WARNING: JUNK AHEAD
Junk offender: Tucows
Tucows has been around since before I started writing about software in 2001. I remember asking a colleague how to pronounce it, and they pointed out the picture of “two cows” on the homepage (see logo). Geddit?
The cows did the trick. Tucows instantly seemed much friendlier than other download mirror sites such as Cnet’s Download.com. However, Tucows is not your friend, it’s a hard-nosed business that started flogging domain names in 1993, before most of us knew what a domain name was. Tucows still flogs domains – and then washes its hands of dodgy clients, allegedly including sites that sell pharmaceuticals illegally ( www.snipca.com/21112).
Don’t get trampled by Tucows
Go to www.tucows.com/downloads and click the Freeware tab, just above the advert that seems immune to advertblockers. The Top 100 Free Windows Downloads list is dominated by generic PDF readers, file converters and games. Click one, and then Download Now, to run its Tucows installer. Sorry, I mean to run the gauntlet of its Tucows installer.
Let’s try the current chart-topper (at the time of writing) – downloading tool Express Files 2.0. I clicked Download Now and… woah there! Chrome automatically blocked the installer from downloading and redirected me to a page, bright red for danger, with the message: “The site ahead contains harmful programs (that) trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience. . . for example, by changing your homepage” (see screenshot). OK, let’s try another tool. DWG Viewer 7.0, in at number seven… and the same thing happens.
I had hoped to talk you through an installer and explain what not to click, but that won’t be necessary. Never install software via Tucows. Many of its listed programs sound too good to be true, which should ring alarm bells. Others, such as Irfanview (see Named & Shamed, Issue 479), are safe but should be downloaded elsewhere.
THE FACTS
23,959 under 30-year-olds fell victim to identity fraud in 2015, versus 25,934 in the over-60s age group Only 57 per cent of 18-24-year-olds worry about how secure their personal details are online (compared with 73 per cent of the population as a whole) Manchester and London saw the biggest increases in identity fraud between 2014 and 2015 (83 per cent and 78 per cent respectively)