[Solved] Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

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Acheapskate
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[Solved] Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by Acheapskate »

I just downloaded openoffice through the sourceforge link on the main website. After it downloaded I surfed some review and one or two were a little troubling. One very recent one mentioned it installing "Haho Media" adware, and another mentioned it being block by their Norton Antivirus. Should I be worried? I'm probably being paranoid since this is a new computer, but I'd rather be absolutely sure.

Reviews: http://sourceforge.net/projects/openoff ... r/reviews/
Last edited by Acheapskate on Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 7
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RusselB
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Re: Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by RusselB »

If you clicked the Download button on the Open Office main download page, which is http://www.openoffice.org/download and did NOT click anything before the installation package downloaded, then you are, probably safe.
Most of those reviews come from people that have clicked a link on the SourceForge site after clicking the download button on the OpenOffice site, or are from people that were already infected and the infection wasn't caught until OpenOffice was downloaded.
If you want to ensure that the package you downloaded matches the authorized package, see How to verify the download
OpenOffice 4.1.7, LibreOffice 7.0.1.2 on Windows 7 Pro, Ultimate & Windows 10 Home (2004)
If you believe your problem has been resolved, please go to your first post in this topic, click the Edit button and add [Solved] to the beginning of the Subject line.
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RoryOF
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Re: Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by RoryOF »

These instances of virus-infested versions of OpenOffice occur because the downloaders have clicked on ads on the SourceForge site rather than waiting the five or so seconds for the automatic download to start. SourceForge cooperate in removing any such ads that offer contaminated versions, but they must be made aware of the exact URL of the ad. The instance of the resident in France getting the French version rather than the English version is due to him not over-riding the logical decision of the download program which will offer a version of OpenOffice appropriate to the language of the requesting Operating system.

If one is in any doubt about the integrity of an OpenOffice download it can and should be verified by the checksum methods described in
Apache OpenOffice - How to verify the integrity of the downloaded file?
which is prominently displayed on the main download selection page.
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
Acheapskate
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Re: Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by Acheapskate »

Thanks for the quick responses! I didnt click anything on Sourceforge and let the download start automatically, so I guess I'm fine then. Back to writing my dissertation!
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RoryOF
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Re: [Solved] Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by RoryOF »

If you are writing any critical work (such as a dissertation), make regular morning and evening backups (or even more frequently). Note also my comments in this posting
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=76060#p346391
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
Acheapskate
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Re: [Solved] Reviews mentioning adware on Sourceforge

Post by Acheapskate »

Thanks, I'll take note.
OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 7
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