******* add-on cannot be uninstalled

[Dad.]

Hi there,

Im not positive if this is the right place to post this.

I cannot uninstall a ******* add-on because the author does not let you if you do not have a valid license, and mine has been revoked for some reason. This is absolutely terrible practice, and I find this to not only be a quality of a poor product and poor development, but also something that I feel is dangerous. I cannot remove this plugin and I do not know what other ways I can go about removing this. I do not know what this means if any person can put a plugin out there, have people install it, and not build a way for them to be able to remove it. That seems like malware to me.

Any help is appreciated and I feel a discussion should be had on this practice.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Allan]

You can not uninstall the add-on because your license is no longer valid?

If yes, why ******* don't propose you a query or solution to make it?

 

[Chris D]

Doesn't seem right. Have you attempted to contact @******* about it?

Only thing I can think of doing is to disable listeners in config.php and try again:

$config['enableListeners'] = false;

Once listeners have been disabled, log in to the Admin CP and uninstall. In theory, it should not be possible for any overriding code to be executed at that point. If it can't be uninstalled then I'd be deeply concerned.

If you have problems, feel free to let me know. I'll happily take a look at it Mike if you give me FTP and Admin CP access.

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

Maybe a PC should be sent to @******* about this or tag him so he gets alerted about this thread. I didn't know you had to have a valid license to uninstall his addons. I knew it had to be valid to install it but not uninstall it. I guess that's a reason I am glad that they few addons I have of his I went with the Professional Lifetime license. If he continues this practice of not being able to uninstall when your license had expired or whatever I will probably not buy anymore of his addons.

 

[TJA]

What add-on is it?

 

[Dad.]

Doesn't seem right. Have you attempted to contact @******* about it?

Only thing I can think of doing is to disable listeners in config.php and try again:

$config['enableListeners'] = false;

Once listeners have been disabled, log in to the Admin CP and uninstall. In theory, it should not be possible for any overriding code to be executed at that point. If it can't be uninstalled then I'd be deeply concerned.

If you have problems, feel free to let me know. I'll happily take a look at it Mike if you give me FTP and Admin CP access.

Thanks for that @Chris D the listener bit removed the copyright and stuff which was what I needed immediately.

Maybe a PC should be sent to @******* about this or tag him so he gets alerted about this thread. I didn't know you had to have a valid license to uninstall his addons. I knew it had to be valid to install it but not uninstall it. I guess that's a reason I am glad that they few addons I have of his I went with the Professional Lifetime license. If he continues this practice of not being able to uninstall when your license had expired or whatever I will probably not buy anymore of his addons.

What add-on is it?

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/*******-modern-statistics-paid.56703/page-16#post-822984

I know I didn't wait very long but I needed it gone ASAP.

 

[Liam W]

I'm just wondering if it's something in the uninstall callback.

What actually happens when you attempt to uninstall?

Liam

 

[Daniel Hood]

Doesn't seem right. Have you attempted to contact @******* about it?

Only thing I can think of doing is to disable listeners in config.php and try again:

$config['enableListeners'] = false;

Once listeners have been disabled, log in to the Admin CP and uninstall. In theory, it should not be possible for any overriding code to be executed at that point. If it can't be uninstalled then I'd be deeply concerned.

If you have problems, feel free to let me know. I'll happily take a look at it Mike if you give me FTP and Admin CP access.

It's probably something within the uninstall function itself. Like the tables can't be removed until it calls home.

 

[Chris D]

It was indeed. But there were a load of code event listeners that were still enabled despite the add-on being disabled. In my personal opinion, and I don't care what the overall reason is, no add-on developer should manually inject code event listeners into customer's forums that aren't assigned to their add-ons.

 

[BassMan]

That's the reason I run away from add-ons and developers like that...

 

[Daniel Hood]

It was indeed. But there were a load of code event listeners that were still enabled despite the add-on being disabled. In my personal opinion, and I don't care what the overall reason is, no add-on developer should manually inject code event listeners into customer's forums that aren't assigned to their add-ons.

Agreed, quite honestly this whole situation is garbage.

 

[Liam W]

It was indeed. But there were a load of code event listeners that were still enabled despite the add-on being disabled. In my personal opinion, and I don't care what the overall reason is, no add-on developer should manually inject code event listeners into customer's forums that aren't assigned to their add-ons.

I didn't even know that was possible until recently, when I located the relevant method. I couldn't think of one reason why it would be necessary.

 

[HWS]

******* Add-Ons are very dangerous to install. They call back to ******* when installed and some also when uninstalled. They also submit a lot of sensitive and unnecessary data about your server and Xenforo to ******* without any notification about that.

If you write this in public it may happen that ******* adds you to be "Discouraged" at his site which makes it impossible to get support and even download your updates, even if you have a valid license. Of course all e-mails won't be answered too.

So, be careful with *******'s business practice.
Which is very sad, because he has some interesting add-ons.

 

[Chris D]

I didn't even know that was possible until recently, when I located the relevant method. I couldn't think of one reason why it would be necessary.

Well, there's no relevant method, as such. You can inject anything directly into the database, templates, code event listeners, template modifications... Doesn't mean you ever should...

 

[HWS]

Also with every update of a product he adds more and more silent home calls.

He clearly focuses a lot more in data sniffing and collecting than in just protecting his code. Just be careful even with updates.

 

[FredC]

Its bothersome that this still hasnt been addressed and it seems odd that no one at XF seems to really care.. Or at least that was the impression i was left with when i raised a similier concern about this very plugin...

 

[HWS]

Its bothersome that this still hasnt been addressed and it seems odd that no one at XF seems to really care.. Or at least that was the impression i was left with when i raised a similier concern about this very plugin...

I also discussed this at the add-on discussion thread. His answer was that he does the home calls to "protect his code" and that all collected data is "securly stored" at his server for "possible future support purposes". His only action in response to my concern was to discourage our user at his site.

 

[Dad.]

I also discussed this at the add-on discussion thread. His answer was that he does the home calls to "protect his code" and that all collected data is "securly stored" at his server for possible future support purposes. His only action in response to my concern was to discourage our user at his site.

Yeh, people take their data seriously. Taking it from people without asking is an offense and I actually think illegal in some jurisdictions.

 

[oman]

It was indeed. But there were a load of code event listeners that were still enabled despite the add-on being disabled. In my personal opinion, and I don't care what the overall reason is, no add-on developer should manually inject code event listeners into customer's forums that aren't assigned to their add-ons.

Without being a developer, it seems pretty ridiculous. Turns me off purchasing add ons that can't be uninstalled.

 

[oman]

Also, @Mike Creuzer you aren't the first person to have had a bad experience: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/*******-magnesium-paid.81907/