GS14.3 Caramava Adware

I've just downloaded the 14.3-compatible free version of Genie Scout, and I see it FORCES the user to install Caramava, which is ad-ware and pretty damn close to a virus.

The installer also sneakily tries to make you install a load more junk but at least that can be opted out of. Not Caramava however

Edit:

It appears that the actual adware installed describes itself as "FilesFrog Update Checker". You should close this from the notification tray by right clicking on its icon as soon as the GS installer is finished.
It can then be uninstalled from the start menu shortcut it creates or the control panel. I suggest then downloading Malwarebytes Anti-malware and doing a quick scan to also remove its installer from your temporary files - it's described as "PUP.Optional.Somoto" in the scan results.

I replied to your comment on the GS14 download page about this. We thought they'd have removed this Camarava offer from our campaign by now since we requested its immediate removal a week ago. From my tests with the installer I'm not getting this offer because different offers are shown per country, and nobody else complained about it for days; that's why I assumed it should be gone.

It's not something we did on purpose, and surely isn't Eugene's fault. The ad agency controls the offers, we make requests for removal if there's a report for a "bad" offer. They have shared with us the list of current active offers, we'll publish that list for everyone to see all offers you could possibly get and make sure all of them can be avoided by user choice.

Regarding the Somoto file, it's supposed to be a temporary file that alerts whether an offer was installed or not; it's also supposed to either self-destruct or just be idle until user clears temporary files. Somoto is the name of the ad agency by the way.

Thanks for the response Stam.

I totally understand if you're using an external agency to provide these offers in the installer then it's not your fault. So I'm sorry for the accusation towards Eugene - I do respect the decision to include these offers in the installer. I've edited my first post in light of this.

Perhaps while you're trying to get this sorted out, some warning should be offered to downloaders. Maybe it would be a good idea to not use this ad agency for future releases - I would want greater control of my own program installer, but that's up to you guys.

Regards,
Rob

Thanks for understanding Rob, I appreciate your reply.

GS12 had offers in the last release but they were eventually removed. GS13 didn't have any offers bundled at all. For GS14 we chose to add them back because we couldn't find any decent deal for the 2 display ads (banners) inside the program.

Looking ahead, first we must wait and see what changes FM15 will have. Then, Eugene will decide if he can produce GS15. When that time comes, we'll surely consider more options in regards to ad agencies we go with if we need to go down that path again.

Just to make something clear, all donations go to Eugene alone but donations are usually limited. Offers can be more effective because it's something anyone can agree to install without paying and support GS this way. I just want him to feel good about keeping up the development of this tool for years to come, that continuation is the reward for our community or at least this is how I see it.

Hi all! , I'm new at this web and I register an account to say to the webmaster that when I download the genie scout my antivirus (Nod32) says that found a threat Win32/Somoto.E before finish its download.

@yumo: I've already explained what the Somoto thing is about in my first reply on this topic. Nod32 is actually the only antivirus that flags this as you can see from the Antivirus scan report on VirusTotal (a Google owned company).

Hey guys,

I've been having trouble with Caramava as well. Held off installing Genie Scout for the past week or so but I've found a super easy work around for this.

Disable your internet connection, then run the install. It seems that the offers in the installer are retrieved online. No connection. No offers.

Hope this helps anyone who happens to run in to the same issue.

Sorry, but no Genie Scout for me. After Installation google chrome browser crashed and installed a new searching provider and some other stuff to my browser. Shame on you Genie Scout :-(

0Neji:

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Disable your internet connection, then run the install. It seems that the offers in the installer are retrieved online. No connection. No offers.

Clever suggestion, thanks for sharing

Venecija:

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After Installation google chrome browser crashed and installed a new searching provider and some other stuff to my browser.

Why do I get the impression this isn't related to the Caramava offer this topic is about? Perhaps you didn't pay attention to the offer screen and clicked "next" on it?

I don't understand why you just don't upload the new file to a Google Drive folder. Then simply share the link. Problem solved. Why on earth do we have to deal with this sleazeball malware crap? Why are you doing business with them? They are clearly a bunch of creeps.

Got a reply from Somoto today. They haven't removed the offer as I requested, but here goes:
Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Our Tech team noticed there is a problem with the skip button of this offer. They solved the problem and it should now have a skip button.

braincramp:

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I don't understand why you just don't upload the new file to a Google Drive folder.

Please read my 2nd reply on this topic. We don't have a problem with our download servers, this is done by choice to support Eugene's work.