Block Download.com From Google Search Results
My story on Cnet's Download.com installer that the company added to many downloads on their website has sparked the interest of other websites and software developers.
Users who download software from download.com now download an installer first that comes bundled with adware offers.
This web installer then offers to download the program, be it portable or in form of a setup file, that the user wanted to download initially.
Users basically download an installer that downloads an installer to install the software they wanted to download.
Update: Direct downloads seem to be offered now for all download.com downloads as well on the site, but the most visible option on it is still the web installer.
I have spoken to some software developers who made the decision to pull their software from Download.com, or at least contacted Cnet to remove their application from the software repository.
I'd like to introduce a few options for those users to remove download.com results from the Google search engine.
Google Account
Google users who are logged in when they use the search engine can block up to 500 different domains in the account options. All they need to do is to open the following link to add or remove domains from their blocklist.
Blocked domains are displayed on the very same page. A search on Google removes all domain references. Google still displays ten results, which basically means that results from the second or third page are moved to the first page to fill up the slots.
Not all users want to be logged in to their Google account though when they search on the site.
Third Party Tools
Third party tools have the advantage that you do not need to be logged into your Google account to block domains in the search results. Their disadvantage is that the blocked domains are removed but not replaced with other results. This could in worst case mean that not a single result is displayed on a search results page.
Here are a few extensions and tools to block domains in the Google search engine:
- Personal Blocklist (by Google) - The Google Chrome extension adds a Block domain option next to each search result.
- Google Hit Hider by Domain (Search Filter / Block Sites) - A userscript for the Firefox web browser to block unwanted domain in the Google search results.
- Search Noise Reduction for Opera - A userscript for the Opera web browser. Works not only in Google but also Bing and Yandex.
You may have heard of other tools or extensions to block domains from the search results in Google. Please let me know about them in the comments.
Read this today:
http://twitter.com/#!/palemoonbrowser/status/105895501060259842
Twitter / @palemoonbrowser: Download.com has been cont …
Download.com has been contacted about their wrapper/installer stub around Pale Moon. It’s in violation of the redistribution policy!
funzt bei mir nicht. eben mit chip.de und anderen getestet, die bleiben trotzdem in den suchergebnissen sichtbar.
Welche Methode funktioniert nicht?
blocksites works – you have to make sure you have the exact url. So if you want to block softonics, you have to block http://www.softonics.com and http://en.softtonics.com (for english). Just blocking one doesn’t stop the other!
or in German:
blocksites funktioniert – Sie müssen sicherstellen, dass Sie die genaue URL. Also, wenn Sie softonics blockieren möchten, müssen Sie http://www.softonics.com und http://en.softtonics.com (für Englisch) zu blockieren. Nur blockiert man nicht stoppen die anderen!
CNET should have asked software developers first if it was alright to have the CNET installer. Otherwise, I can understand CNET’s position – they have to pay the bills. Bandwidth and storage cost money.
I have something simple, nothing new but handy, just put this in your host file and simply block connection between website an your PC.Of course you can put anything after 127.0.0.1 and make your own blacklist.This trick have nothing to do with search engines but at least you can disable connection with certain sites.
127.0.0.1 http://www.download.com
Unfortunately the hosts file doesn’t stop the site from coming up on google search. This would only stop you from accidentally going to the site :)
well, that site started to work like software informer. even software informer doesn’t always ask to download its software
i guess i’ll move to filehippo and softpedia
I hate software informer sites
Is it necessary to remove download.com search results? The story is enough for people to think an alternative. Anyway, thanks for it.
JK that’s up for everyone to decide. Most users will probably just ignore their listings, while others may prefer a more drastic approach.
Based on personal experience with the lack of ethics by CNET, I had long long ago banned CNET and all it’s affiliates from my browsers. I wouldn’t trust them further than I can throw their one sided articles and endorsements for bad products.
It was actually when I was looking for an alternative to CNET for tech news that I found Ghacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNET
CNET has let me down lately, with two Trojans picked up from that site when downloading software.
Banned with Google’s Blocked Sites Manager and with HOSTS file. To see such a behavior in 2011 is relevant of more stupidity even than of ethics: you cannot be more idiot than to believe others are.
Use this little script to sock it to download.com: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/111137
you need to add the http:// at the start of the rul or else it comes back malformed
also i just tried it and it doesnt work.
after adding it to the list i tried to search for download.cnet.com and i got a whole load of results. not very effective blocking
Which method did you try?
it was the google block list method.I added to the right account ( i have 3 google account that i use daily).
I did fire up google search and then typed download.cnet.com though.
Were you logged into the right account? You may need to block download.com as well.
yup very much so logged into the right account.
I am using chrome stable (13) but i do have things like searchas you type turned on.
I just blocked download.com and it still works for me.
Will give it a bit more of a try later
It worked in firefox. I blocked the following domains
download.com
http://www.download.com
download.cnet.com
or use the the windows hosts file..
Thnks for the guide martin. I am using Personal Blocklist from sometime now and i dont have to go through different procedures if i use that extension.
here is a firefox addon to block
1. single result for specific search query
or
2. single result for any search query
or
3.block subdomain.domain.ending eg blocking http://www.ghacks.net would not block ghacks.net
sorry forgot to add the link
https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/g-clean/
I think the ideea with manually blocking a site from Google searches is better than plugins, windows hosts file, or other ways…