SlowMotion Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Has anyone noticed web browser crashes when using Battlefront's toolbar? I'm not positive about this, but I've seen several cases where first the toolbar shows Feeds[0], then Firefox crashes. After restarting Firefox Feeds has some unread items, so it might show Feeds[16]. Could there be some feed processing bug which causes Firefox to crash? I'm using the latest Firefox 3.06 in Windows XP SP3. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 The toolbar technology is from www.conduit.com. If you're seeing a problem, millions (literally!) of users should see it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowMotion Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Ok, then it's probably some other thing that makes Firefox3 crash so often. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicdain Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Actually I have the same problem of the Battlefront toolbar causing Firefox 3 to crash (when I check the feeds), but only with MacOSX. In Win XP everything runs fine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowMotion Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 I suppose there could be something wrong with RSS feeds also. Something minor that could be handled by one feed reader, but somehow causes problem in BF toolbar. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowMotion Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 a little update: a week ago I decided to remove the toolbar to see if it would change anything. After this Firefox has crashed maybe 2 times. So there was definitely something wrong. I reinstalled the toolbar today to see if it works properly this time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shredder Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 It's malware as a matter of fact. Tom Chick describes it best as a "browser hijacking advertising scheme". Why a small company like this would package this with a demo is beyond me. All it will succeed in doing is driving away customers, this one included. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixxkiller Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Thats just about the dumbest comment ever on this forum.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius359au Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 It's malware as a matter of fact. Tom Chick describes it best as a "browser hijacking advertising scheme". Why a small company like this would package this with a demo is beyond me. All it will succeed in doing is driving away customers, this one included. Care to give links and evidence of this? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 It's malware as a matter of fact. Tom Chick describes it best as a "browser hijacking advertising scheme". Why a small company like this would package this with a demo is beyond me. All it will succeed in doing is driving away customers, this one included. We have a webpage which explains what the Toolbar does: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=212 In fact, a number of new features are now available also, I realize that I need to update the webpage. In short, if you want to stay up to date on Battlefront stuff (latest forum posts, latest Repository uploads, latest links, special offers, RSS feeds etc. etc.) then it's a useful tool(bar) to have. The toolbar is updated periodically to include all the latest stuff, so you don't have to care about bookmarking anything. And we have plans (and are already working on) to offer a whole bunch of other features in the future, such as a built-in PBEM helper, a multiplayer lobby for all Battlefront games, and more. That's why we include the Toolbar in demos and patches as an OPTION. If you don't like it, don't install it, or if you installed it by mistake, you can cleanly uninstall it at any time (or just hide it for when you don't need it). There is nothing malware about it, and we're not using the Toolbar to hijack anything or advertise to you anything. Martin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/03/how-about-a-little-advertising.php Is it true that they filter your google results? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewood Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Here is the link from Fidget: http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/03/how-about-a-little-advertising.php 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Tom Chick is wrong about the toolbar "trying to install itself". It doesn't do anything that you don't want, i.e. you can select to not install it during the installation of the demo. You can choose yourself which search engine you want to use as default. If you choose Google, you'll see Google results, if you choose something else, you'll see something else. I am not aware of anything being filtered there at all. As for the ads on the search result pages being served by Conduit rather than Google... I am not sure, but I doubt it. They sure look like regular Google AdWords ads. But who cares about who is serving you ads? Ads are ads, and Google has plenty. If anything, I find that I see fewer ads by using the toolbar than if I go through www.google.com. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Oh, it appears as if the Toolbar is installed by default. Brrrrr! Then I can understand the uproar! IIRC, the setting was even changed from 'default' to 'has to be explicitly activated' for the CM games, no? Best regards, Thomm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewood Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 To me, default means if I change nothing and keep hitting yes all the way through. Not by default means you have to change something for an action to happen. Right now, the toolbar looks to be the default action. It is simple to stop it, but if you just keep hitting yes, it will install. