BEWARE - Echolink software corrupts computers

In reply to Charley AE2CS - Oh yes it does corrupt computers,
My pc was running perfectly until I installed that piece of crappy software onto my computer, I have since had to "backdate" my pc & thankfully all is OK now.
So I still stand by my original statement - Echolink software will corrupt your ( Or at least my) computer.
I also stand by by my statement that it's not real radio, it's cheating for those operators that can't or won't do it in the traditional fashion.
I would love a log book full of VK or ZL callsigns & I realise that with my 10w & vertical antenna that this is a nearly impossible dream - but to me, that's the real challenge & even though I occasionly use Echolink through my 2m radio, I don't class QSO's whilst using it as an acheivement in DX terms.
Anyway the PC is restored to it's former glory (Thankyou KD4OMV) - Echolink will never come near my PC again.
I remain vehemently opposed to computer "Chat"
Yours & 73's Glynne (M6GLW)

 

I would be willing to bet all of this could be attributed to pilot error.

 

Ok. Good luck with your computer.

 

makes me glad I use linux.

 

Sounds like some sort of browser hijack to me -- maybe you downloaded Echolink from an alternate site that insisted on installing some added content as part of their D/L agreement? If you Google the error message " A program on your computer has corrupted your default search provider for internet explorer" you'll likely find some other people who have and some malware issues.

 

M6GLW, I'm a linux user myself. So I haven't used windows in forever. (I use qtel which is a linux version of Echolink) back when I was using windows and the few times I've installed Echolink for friends, it has not affected the browser in anyway.

You're computer is setup like a big game of "Mother May I" It gets the commands from the hard drive, which I can compare to a big book, so your computer is reading this book and saying which is telling it what to do (Every single step to get you to what you're doing)

When you install software, you are simply placing more pages into the book. So when you installed Echolink, you just created a new chapter in the book called Echolink.

The default search provider: is a paragraph in the chapter called the browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome) Your default search provider is where your browser takes you to look for more information. So it's a paragraph about looking up references.

I can personally tell you that the Echolink chapter in no way references the browser chapter. At all. It doesn't type into the paragraph which deals with default search providers and it doesn't tell the computer to access it.

So what's the point?

Just like books, pages may not have been printed correctly (your computer would still read what it could and skip what it couldn't), pages stick together (same thing), pages deteriorate (Same thing). If the last page of the echolink chapter got stuck to the page dealing with Default search providers, it may have been removed (But this is a fault of the book and not the words written in it) Echolink is just a bunch of words your computer is turning into commands.

At the end of the chapter is listed what all pages need to be removed from the book for that chapter (if you were to delete it) I can say that a program like Echolink (With it's reputation) shouldn't intentionally tell the computer to remove the paragraph dealing with your search provider.

I say all this to say, if you downloaded the echolink chapter from the echolink website, then more than likely, your book's pages are messed up some how. It happens a lot. My aunt's brand new computer had to be reinstalled twice because the CD didn't copy the information correctly. Finally we got a new CD which contained all the pages which needed to be copied, and it copied well.

 

I get a kick out of the guys saying Echolink will corrupt your PC. It has been installed on hundreds of thousands of PC's with no problems. The current version hasn't even been updated in years. I have installed it on every flavor of Windows, every type of node and never an issue.

Seems to me this whole discussion is a waste of time. Problem is probably some other local issue or the experience of the installer. But, I'll keep reading, cause it's funny . . .

 

I've never had an issue with Echolink.... No file corruption.

It is most certainly, "real radio" Especially, since I run an RF node. Very radio intensive.

73 John

 

I'm sorry you had trouble. Something on your computer in combination with this software caused the issue. I could probably replicate it by crashing the setup of echolink, such as clicking cancel, or ending its task at a certain time. Your issue, based on your error message can be fixed by making a registry correction.

Best of luck

 

I heard Echolink will drain money from your bank account.