Over the last two days, an increasing number of users of Skype have noticed that software going by the name of “EasyBits GO” has been installed on their computers primarily due to a shortcut appearing on their desktops.
EasyBits GO Shortcut
Double clicking on the shortcut brings up a game organiser window similar to the below:
EasyBits GO Game Organiser
Whilst it seems harmless enough a good number of users have been suspicious of the software and rightfully so given that they didn’t specifically install it themselves. As it turns out, the games component of Skype is provided by EasyBits and has been present in Skype since 2006. Personally, this is just extra bloat that I could do without and as such would appreciate an option to install just the Skype client without the bells and whistles. At this stage, this software cannot be uninstalled through normal means and manual methods are hit and miss – hopefully Skype will fix this up. In the meantime, the update including this software has been suspended from further downloads.
I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens.
Anyway, a part of me can’t help but feel a bit disappointed by the recent bungles and the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft recently and how it mirrors the acquisition of WinAMP by AOL and its subsequent slide from being probably the most prominent media player in the 1990s to its current state. It seems that software innovation equates to extra features and bloat that marketing types dictate to the developers rather than focusing on the elegance and efficiency of a piece of software.
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I’ve used skype for years and loved it as it was, but this new and disappointing piece of crapware, besides being annoying, unwanted and harmful to your privacy on your pc is an insult to what was skypes good name b4 microsoft bought it up! What a letdown that microsoft still doesn’t get it that we don’t want garbage on our pc’s with no way to lose it, what were they thinking?? I wonder how many others besides me will lose skype because of this, I won’t have any company deciding what I have on my personal computer if I can help it, and in this case I can help it by uninstalling skype and all its components. Way to go microsoft, what will you ruin next??
[…] on from my previous article about EasyBits GO riding on the coattails of the most recent Skype update it appears that there is now an official removal tool from EasyBits Media. In a statement released […]