Curse Forge mandatory App usage

Anyone noticed that you can no longer install the addons manually?

Went there today and now im forced to install the app, i cannot install manually anymore.
We need more options, not less.
Scum move.

I just went and looked and I can still download manually if I insist on doing so.

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There is a download button next to the install button on the addon page. Not sure what the install button does. But i just click download and get the zip-file.

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Thought there had always been this? I just mentally skip to the download and ignore the mocking picture because I will fight tooth and nail against installing adware and bloat onto my PC. And yes, I’d rather have those horrible days when I start a dungeon and then realise that DBM has disabled itself due to not being updated. Lesser of two evils.

(It’s even worse for Minecraft, sometimes you have to drill into the “files” list before it admits you can download without their launcher. And it makes you think that you’re looking at older versions, although the top one is the latest one that you wanted. Subtle, sneaky, dirty stuff.)

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They’ve just changed the colour of the download button so it’s less visible. It’s black now instead of orange.

You can still install them manually, just did it today.
They changed the button color and now you can’t open multiple windows to download multiple updates at once; don’t quote me on this though, I couldn’t when I tried but I suck at everything that involves web sites so I may missed something.

They are playing these mind games, to make you click the colorful “attractive” option and download their software. I have noticed other websites doing the same thing.

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puts on Gollum voice nasty little tricksters, must try to install spyware my precioussss…

All I’m saying is, if you can’t see where a service is being paid for, you’re being data farmed :smile_cat:

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Strategies to direct clicks where you want them are as old as the internet itself.

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“Dark pattern” web design.

It’s why the button to accept all cookies is nice and clear and blue/green, where as the reject is either subdued, tiny, doesn’t look like a button, or is a string of so many options that you can’t be arsed.

Personally if I can’t find the reject all button, I just leave the site. I won’t play that game. Their content isn’t worth it. There are exceptions, but ironically, the exceptions are the sites that aren’t being malevolent with their cookie opt outs. The ones that settle for the 1p untargeted adverts get my traffic, the others do not.

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I cba with that nonsense. If they want to waste their advertising budget sending me targeted adds, they’re welcome to. I can’t afford to buy the stuff they’re selling.

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This happened to me. I downloaded the curseforge app and instantly my antivirus blocked it due a file called zamguard64.sys being installed into my drivers folder. A quick search on the internet showed that this file can be malicious. Not sure why the app felt the need to download a driver either but I opted to uninstall, format (painful) and reinstall my system. I now run wow addon lite as possible to avoid having to use curseforge and the likes.

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What disgusting tactics :sweat_smile::crazy_face:

Paranoid much

Not at all. Curseforge does not charge downloaders, or uploaders as far as I know.

There is therefore another business model in action; the typical one is targeted advertising, which requires user tracking. It is in their interests to develop something that looks useful to end users, but which is also progressing their business.

Gonna be honest, this was probably overkill. Curseforge app is not a virus, but it has advertising and surely will be doing some tracking of your activities - even if only within the app itself.

That a particular file can be used maliciously doesn’t mean it is. CF are legit enough that they won’t intentionally be installing a trojan :smile_cat:

People being terrified of being “tracked” are so funny to me.

As soon as you step foot online or connected to anything you’re being tracked, no matter how careful you are with cookies or nontheless.

Signing up to this site, using a mobile phone with internet access, etc all means you get tracked.

There is absolutely no way to avoid it other than to live offline which nobody here does.

Even then, why do people think they are so valuable that people are keeping tabs on them, you, me and anyone on this forum is a random joe bloke who browses the internet and all they want to do is make you buy things, aslong as you don’t give in to buying targetted ads then what are you really losing?

Time to accept tracking is not the same as someone stalking your every location and keeping tabs on everything you do at all times to go out and get you.

It’s 2023 for christ sakes, time to move along and stop being afraid of cookies and tracking.

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Well, this site can track my activities on this site. And that’s fine, I understand the terms of that, and I understand that it’s a necessary and important part of how it works.

I don’t particularly like that site A wants to tell unconnected sites B and C that I visited and bought stuff; I might not have wanted them to know that.

If I walk down a street and stop a three of fifty shops, the only way anyone should know which ones I’ve been to is if they watched me walk out the doors. Shop B definitely shouldn’t get to know that I stopped into shop A for paracetamol and germoloids, and it shouldn’t get a chance to create a personalised offer for circular cushions.

My principals.

Other people do not need to know how or when I use my computer. They don’t need to know my internet habits or gaming activity. Giving away this information has zero benefit to me, and it turns me into the commodity in someone else’s transaction. I find this somewhat objectionable.

There’s a difference between fear and a moral objection. I’m quite aware of the limited scope of cookie tracking. I’m also aware that a desktop app can do rather more, especially when you grant it the right to make modifications to your computer - i.e. install.

So I will continue to be very selective of what I allow to install, I will not allow websites to access my physical location, I will block cookies, run adblockers, and indeed I will use a VPN to opt out of physical tracking or even ISP monitoring.

You are of course welcome to not care. This is a topic I care about and which I will fight my corner for; if you’re not interested in fighting my corner, then… just don’t. Do what you like, be free with your aggregated data. Your data is yours to give out - but mine is mine to withold :smile_cat:

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