Bringing Unchecky to the web: help wanted
About two weeks ago I introduced the Unchecky program. In this period of time, Unchecky was translated to 8 languages, the Unchecky website was translated to 3 languages, Unchecky was reviewed by numerous well-known websites, and I’ve received lots of positive feedback.
But Unchecky has one important limitation, which was raised right after Unchecky was released – It can’t handle the web. While most programs present their offers in the installation process, some are showing a checkbox in the browser, before downloading. And obviously, this checkbox is checked by default.
Why Unchecky can handle native application, but not the web?
There are a number of reasons why handling a checkbox in a browser is more troublesome than handling a checkbox in a native application:
- There is more than one browser. At the minimum, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome have to be supported before claiming that Unchecky indeed supports the web.
- I have no experience in writing browser add-ons. Actually, I bet handling an HTML page is much easier than handling a native Windows dialog. But the thing is I don’t have any experience with browser add-ons, and that’s why I’m writing this post.
In spite of the mentioned above, I decided to try and implement a Browser Helper Object (BHO) for Internet Explorer. After lots of poking in the dark, I came up with a POC implementation which is able to uncheck a checkbox, but is not something ready for a release. I’m not sure how correct it is, and there’s no way to check the offer if the user really wants to as the BHO uses a timer. The code can be found in the unchecky-bho GitHub repository.
Help wanted
Are you familiar with BHO and/or ATL? It will be great if you could review my code, and implement a confirmation message box. I believe it should be fairly easy for someone familiar with the API.
Do you have experience with writing add-ons for Firefox and/or Chrome? I’ll happily accept an implementation of the above for Firefox and Chrome browsers. Please contact me if you’re willing to contribute.
You, sir, are a saint! Now I can install Unchecky on friends’ and clients’ computers instead of cleaning them up so often.
I am not a programmer, beyond simple scripts, but I will spread the word to the best of my ability. I wish you the best of luck and many well-deserved donations.
Thank you for your feedback and the support! I’m glad you find Unchecky useful.
This is a very worthy project and implementation of a software idea. I too will use it in my daily passer-by’s with friends, family and O.I.P.’s (other important people).
Keep up the good work…!
P.S. I don’t know any programming but wish I did; so no experience with BHOs or ATLs.
P.S. Is their a way to donate to your project….?
Thank you for the positive feedback!
You can donate to the project here:
http://rammichael.com/donate
having problems downloading thank you
What kind of problems?
i downloaded program several days ago then i had computer cleaned by several programs then now i am having problems downloading back on computer it informs me it can not get to site and keeps saying try again thank you
Could you provide a screenshot of what you’re seeing?
I would like to confirm that Unchecky is working on on all my pc’s. I challenge any and all coders to please respond to the call for Extension code addition.
Thank you,
earlwallace