Bad Software

August 27, 2001 1:41 PM

Bad Software. Has anyone ever seen Gigex? Its a Download delivery helper for the PC. Thru PCGamer.com. I just tried to dl a demo for a game and Gigex tried to help me. It helped me by completetly locking up my PC. A reboot launches Gigex again which freezes everything again and again. What to do about obnoxious software 'helpers'?
posted by darkpony (26 comments total)

More from me. I hope this doesnt just sound like me being whiney. I am totally blown away by how BAD this thing is. I dont even know what it was supposed to be 'helping' me with. Downloading up til now has always been pretty dang easy. one click..two? why a helper? Is it an Akamai thing to help server load? whatever it was supposed to do, all it did was make me totally blow my stack.

Is there a bad software better business bureau or something?

dP
posted by darkpony at 1:47 PM on August 27, 2001

More from me. I hope this doesnt just sound like me being whiney. I am totally blown away by how BAD this thing is. I dont even know what it was supposed to be 'helping' me with. Downloading up til now has always been pretty dang easy. one click..two? why a helper? Is it an Akamai thing to help server load? whatever it was supposed to do, all it did was make me totally blow my stack.

Is there a bad software better business bureau or something?

dP
posted by darkpony at 1:47 PM on August 27, 2001

it's an app that allows you to resume your download. a bunch of game companies use it now w/the incresing size of the demos. if a downloader's file stops downloading due to a disconnect then they can resume it later.

i think it's a downloader for idiots and i don't like it but i can understand the reason companies are using it.
posted by suprfli at 1:59 PM on August 27, 2001

Is there a bad software better business bureau or something?

Um, no. Unlike most any other product on the planet, when you click away that software license agreement that nobody reads, you're clicking away all product liability rights. You didn't buy the software, after all, just the right to use it--warts and all.
posted by tippiedog at 2:04 PM on August 27, 2001

it's an app that allows you to resume your download. a bunch of game companies use it now w/the incresing size of the demos. if a downloader's file stops downloading due to a disconnect then they can resume it later.

I don't get why they can't just link to an existing file helper like GetRight or Go!Zilla. And besides, IE can resume file downloads, at least for me. Oh, and if you think Gigex is bad, take a look at FilePlanet... Disneyworld, anyone?
posted by Laugh_track at 2:18 PM on August 27, 2001

From what I can see at the Gigex website, the company helps in the branding and marketing of demo software as well -- so they help get it distributed to shareware/review sites, provide bandwidth for downloads, package the demo & the installer/uninstaller, possibly deal with legal wrangling in the legal wording that goes with the demo, etc. Which doesn't mean it isn't crap. But does explain why companies use it.

By the way, is this program available for download at cnet or someplace like that? Don't those sites generally let you rank programs you've downloaded? I'm on a Mac and most folks I know grade their shareware/demos with stars on a site like VersionTracker.
posted by bcwinters at 2:33 PM on August 27, 2001

Bottom line is don't load garbage on your PC.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 2:38 PM on August 27, 2001

I dunno about you guys, but I've had to shitcan the free version of RealPlayer about 75 times. I slot it, I try to run it, crasho. I curse, boot to safe, de-install, wait a month, download it, slot it, try to run it - crasho.

Ow! Quit it. Ow! Quit it. Ow! Quit it....
posted by UncleFes at 2:40 PM on August 27, 2001

I abhor real player. What compounds my hatred is the fact that everytime I have to reinstall, it takes me 15 minutes to find the damn free version from their poor website because of their obnoxious attempts to "trick" people into trying to buy their pay software. For the record -- Kazaa'ing the full version will take you less than a minute and a half. And the user experience is much better. Not that I've done that out of spite at all.
posted by Hankins at 2:52 PM on August 27, 2001

Bottom line is don't load garbage on your PC.
seconded!

Stick with a known product like GetRight.
And Real-anything. Their products have sucked for quite some time now.
posted by Nauip at 2:53 PM on August 27, 2001

At the moment, you can't download the current version of Realplayer without concomitantly downloading "Realplayer gold" which is a nifty little thang that helps you watch keep track of the baseball scores, and watch such intense and riveting shows as the US version of "Big Brother"

All fine and dandy you say? Well, actually, at a cost of $10 US ($20AU) per month, I can't see the value in RP Gold (Hell I don't want it if it's free) As Iv stated, it's mostly of little interest to people who live outside of America.

