Mick, I'm having the same problem! It happens with Giveaway and Game Giveaway too. Sometimes there are several programmes offered on GAOTD, but when I try to look at them only one is available - any others are marked as "yesterday's offer". I'm in the UK, and I realise that the time slots are different around the globe, but this has only been happening recently to me - and it is annoying if the programme which has only just arrived in my Inbox is "too late!" when I go to check it out.

Keith,

Hi Keith,

I've downloaded virtually every game given away from this site ever since it started back in December 2006 and prior to that, the games given away via the main site. Apart from one game that wouldn't install at all (an old breakout that I'd already purchased from Alawar that only worked on XP and older operating systems) I have never had any issues with any of the games that the giveaway team have given away including games from MyPlayCity.

Todays game installed with no problems and runs okay. For the past several months I've been scanning the installed giveaways and todays received one hit (Zillya) from 56 antimalware suites, 55 suites gave it a clean bill of health. Zillya nearly always tags MPC games (and those from TooMky and Falcoware games) and is most likely a false positive.

Can you explain how the installation of this game hijacks your computer? Also post an image of the message that confirmed the install GCD. You'll find this in the event logs. Just open up the event viewer and search through the logs. If you can remember the time you installed the game that will help find the log. (did you click on the setup.gcd file instead of the setup.exe file)

The gcd setup file is a wrapper and is not installed when you click on the setup.exe file; as mentioned in the read me, it's there to protect the executable by wrapping it in code. It was included almost a decade ago to stop hackers from ripping the wrapped game.

Back when we were getting games every day from the likes of Alawar, you had to install the game on the day of the giveaway; after that the set up file would no longer activate because of the wrapper that was used. When hackers found a way to take the actual installation media so that it could be used whenever they wished and install to any computer at anytime in the future a new Themida wrapper was introduced.

To install the game you click on the setup.exe file and the game should then install and work properly. .



The web browser is common to all free game sites. This action earns the distributor money (from the adverts located on the page), part of which is given to the developer of the game we are being given. None of the games you find on most free game sites are actually free, but are commercial shareware titles that sites like Big Fish, Steam, GreenManGaming, Gamersgate, Alawar and others sell.

Keith, There's nothing wrong there. It performs just like any other game from this site. You stop playing the game and it just goes to the site of the game maker. Just click out of it. The game is difficult to play with the HOG scenes. You can have either timed or untimed. It's not very interesting to play at all. I might uninstall it.

Whiterabbit-uk,
there is something in a way curious, if not strange:
In my system, the firewall glasswire alerted a "first network connection" after installation for the program "Xbox Game Bar" to "settingsfd-geo.trafficmanager.net" (IP: 51.124.78.146).
The path to the program is
c:\program files\windowsapps\microsoft.xboxgamingoverlay_5.721.12013.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\gamebar.exe
The same target, but different IP (20.73.194.208) was connected by Cortana (c:\program files\windowsapps\microsoft.549981c3f5f10_3.2110.13603.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\cortana.exe), before I installed the game.
But, I have Cortana deactivated!
Cortana started itself!
Now, Cortana is not closeable in the list of programs ([Windows]+[Tab] or [Alt]+[Tab]). Apart from that, Cortana appears not really in the task bar.
So, I think, this is similar to, what Keith happened.
I don't think, there is any malware in or with the game.
But apparently there is malware, which utilises certain opportunities to mask itself as normal and reasonable software, or to hijack normal software. (Apparently, both targets belong to Microsoft.)

I hope, you can read this, and it's not deleted again, because several times, comments from me were deleted, and I still don't know, why!

Keith, When games from this site don't install, it's usually because your anti-virus software is blocking it. Since the game is not, in fact, a virus, you can turn the anti-virus off for five minutes while you install the game.

Keith, I have been installing GGOTD games well over 10 years on both Windows and Linux platforms. I have used all the browsers out there, under strict firewalls and antivirus programs. I have never, ever downloaded a game here that hijacked anything, put a virus on my system, any malware or anything more than the game. In fact on my current Linux OS, I cannot download or install anything that would harm my system AND I must approve the download using my password. So I can state through dedicated following and experience that this site is the first one I go to when I want to download games because time after time, I have received nothing, NOTHING but the game. I trust GGOTD and Whiterabbit to offer us clean and safe games and the truth about what we're downloading. The browser WILL open to a home page depending on who is behind the game but it's not a trojan, meaning it doesn't change your home page and it's not a virus which forces you to download something to get out of the page. It merely opens to their home page which they get a small monetary amount for so that they can continue to offer games for free.

Keith,
Must be another problem on your side - I never ever had a problem with downloading here and I use this page since years.
There are only false positives from time to time but you can trust them always.

software-nutzer,

Hi, Thank you for your comparison.

With respect to your previous comments; I rarely delete comments and if I do I always leave a reason why it was deleted; and usually, I leave part of the comment intact so that the comment remains visible to the community.

It may have been one of the owners of the site, who sometimes moderates as well, but I would still see the comment in the admin panel unless it was deleted outright. (Usually if a comment is deleted, it only disappears from the communities view and is deposited in the deleted folder, where it stays for a certain period; this allows for comments to be recovered.. However, there is a button that says permanently delete once it's been initially removed. At this point it can no longer be seen by moderators or admins and is permanently gone.

Whiterabbit-uk,
one comment from me was recovered, after I complained by contact form, that it was unjust.
Then, it disappeared again.
Then, it appeared again.
It disappeared and appeared again at least one time.
Now, one can read the comment not anymore, if I'm right.
I usually comment on the German site https://de.giveawayoftheday.com/
but also on the english site.
The first deletions were because of problems of identification (I'm not logged in), I *assume*.
These comments were recovered, after I complained by contact form.
But last - I cannot understand.
The deletions were just unjustified in my view.
I asked by contact form about the reasons, but I have no answer till now.