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I can only attribute this oddity to version differences (Home Premium vs Pro)

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knoober

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
I was recently searching for a certain utility online from my main desktop. I found what I was looking for from a company that I have good feelings for and was surprised when they asked me for my email - for a "free" download. I understand why such things are done, but usually will keep looking when this happens... and did.

Later I was doing the same search from a different machine and ran across the same link from the same company that I happen to like. I of, of course, had forgotten about my earlier attempt to get the very same utility and went on with the download. No questions about my email. I went back and checked from the original machine and once again was asked for an email address. What gives?

Aside from the fact that these machines are both computers, they couldnt be more disalike. One is AMD, the other Intel. One is a laptop , the other a desktop, etc. One runs Win7 Pro and the other runs Win7 Home Prem. I am confident when I say that hardware couldnt cause this difference, so I suspect that OS version is the determining factor here. Has anyone else experienced this ? is it normal? I cant even think of the right search terms to see if anyone else has had this same issue, but Ive never heard of it before. Thanks in advance

Edit: Anyone miss the typo in the thread title? Its funny :)
 
Cookies would be my first guess. The windows version shouldn't have anything to do with this since its all handled in the browser.
 
Cookies would be my first guess. The windows version shouldn't have anything to do with this since its all handled in the browser.

Thanks for reminding me.... exact same browser set up as well.

I hadnt thought of cookies. I went to see if I can replicate the issue and now am asked for email from both machines. Guess I was just lucky, because as I said I usually walk away from anything that wants info.

Are you saying though that I wasnt asked because the info was already in a cookie and I didnt realize it (possible but unlikely)? Or am I missing your point about the cookies?
 
If it all handled in browser then the only other possibility I can think of is that I may have been between updates on that particular day. I really do find it unlikely to have given my addy to them, enless through an affiliate. Any other ideas are appreciated. Thanks in advance
 
The OS stores some information, but it is 'autofill' type of stuff. I can't think of any reason the OS would have something that would do that. Its all in your browser and cookies AKAIK...

... that said, LMK if you find out for sure the source of this.
 
What is the download page in question so we can do some testing?
 
any browser has access to what version of windows you are running, actually any OS you are running not sure how specific they can get eg pro or home but they can tell pretty easy alteast the version. http://supportdetails.com/ <- easy example i was reminded because of those silly forum signatures back in the day "your ip is x your os is x"
 
Original Poster, if the topic of your thread here is how you were not asked to provide an email on one machine, then we need to replicate that somewhere else, because that page does ask for an email before downloading... If the topic is something else, maybe you can clarify but the page does ask any first time visitor for an email before downloading.
 
Original Poster, if the topic of your thread here is how you were not asked to provide an email on one machine, then we need to replicate that somewhere else, because that page does ask for an email before downloading... If the topic is something else, maybe you can clarify but the page does ask any first time visitor for an email before downloading.

I understand that you need to replicate to test and I am sorry that it cant be replicated. I am absolutely sure that when I moved to another machine that I was NOT asked for an email. However when I rechecked today I was asked. Thank you for looking into it, and I will post back if I find any other usefull info
 
Perhaps your browser profile was not clean/new. Perhaps you were not asked for an email because that was not your first visit to that site or an affiliated site.

EDIT: I was wrong:

Dell D830 notebook, Win7 Home Premium

FF 43 with ABP & NoScript - Doesn't ask for email on several download attempts.

IE 11 with ABP - Asked for email on all download attempts.
 
Last edited:
Dell D830 notebook, Win7 Home Premium

FF 43 with ABP & NoScript - Doesn't ask for email on several download attempts.

IE 11 with ABP - Asked for email on all download attempts.
 
Dell D830 notebook, Win7 Home Premium

FF 43 with ABP & NoScript - Doesn't ask for email on several download attempts.

IE 11 with ABP - Asked for email on all download attempts.

This tells me that Ad block is the magic ingredient (for FF atleast). Guess I will be adding that here real quick :) I was running No script and Ghostery.
 
I have Firefox + Adblock and it asked me for an email.

Here's your cure:
NoScript Security Suite
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/

Well In that case I will be a bit more exact and say that I am running No Script Lite instead of the full version. So the Lite version (if anyone besides me thinks No script is a bit unweildy for casual use) isnt good enough. Thanks for the replies everyone
 
I have to agree that the full NoScript is a PITA to use. But it does get easier over time as more & more permissions are granted.
 
I have to agree that the full NoScript is a PITA to use. But it does get easier over time as more & more permissions are granted.

Thats almost word for word why I went with Lite. Trial and error is fine I guess, but I picked up No Script because I dont know what scripts are doing behind the scenes - meaning I want them all stopped :) So when I allow one page to run its scripts and end up okay then I can allow that page for good right? That is my process - but I dont want to be so permissive. So for me the middle ground is using the Lite version, comes with a bit of preconfiguration so I dont have to guess so much, and I can always lean on trial and error if need be. In the meantime, I am learning what I can about scripts, which does not make me any more trusting at all! :)
 
I also gave up NoScript for that reason, there would have to be something other add-ons can't address to justify dealing with it but so far I haven't found anything I can't disable using other means... The topic of this thread however does need NoScript but to accomplish that, the trade-off is to deal with NoScript for other things... that may be too high of a price to pay :D...
 
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