Post
by Guest » Thu Mar 04, 2010 6:00 pm
Yes, these types of sites generally are rogues or actually host malware. And your argument that there is "legitimate software" to do this (like CCleaner and Auslogics) is valid.
However, to be "fair and unbiased" in ratings, WOT members must take a look at these sites and evaluate them. After all, would we want WOT to just flat out rate any site that is not mainstream and claims to "clean" or "speed up" your PC without even looking at the site? I can see that slam headline on WOT: "WOT users rate all sites that claim they "clean" a PC as bad just because they claim so, and WOT users don't even look at these sites". That may make some sense to do so, as you've argued, but I don't think we want WOT to be so charged.
So, while your argument that sites that claim to clean your PC are valid, I think we still need to take a look at them.
As far as using that crap (showing my bias already), I think Google is largely to blame. These sites generally are listed as "Sponsored Sites" and are always highlighted at the top or prominently displayed in a sidebar, and when a noob sees that stuff they click on it.
(I don't think very many WOT users, if any, use that crap).
I agree 100% that users should decline these "free scan" offers, but unfortunately this is not reality. On troubleshooting boards that I visit, I see a surprising number of users that are indeed duped by this nonsense.
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Rated and commented.