Dexpot carries malware?

Question

Dexpot appears to have a lion market share as far as virtual desktop managers go. It also seems to have a rep for adware/bloatware or worse; at least the dexpot.de site does:

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/dexpot.de/comment-68802081#comment-68802081 http://www.calendarofupdates.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=16109&p=105170 http://download.cnet.com/Dexpot/9241-2346_4-13143779.html?messageID=10922154

Some of the bloatware listed is Conduit, MyFreeGames, OpenCandy

I've been trying to figure out whether Dexpot is safe to install; but since someone said it's is an opinion-based question, I'll be more specific:

1. Is Dexpot shipped with malware?

2. What is the malware's payload? Would it do something as malicious as install a keylogger or steal a credit card?

3. Can the malware be removed?

phearce 09/16/2013 Malware or viruses Potentially unwanted programs The Desktop Clock software came "bundled" with the nearly-impossible-to-remove Conduit and MyFreeGames- toolbar malware.

Very disappointing: the wallpaper clock is such a well executed idea. "

.

"All benefits are undone by coupling with malware" September 23, 2013 | By justajiggolo The version I downloaded (vie dexpot's own site, dexpot.de) came bundled with conduit "Search hijacker" - > giant PITA to remove, and you have to remove it from ALL browsers that you use.

Answer 1

You are correct to assume that no malware scan finds all malware... but there ARE sites that multi-test programs.

http://dexpot.en.lo4d.com/virus-malware-tests has tested Dexpot May5 2014 (2 days ago as of this post) and found it is clean from 27 different tests.

Answer 2

Deskpot may be all kinds of things, but "clean" is not one of them.

I just posted a question on adware on Deskpot forum:

http://dexpot.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5534&p=35736#p35736

To summarize:

Yes, they still install adware, or programs that claim to do something useful but silently install adware. They claim you can opt-out. They've claimed it before, but users had a different experience, as seen from the links in my Q. Maybe you can opt-out for real now, I don't know.

They said they stopped installing Conduit products and all toolbars. They won't provide the list of programs they do install (I'll update this answer if this changes). They do still install TuneUp Utilities 2014, which has bad rep on CNet and, according to wikipedia, silently installs adware. (Wikipedia does not say whether it uninstalls cleanly, including the adware; in the past, that was not the case with Dexpot's third pa>rty bundles, but this may have changed). They do allow you to opt-out of TuneUp, or so they say.

It's a good thing Dexpot maintains a forum and answers questions instantly if/when they choose to, but one difficult question (such as "do your programs ever call home?"), and they stop answering - this has been my impression from looking at the forums.

I'll stay away from Dexpot and stick to VirtuaWin until I can see if someone can get them to do a public statement about what the software does NOT do. (Think about it this way: would not a legit company be eager to make such a statement?)