Sigh.

Thanks for the heads-up. 

What a shame. That's where I first found out about ObjectDock and WindowBlinds. It would have been a definite turn-off if the trials had been packaged with bloatware. If enough people complain.....nah, probably not.

I get a lot of things from FileHippo. http://www.filehippo.com/  No bloat, adware or crap. They also have an update checker that is free and accurate. It won't list everything you have installed but it's handy for what it does list. I keep all auto-updates turned off on my rig and do them manually.

majorgeeks.com is another good download site.

+1 Thanks, rustysam, I forgot to mention that site.

Man that's annoying.  Downloading garbage while trying to download a program to help you dodge garbage.

I like MajorGeeks, have never found that I got anything added to the download.

I've noticed many newer installers these days (not just Download.com) have all sorts of Toolbar, Change Home Page additions.  I find them to be annoyances. 

I also have another site to add to the list, Softpedia.com   I don't normally use it, so I don't know if they're following a Download.com trend or not.

Jafo, did you succeed in downloading and installing the flash cookie remover? After opting out of the toolbar, changing the start page and search engine, it wouldn't install because of "a proxy or firewall".

I wonder if the developers know about that crap being done to their advertising efforts?

Odd that doesn't happen anywhere else.  

Really bad move on Cnet's part. Developers and users alike are up in arms over this - what were they thinking?

Really sad. Go BetaNews/FileForum go!

"Deals" = Money.

What they weren't thinking - ruined reputation.

We'll see if it works out for them... probably will.. unfortunately.

A new name is in order......C-Ya|Net.

Moved away from Download.com after their site became bloated, went to Softpedia and Filehippo.

Do the masters at Download.com really think this is a good move? It's the Internet you dolts ... users will go elsewhere.

Yes, but it was a pain..... certainly more than such a simple proggy warranted.

One of the banes of modern computers/net surfing is this bloody pre-occupation with browser addon toolbars.

None is "needed".

None.