Sometimes Free Can Cost You

[Jay]

We all love to receive free software. Free antivirus, free firewalls, free wallpaper, free screensavers..etc. But sometimes these freebies can cost you in the end. Lets take an example of one of the “Free” goodies we love....”Screen Savers”. We love that fish in a tank screen saver or Christmas Lights screen saver and we download them in groves, unaware of what it's costing us. Below is an example of these “Free Screensavers” and one of our favorties, the fish. Looking at the site, everything looks normal and you see no harm in downloading this little gem. Hmmm, just for kicks lets take a look at the very bottom were it says “ terms & conditions:

After reading their “terms and conditions” I think may of us will re-think our decisions on downloading and installing these so called free screensavers!!!!! So Be aware of what it's costing you in privacy and cleaning your computer for "Free Screen Savers".......

“W3I, LLC'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS

SCROLL DOWN TO READ

ATTENTION PLEASE READ THIS AGREEEMNT CAREFULLY BEFORE ACCESSING THE SITE AND DOWNLOADING ANY CONTENT. IF YOU USE THE SITE OR DOWNLOAD CONTENT YOU AGREE TO EACH OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

This is a legally binding contract between you and W3i, LLC. By downloading, installing, copying, running, or using our screensavers, clipart, wallpaper, games or other software (collectively "Content") available via www.freeze.com, www.screensaver.com, www.wallpapers.com, www.yourscreen.com, www.clipartcastle.com, www.wallpapervault.com, www.risoftsystems.com, www.free-games-online.com and other websites we own that post a link to this agreement (collectively the "Sites"), you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to our terms, you must navigate away from our Sites, you may not download the Content, and you must destroy any copies of the Content in your possession.

If you are under 18, you must have your parent or guardian's permission before you use our Sites or download Content. In an effort to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, we will not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13.

Before you use YourScreen™ or our Toolbar you must review the End User License Agreements. Here are links to the YourScreen™ EULA and Freeze Toolbar EULA.

This Agreement may be modified by us from time to time. If you breach any term in this Agreement your right to use the Sites and Content will terminate automatically.

1. The Download Process. The first step in our download process is to collect specific information about you including personally identifiable and demographic information. We may use your personally identifiable information and may disclose it to others in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Unless you opt-out when we collect your information we automatically add you to our e-mail subscriber list. We may ask you a series of interest questions. You are required to answer them. We may show you one or more of our partners' product or service offers. You are not required to accept an offer to receive your download. We may also show you partner software offers. You are not required to accept a software offer to receive your download. Unless you opt-out we automatically change your browser's homepage to http://my.freeze.com . We may also change the default search provider in your browser. You may opt-out and not change your browser's homepage and default search provider. If you download the free version of a screensaver we may include one or more advertisements within the application. We may also install icons on your computer's desktop including third party product and service offers, advertisements and automatic links to other products and services we offer. “

[Tony]

This is a very common problem. A good 90% of the computers people bring me for software related problems have a great deal of "Freeware" like this installed. As all these companies well know, very few users take the time to read EULA's, and even if they do, many don't understand them fully. Personally I try to stay away from gadgets and cosmetic enhancments because they are often more trouble than they are worth. Even with free
video editing or other useful software, I google it first and always do a full backup ( I use Ghost ) before installing anything off the internet. Often a few minutes of preparation saves hours of headaches.