Skype installing Crapware

[firesnowball]

This happened to me. I ended up uninstalling it via Revo Uninstaller and it seems to all be gone.

The Skype forums are a hive of panic and abuzz with accusations that either the company is bundling crapware with its VoIP app or has a serious security problem. Users are reporting that a strange, new, and difficult to uninstall program is finding its way on to their PCs called EasyBits GO. EasyBits is the company that has powered Skype's games channel since 2006, but at least until now its wares have not been standalone software. One moderator has declared EasyBits Go is not part of Skype and suggested customers immediately run a malware scan, but mods are volunteers and not official representatives of the company, so we're taking it with a grain of salt. Another (later) post from a forum admin simply states that Skype is looking into the issue and will release an official statement, though we have no idea when that might actually happen and we're awaiting reply to our own request for comment.

It appears that a rep from EasyBits Media has taken to the forums to quell some of the outrage, but to no avail. Posts from the team are painfully vague, saying that it was part of an update to the gaming platform and apologizing for the misunderstanding, before linking directly to an .exe that it claims will remove the offending software. To say that forum users are wary of the executable would be an understatement (most responses have involved torrents of profanity). Reports are that the suspicious app is installing itself without any approval from users, but we can't confirm this since any attempts to install in our lab of doom resulted only in errors while downloading. For now, we'll just have to wait for word from Skype, and the company better move quick -- the pain of the recent outage is still fresh in many customers' minds.

tl;dr: Basicly some program called EasyBits GO has been installed by Skype on users computers without their consent.

[Bryan]

This literally just happened to me three-four minutes ago, it literally just popped up and installed on my computer without any asking at all.

[thesimp]

Thank GOD for Revo Uninstaller pro
and Pirate bay

[firesnowball]

Thank GOD for Revo Uninstaller pro
and Pirate bay

Freeware Revo Uninstaller works just as well. (What are the benefits of pro?)

[thesimp]

Freeware Revo Uninstaller works just as well. (What are the benefits of pro?)

idk I just remember downloading it, couldn't bother myself to go look for the freeware

[Asiankid0]

i knew something like this was going to happen when microsoft bought the rights to the program for over $8 billion....

*goes to uninstall Skype*

[marcipaans]

And I thought my bro did this because he always installs crap like this. But I removed it through CP without any problems.

Although this happened to me about 3 days ago.

[xBlazex]

time to change over to google talk/voice lol

[lothia]

I seriously doubt Microsoft had any part in this. They're just acquired the rights to the software and I don't think their first item on the agenda was bundling crap with it.
.

Actually they still have yet to acquire them, they are still in the process of purchasing Skype and it isn't expected to be finished until at least the end of the year. But yes, this wouldn't have been directly MS's doings.