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 You know, it's almost like some are just not happy people in general. So what do we have here? A hidden program that installs itself without the user's knowledge? Nope. What we have here are two check boxes that the user can leave as is or uncheck. What, is that too much responsibility? Hmm, fret frap, the toolbar got installed, what to do? Hey I uninstall it! But wait what about all that other stuff left behind? Well what other stuff? It's uninstalled period. Must be a slow news day or the TV isn't working, or something, I don't know. Ron 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 It is a question of style. Normally, you expect games to add shortcuts, or desktop icons, so the default settings are comparably harmless. Messing with browsers, on the other hand, is something that should not be done by default. Furthermore, we had this exact discussion for CM:SF, and as a result the box was unticked by default. It is also not only "us" bitching around, but a reviewer as well. Best regards, Thomm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabal23 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Sorry to be the opposition to your idea of a stellar product, but the search engine portion is purely a marketing tool. Although some user aren't bothered by the fact that this toolbar gives you wildly different search results, than if you just searched in google, it really is a revenue based advertising scheme. Some of the features are great, but I find software that relies on the first ten appearances of a search are all products you can buy, to not be my cup of tea. I have to disagree with you Moon that this product does hijack my search. May BF didn't do it, but someone gave me a much different search than if I searched normally. Once again no big deal, but this company has been running from the idea that they deal with adverts. As the BF crew has also been lead to believe. Here is a test. Search T-90 in the toolbar, then do it with a normal google search through your toolbar. 10 ads with the toolbar, none with google normally. So yes there are ads/sponsers with their toolbar search engine. Other than that this seems to be a fine product. I just thinktoolbarbrowser pulls it off without the extraneous garbage. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 It's amazing what a couple of badly informed bored people with a blog can do today to start rumors. I just read a trackback from someone who linked back to Tom Chick's blog saying something about "why don't we enable RSS feeds for the main site". Duh... http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/03/15/theater-of-war-2-demo-adware-available-now/ If these people can't even get simple facts straight, how credible is anything else that they write? Well, not much. Or at least, one would wish that before writing half-truths they'd spend the time to investigate things a little better. But then, it wouldn't be much of a story I guess. I wonder if Tom Chick or the other guy will post a correction to their blog explaining that: 1) the toolbar is not installed by default. You need to opt-in. If you opt-in by mistake, you can easily uninstall it. http://battlefrontcom.ourtoolbar.com/help/#4_1 2) the toolbar is not adware. Not anymore than Google Search itself is adware (using Google Adwords). Here is a link to the privacy policy for the toolbar: http://battlefrontcom.ourtoolbar.com/Privacy/ 3) you can choose which search engine you use. The toolbar installs a search engine powered by conduit, but you can change the settings at will: http://battlefrontcom.ourtoolbar.com/help/#5_4 This, and much more, is explained in the Toolbar FAQ at: http://battlefrontcom.ourtoolbar.com/Help 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Moon, From there you get the browser bar option. Everything is ticked by default. If this is how it is set up (have not tried the demo yet), just put on your Flak vest and take it as it comes ... Best regards, Thomm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luderbamsen Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Moon, From there you get the browser bar option. Everything is ticked by default. If this is how it is set up (have not tried the demo yet), just put on your Flak vest and take it as it comes ... Best regards, Thomm Indeed. Unreasonable or not Moon, we really do hold BFC to a higher standard than your run-of-the-mill developer/publisher. And you should take that as a compliment. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 The TOW2 demo certainly defaults to have the "screw me" box checked. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 The TOW2 demo certainly defaults to have the "screw me" box checked. And how is that my dear sir? The "screw me" part that is, no lurid details just a general description will do. And better yet, care to elaborate on the 'fifth column' aspect of this venture? Yes I thought not, feign ignorance instead. Ron 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I was merely replying to Moon's claim that the check box is off by default. This is, plain and simply, not true for the TOW2 demo. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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