General questions
- What is OpenCandy?
- Why is OpenCandy on my computer?
- Who are the participants in the OpenCandy network?
- How does participating in OpenCandy work if I’m a software developer?
- What happens when I run an installer that’s OpenCandy-powered?
- What happens if I accept a recommendation?
- What happens if I do not accept a recommendation?
- What kind of information does OpenCandy collect from users running OpenCandy-powered installers?
- So, OpenCandy-powered installers only show recommendations during installation?
- How do you make sure the software in the OpenCandy network is safe?
- What does ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt-out’ mean? Are OpenCandy-powered recommendations ‘opt-out’ or ‘opt-in’?
- What should I do if I think I’ve found a bug in the recommendation process?
Q: What is OpenCandy?
A: OpenCandy is a software network that enables software developers to distribute their software and earn money in the process. You may have seen OpenCandy as a single user-friendly recommendation screen, or offer, inside of a popular Windows software installer.
Want to see a recommendation in action? Check out the 60 second video on the home page.
Q: Why is OpenCandy on my computer?
A: OpenCandy offers software developers a software developer kit (SDK) to integrate a small plug-in into their software installers to help them offset some of the costs associated to software development, in other words make money. OpenCandy is not installed on your computer but may run as a part of software you are installing.
Q: Who are the participants in the OpenCandy network?
A: The OpenCandy Software Network consists of software developers, those who make software recommendations, and software advertisers, those who’s software is recommended. Of course it also includes you; the end-user. Users install developer’s applications and decide whether or not to install other software being recommended.
Q: How does participating in OpenCandy work if I’m a software developer?
A: It’s pretty simple, you sign up, get the Network SDK for your installer platform, integrate the SDK and submit your installer to us to make sure it’s showing recommendations properly and passes our network policies.
To learn more about the OpenCandy Software Network, check out the developer or advertiser page.
Q: What happens when I run an installer that’s OpenCandy-powered?
A: When you run an installer powered by OpenCandy, it asks our servers for a list of applications that the developer of the software you’re installing has chosen to recommend for your language, operating system and country. Our plug-in (OCSetupHlp.dll) then selects the first valid recommendation to show. Recommendations must pass certain criteria to be valid (such as, “Is this software already installed?”, “Are the necessary files needed to install this available?”, etc.). For each recommendation in the list, an anonymous “Yes” or “No” is sent back to our servers so we can collect aggregate data to improve our recommendations.
Once a valid recommendation is found in the list, our plug-in downloads the graphics required to display the recommendation to you. At this point, you can choose whether you want to install the recommended software. Non-personally identifiable statistics about the developer’s software installation, the recommendation process, and the installation of recommended software, are collected.
Q: What happens if I accept a recommendation?
A: If you choose to accept a recommendation, our plug-in launches a small download manager after the developer’s installation has completed which downloads the accepted software. This Download Manager is not installed on your computer. It was specifically built to clean itself up and not remain on your computer after it runs. There are certain circumstances which may cause it to remain in a temp directory. In these cases, clear your temp files and restart your computer.
Q: What happens if I do not accept a recommendation?
A: If you do not accept a recommendation your software installs and OpenCandy does not install anything. Anonymous statistics are collected about the installation of the developer’s software to help developers understand their installation performance.
Q: What information does OpenCandy collect from users running OpenCandy-powered installers?
A: First and foremost, we do NOT collect any personally identifiable information. Nor do we store IP addresses.
We collect the following NON-personally identifiable information for aggregate statistical purposes:
- Operating system version and language, country location and timezone of the computer running the installer, and the language of the developer’s software installer
- That the developer’s installer was initiated, and whether it was completed or canceled
- Whether a third-party recommendation was made and if so, whether it was accepted or declined
- If a third-party recommendation was accepted, whether the recommended software’s installer has been downloaded and the installer initiated
- That the recommended third-party installer was initiated, and whether it was completed or canceled.
For more information about what “personally identifiable information” or “PII” is, see this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personally_identifiable_information
For additional questions about data collection and privacy, visit our Privacy FAQ page.
For details about information collection, please read our Privacy Matters page.
Q: So, OpenCandy-powered installers only show recommendations during installation?
A: Yes. OpenCandy recommendations are shown only during the installation of your software. OpenCandy does not launch ad pop-ups, install adware, or behave as tracking software at any time.
Q: How do you make sure the software in the OpenCandy network is safe?
A: Our #1 priority at OpenCandy is ensuring all software in our network is safe. Every piece of software is carefully reviewed. We have stringent guidelines and practices that we run each application through. This includes (but is not limited to), checking malware databases, security forums, software reviews by tech journalists and end-users, learning about the developer’s business practices (through the BBB and other sources), and trying each and every piece of software ourselves and discussing it as a team.
Q: What does ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt-out’ mean? Are OpenCandy-powered recommendations ‘opt-out’ or ‘opt-in’?
A: For software recommendations, opt-in refers to recommendations where nothing is preselected or where the box next to “do not install” is selected by default, while opt-out refers to recommendations where “install” is the default option.
On the OpenCandy Software Network we allow our developer and advertiser partners to make their own choices concerning how they wish to recommend software or be recommended. Some developers choose to recommend an application through an opt-out offer as a way of communicating how strongly they recommend a particular piece of software to their users.
Regardless of the manner in which a given developer chooses to make their recommendations, each product being recommended on our network must still pass all of our strict policies enforcing honesty, transparency and a top-notch user experience.
Q: What should I do if I think I’ve found a bug in the recommendation process?
A: D’oh! No matter how hard we try, we aren’t perfect (nobody is), so it’s possible for a bug to slip through. If you think you’ve found one, please let us know. We’ll send you a free, awesome purple t-shirt for your help.
If your question wasn’t answered here or you have suggestions on how we can do things even better, please let us know.
** Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
