A.: When it’s a toolbar installer
The any-load.com site, and there are about a dozen more like it out there, presents itself as a peer-to-peer network with almost 120 million files for your downloading pleasure. It doesn’t really do that though.
We took it for a spin looking for some tunes by Bruno Mars:
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Our first hint that all was not as it appears was that VIPRE blocked the downloader.
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So we turned off VIPRE to check the rest of the any-load.com schtick. Notice the “quick download” radio button is clicked on the download screen by default:
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When we clicked the “advanced download” radio button, it gave us a list of what the site was really up to: installing the WebBlog toolbar.
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In whatever browser you’re running apparently:
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Oh, and the file we downloaded? It’s an mp3 file ok, but there’s nothing in it.
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The license agreement is a gem of doublespeak too:
“3. The MultiLoad Technologies.
1. Downloading and Updates.
MultiLoad downloads only those files that are both
authorized by you for download (specifically or by category or
subscription).”
Thanks Patrick.
Tom Kelchner