For Incredimail users

The following is an extract from a very useful computer newsletter I receive (InfoAve by www.thundercloud.net),
I include it as written, with no comments of my own, I leave you to judge for yourself
:

A Question from Anne
I frequently get forwarded emails showing at the end some Emoticons and a click here for free emoticons.  I do not click on these as I feel they might not be exactly free.   Is this part of Incredimail?  Is it safe to click on this?  I have read pros and cons re Incredimail and wonder if it is a safe to use. Your new E-book is terrific.  Thanks for compiling it. Anne

Answer
Thanks, Anne. In our opinion Incredimail is not recommended, because, regardless of the statements they make on their Web site, Incredimail's Terms of Service (TOS) are contradictory; not to mention full of legal-speak and confusing. And, whether you have read the Terms of Service or their EULA (End User License Agreement) you agree to be bound by them when you install Incredimail. The TOS and EULA contain clauses that would make any thinking person shudder. Please review them now; read them completely. To us it is "incredible" that any thinking person would agree to such terms.

Additionally, the Emoticons, (advertising banner) at the bottom of the Incredimail email are not visible to the person composing the letter, they're only visible to the recipient. This is done purposely by Incredimail. We think that's wrong. If I'm sending a letter to someone I want to know exactly what I'm sending them, don't you? The person sending you the email has no idea he or she is sending an advertisement. But, more than an advertisement, this image or images are used as Web beacons (to see a definition of a Web beacon please click here).

Incredimail has branched out into other questionable products such as Incredibar, Incredidate, and Incredigames. They attempt to push Incredimail users into installing these other programs/services all of which come at a cost: Either in the form of adware, (some sites call them spyware), or subscription services. There seems to be no end to their aggressive and intrusive technologies. And, they offer no discernable tech support as evidenced by countless web references to this by its users.

We recently installed Incredimail on a test computer using today's 'Freeware Program of The Week - Total Uninstall". We tracked the changes Incredimail made to our test system. The results were "Incredible" indeed. Over 15,000 lines of changes were made to our test system and it's registry (we have the test results stored in a text file). We then used Total Uninstall to remove every single change it made and removed Incredimail from our test computer. We then installed Mozilla's Thunderbird to compare the changes it made with the changes Incredimail made. Thunderbird made only 300 lines of changes. Keep in mind that Thunderbird and Incredimail are both email clients. Any program which makes that many changes is bound to have some negative impact on the computer's operation. It is no wonder that many references on the Web refer to Incredimail's instability and unwanted changes to various normal Windows configurations. For example, read these comments and these as well.

To summarize: Incredimail's 20 page Terms of Service and EULA contradict the summary of Incredimail displayed on its home page . Emails sent with the free version contain Web beacons. The free version contains adware and according to the information on the pages above, potentially, spyware. Its EULA is contradicted by its Terms Of Service. Yet, you agree to both, simply by installing the program. Incredimail makes over 15,000 lines of changes to your Windows system and your registry when you install it. When uninstalled, the usual way (i.e. without using a program like "TotalUninstall") hundreds of the changes Incredimail made are not reversed and fragments of the program lie cluttering up your system forever unless manually removed. Once you install Incredimail you may be leaving your system open for installation of other Incredimail (et.al) products.

Our advice: Don't trade your computer and your privacy for cartoons. It's not worth it.