While the concept is neat, I guess, one of the videos on the website shows the guy manually unchecking the checkboxes, and the other video didn't automatically uncheck them but popped up some kind of message box. So that pretty much did not demonstrate anything it's supposed to do. Also if it did automatically uncheck boxes - - how would it determine which boxes are extra install offers and not important settings for the program being installed? Nice concept but it seems like it's an extra piece of software that doesn't need to be installed... just pay attention to your installations. IMHO.
It's great to see a topic about Unchecky here. Thanks for writing about it WIKIMACK! jellybelly, I'd like to address some of your concerns. I guess you're referring to the French video. He's manually unchecking the checkboxes after turning off Unchecky, to demonstrate what the installation looks like without it. First, the checkboxes were automatically unchecked. The message box shows up when you click on an unchecked check box, to warn you before accepting an offer. Here's the relevant video portion: youtu.be/VpPL2O5UU3Q?t=2m13s One thing is clear for me: I need to have a simple demonstration video in English, to avoid similar misunderstandings. A black list, and sometimes per-installer rules. At the end of the day it's your call, but even for a power user, it's quite pleasant to see that all offers are being automatically unchecked. One of the users left a comment similar to: "It's even a little bit wired that I don't have to uncheck the offers anymore".
Could someone write an installer that would detect the unchecky service and then automatically suspend it? As already pointed out, I too am using the "reading with comprehension" method to install software.
Yes, that's possible. Many installation utilities have the ability to detect running processes and kill them, for example if it's trying to upgrade a current version to a new version... but it's not limited to only the product's files, it can kill any process. Unchecky would have to be popular enough, though, for anyone wanting to bypass it to know about it in the first place to write the functions to kill it.
I've made a simple video which demonstrates Unchecky with various installers: youtube.com/watch?v=dzb_SHxt-o8 Installers are running as administrator, so they can do anything. The advantage Unchecky has is that it updates automatically, so even if some installer will implement suspending Unchecky, I'll be able to quickly push an update.
This seems like a very nice tool for anyone installing and uninstalling software on a frequent basis; however, I do not have such a need so I would be more inclined to just "read carefully" whenever I do a new install. However, for those that perceive a need for such a tool, I would be interested in knowing the "resources impact" of having this program running at startup and only being used on an infrequent basis.
Hi WIKIMACK, Looks good! No evidence of background resource hogging from what I can see. Thanks, my2cents
interesting program, but, if one is really worried about useless programs being installed then they wouldn't install this one either... just my $.02
I can see a slight market in this program because of all the friends who have you work on their machines every year because they don't know to disable installing all the toolbars etc, in installers. It would remain to be seen if this kind of software could make a dent, but I would certainly install it on mine to test it and others to try it.
here's a million dollar solution, don't support or use software that forces unwanted programs. simple enough