In order to get rid of it, I have to phone up the US in the middle of the night and cancel it. Yippee.
posted by lucien at 2:57 PM on August 27, 2001

Of course you can download the free version without worrying about goldpass anything. My note refers to RealPlayer 8 Plus.
posted by lucien at 3:02 PM on August 27, 2001

Is there any software out there that'll play realmovies and realaudio that isn't Realplayer?
posted by UncleFes at 3:06 PM on August 27, 2001

The next step in this fiasco, in which your post is the first step, is to let EVERYONE who cares, know about your displeasure, especially the company that makes the software. Click-wrap agreements are no excuse for gumming up someone's (already) fragile Windows PC (Thanks for nothing, MS).

My first advice to my clients when they run into software like this is DON'T. We can talk about a particular need they might have and how to fill it but NEVER believe the hype of any software that is being shoved down your throat....er....Internet connection.
posted by dewelch at 3:28 PM on August 27, 2001

I emailed them (Gigex), and PCGAMER (the site I dl'ed the demo from), and talonsoft (the makers of 'Merchant Prince II', the game I wanted to Demo). I told gigex I was emailing the others. I told PCgamer I would find another site to dl demo's (hopefully without Gigex). And I told Talonsoft, I was really interested in Merchant Prince II, They had an easy sale on thier hands, but now I'm just so riled up, I have no interest in thier products/games.

The last bit might be a white lie..how is 'merchant prince II'?
posted by darkpony at 3:44 PM on August 27, 2001

Always good advice is to try installing a firewall program like Zonealarm. It detects when any of your programs try to connect to the internet, and you can grant it access or deny it. This program will also detect when any other spyware tries to "phone home".
posted by deftone at 4:06 PM on August 27, 2001

Is gigex that bad? I've used it on both NT and 9x with no problems, I never had to use its resume function though. Comparing it realplayer is pretty harsh, real screws up on every platform I've used, video quality is pretty lousy at its highest setting, and is fond of using 'lets trick the user' method of installing extra crap.
posted by skallas at 4:48 PM on August 27, 2001

Is there any software out there that'll play realmovies and realaudio that isn't Realplayer?

Anytime anyone's tried to release one (by reverse engineering the realaudio formats), they've been sued into oblivion.
posted by milnak at 5:01 PM on August 27, 2001

Indeed, milnak. The unfortunate reality of RealPlayer is that it's the only player that will run .rm files, unlike Windows Media, which will play everything but the sun - with that one exception.

I've even run into those rogue .rm files on MP3 sites, which makes it even more frustrating.

I still think that the worst offender in the auto-install bundle market is Gator - a completely useless, invasive program that is packaged along with a great number of apps dloaded from the web. And then when you uninstall it, it forces a website on you to fill out a ridiculous questionnaire wanting you to detail WHY you're uninstalling it. DUH!
posted by soynuts at 5:16 PM on August 27, 2001

Realplayer...

VOMIT!

I'm useing realplayer 6.* and (even though it keeps telling me to upgrade to realplayer 8.0) it still satisfies my realplayery needs without selling my computers soul to satan and loading up on crap.

I say hunt ye self down somewhere to nab realplayer 6.
posted by fuq at 6:23 PM on August 27, 2001

I actually liked Gator for a while. It was convenient. But I uninstalled recently because it was constantly crashing, kept re-installing sneakware and the pop-up ads were getting too big.

Strangely enough, my more than powerful enough system is now noticeably quicker. Gator must have been sucking up a lot of resources
posted by srboisvert at 6:49 PM on August 27, 2001

For what it's worth, I recently downloaded some freeware from "PanicWare" called "Pop Up Stopper" which does exactly what it says it does when surfing the web. Simply holding down the shift key allows you to open new windows that you do want. Never have had one problem with it and it dramatically improves the surfing experience.
posted by vito90 at 7:50 PM on August 27, 2001

PanicWare Pop-Up Stopper

This is an excellent bit of freeware :) Thanks for mentioning that vito!
posted by soynuts at 8:44 PM on August 27, 2001

I actually liked Gator for a while. It was convenient. But I uninstalled recently because it was constantly crashing, kept re-installing sneakware and the pop-up ads were getting too big.

I was surprised just how much sneaky crap was finding it's way to my hard drive after I downloaded Ad-aware and scanned everything. It seems like half of the programs that I have tried in the last few months have snuck at least one report-something-to-someone program in without my knowledge.
posted by bargle at 10:13 PM on August 27, 2001

just a hint for those who are having problems with RP8... i've noticed that if you disable the optimised video display, it works fine. try it out.
posted by cheaily at 3:03 AM on August 28, 2001

my problem with realplayer has more to do with realjukebox and realdownload than anything else. my life is a lot better without the latter two. however, i can't seem to download the former unless i surrender my soul to them. which is unfortunate, since no, i do not want a new mp3 player with that and please please please no i don't want an annoying download program either. blah.
posted by dogmatic at 6:54 AM on August 28, 2001