Unchecky - Down with Potentially Unwanted Programs

It has long been the norm that when installing software (and sometimes in other circumstances ), additional potentially unwanted programs are offered, such as a toolbar or “internet defender”. Also often come across offers to change the start page or search engine. These offers are provided as part of the installation process and, as a result, an inexperienced user sets the entire default set, unaware of anything. The result, I think, is known to all .

I have been thinking about this problem for a long time, but today I want to provide you with a solution - a program called Unchecky (from English uncheck - uncheck). Details under the cut.

How it all began

The idea of ​​writing a program against toolbars and similar trash came to me a long time ago. The idea was, but I was not strongly drawn to the implementation. In time, she might be forgotten, but I was constantly reminded of this.

More than once I was visiting friends who “do not know how to use a computer,” and deleted dozens of toolbars, defenders, left registry cleaners, and so on. At the same time, as the author of several programs, I received a couple of times suggestions to embed such garbage in my installers, to which I politely (or not) responded with a refusal.
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And so, one fine day, I decided to implement my idea.

Implementation

Here I was helped by the site Softpedia , which writes in detail to which programs which “bonuses” when installing, for example:
It doesn’t need to fully function.
With the help of Google and a small script, I downloaded a few hundred dirty installers, started the VM and began to study the animals. After a little analysis, I came to the conclusion that the most effective measure would be to programmatically remove ticks, since almost all installers provide them.

A month later, I had the first working prototype, then the goal was to add support to the largest number of installers from my collection.

What happened

The result was a program called Unchecky , a beta version of which is available for download.
This program can:

• Automatically uncheck.
  Having Unchecky at hand is a good chance to install the program using the next-next-next-finish method without changing the start page / search engine and installing toolbars.
  Of course, the program is not perfect, and can skip a tick, so I still do not recommend this installation method.
  
• Warn.
  Often an undesirable sentence is masked as an integral part of the installation - for example, clicking on next again means agreeing to install the toolbar. Unchecky warns in such cases, reducing the chance of accidentally installing an unwanted program.
  
• Automatically updated.
  Unchecky, like AdBlock for the web, is not universal. It needs to be adjusted periodically for new installers. Since updates occur in the background, you, as a user, should not be bothered.
  

What will happen next

It all depends on how Unchecky will respond to toolbar writers and other joys. And this partly, I think, depends on you. Unchecky just get around, but on the other hand, and it will be easy for me to add support for a new checkmark.

I hope I can find enough free time to support the project. You can also participate financially if you like the idea. Also I will be glad to any advice and suggestions.