerably not-awesome, and out of millions of players worldwide, EA don't really give a damn about the specifics of my doings, or about sabotaging my poor ropey computer, so I can't buy their games anymore...

[KatEnigma]

I was just playing Oblivion, and the stupid "Link" thingie decided to update itself resulting in Oblivion being locked up so badly I had to warm boot out of it.   

This is at least the second time it's updated in two days, and it keeps giving me stupid messages about updates to games I have absolutely no interest in.

I take it if I uninstall the stupid Link thing I can't play Pets....

 

Yes, you can't play Pets if you uninstall the darn thing. That is unless you switch out the exe. Would you like me to send you the link to where you can find the no-cd exe?

Or, if you just don't want it to start up while you're playing something else, you can take it out of your start up menu, so it's not running automatically unless you're playing Pets.

Nivaya, I have the original downloader version of the HP that doesn't require you to have the downloader/link installed to install or play, if you'd like it.  It's only 7 MB, so it will even get through most mail filters.  I burned that baby to disk as soon as I found the file.    I say screw EA and their DRM malware crap! If you bought the thing, you should be able to play it without having to run malware.

[Argon]

7 MB? The cd version is around 72 MB, did they cut out a bunch of stuff or something?

[KatEnigma]

7 MB? The cd version is around 72 MB, did they cut out a bunch of stuff or something?

Ummm, okay, send me to RL, I obviously read that wrong.   

[Nivaya]

Katenigma, cheers muchly, but I actually have that backed up somewhere on an external hard drive......it's just the finding it that's the problem...>.< Thanks for the offer though!

[Ashleigh]

I downloaded the alternate .exe, disabled the EA downloader with a couple of extra letters in the title, made sure my firewall rejected EA's attempts to connect, and voila! No more retarded downloader.

[OpiumGirl]

Is there anyone would would be willing to send me the link to the alternate .exe?
As I mentioned above, I really don't like EA trying to log me into the site everytime I try to play the game.  If I block it in my firewall, it just keeps trying to connect over and over again.
Since it's a legitimate version, I have no problem asking for it.
Have pity on a fool who purchased the WRONG version of the game! (And will never do so again)

I have kept the .eac file, but is there anything else I'd need to do when/if the next expansion comes out?  If EALink (downloader) is no longer installed at that point, will I need to reinstall it before I upgrade? Or will I have to download the whole game again from EA.  I can't seem to find any info about the EA Downloadables online...Maybe it's just too new at this point.

One more question for anyone who  might be in the know, do you think once there is a new EP (which I will purchase as a Boxed version) the downloader will still have to be installed to play the the game with the downloadable Pets installed?

Thank you many times over to anyone who'd be willing to share some insight.

[Nepheris]

How'd you get that rotten google toolbar to disappear from firefox? It's been bugging me for a while and now I heard it's spyware, I'd love to be able to kick it off my browser.

[Venusy]

How'd you get that rotten google toolbar to disappear from firefox? It's been bugging me for a while and now I heard it's spyware, I'd love to be able to kick it off my browser.

Tools > Add-ons (Extensions for 1.5 and below) > Right click on the Google Toolbar extension > Uninstall

[Nepheris]

Google toolbar extension is not in the add-ons. Damnit, why must my comp always be 'different' 

Thanks for the info anyway.

[OpiumGirl]

Here are some instructions for removing the toolbar:

http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?answer=9231&topic=915

Hope that helps!