Beepster
"CCleaner is a great, common, free, and safe program I've used for years..... just only get it through their links on their website."
 
Yes. This is good advice in general. If you can get a program/utility you need for your system it is always best to try and get it directly from the site of the people who make it.
 
Back in the day sites like CNet were awesome for snagging things like CCleaner, Malwarebytes and other useful stuff but now a lot of the time you end up with extra bundled crap that the distributing site tosses in because someone paid them to do so. A lot of that extra crap is bloatware or even spy/malware.
 
Really freaking annoying when CNet started doing that but I guess they got bought out or something and someone decided to get greedy. The other thing to watch out for of course is even when you get stuff directly from the source they may try to sneak additional programs like McAffee AV or Google Chrome into the install process so always pay attention to the installer dialog windows and uncheck any added software.
 
McAffee is the freaking WORST for that crap. Seems everytime I install something or update to a latest version there is an "opt out" for McAfee. Of course I already have an AV and doubling up on AVs is a no no.
 
Google Chrome is a bad one for this too but having an extra browser isn't such a big deal. It's just if I want to install Chrome I bloody well know where to get it.
 
Meh. Just gotta pay attention. I actually despise computers. I'm just addicted to what they do so I tolerate the sneaky shenanigans.

I agree ... Cnet and even FileHippo and all those guys used to be a great resource ... now they are the plague imo.
 
I'll stress that if you need a second browser, or want to try an interesting app you see offered .... uncheck anyway.
Search for it and get it from the source links.
No matter how big the company, or how well known they are, anything could have been added to that third-generation installer.
Plus, users will always give you the best info in reviews and complaints about even those big companies, but you have to go to several sources to get the most accurate info.
 
Another note along this line is that those "fake" installer and AV hackers now use "dirty" dirty-tricks.
A message will popup saying" McAffee has found dangerous malware on your computer.... send us $20 and we'll remove it right away."
When Grandma pays, poof it's gone .. no more warnings.... until next month.
Only this time it's a heavy duty virus, and $50 ... and Grandma now trusts them.
There wasn't any virus ... only a victim.
Some people suck!
 
Now back to our regularly scheduled program....