EULAyzer – Originally Published November 2011

June 22, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Before reading this article, you explicitly agree to abide by the following terms and conditions.  This review can only be perused during daylight hours except on weekends, holidays, a family birthday, or a solar eclipse.  In the event you decide to continue, you agree that you will not disagree with the author unless you are under the care of a statescertified psychiatrist.  By continuing, you are granting permission to the newsletter editor to collect your personal information and sell it to other computer clubs.  The author of this article can change it any time without informing the readers.  Information in this article can be true or false without any repercussions to the author.

If you’re reading this paragraph, you probably realize that the lead in was probably not enforceable.  I have no idea whether or not it is.  All I know is that almost every program I install on my computer(s) make me read and agree to an End User License Agreement (EULA).  They are often full of lots of legal terms and big words.  I’m pretty sure that most EULAs were written by lawyers.

There have been several surveys and tests that shows that most end users just check the agree box and install the software.  One company put a clause in the EULA telling customers how to claim a $1000 prize.  It was not claimed until after more than 3000 program installs.

Do you, like most computer users, not read the EULA?  So am I. Don’t be surprised at that statement.  I hardly ever read a EULA.  I let the computer do it for me.

EULAlyzer Personal is a utility that scans user agreements and analyzes them for “key words” or phrases in the EULA.  It is an easy program to use.  When the EULA shows on your monitor (usually in a small window that you can’t re-size), simply select “scan new license agreement” and drag the cursor to the EULA.

EULAyzer then scans the document and searches to see if the software you’re about to install displays pop-up ads, transmits personally identifiable information, uses unique identifiers to track you, and much more.  Troublesome phrases in the EULA are highlighted so you can easily review them.

Occasionally, EULAs are found on a web page or some other file.  You can copy and paste them into EULAlyzer and analyze for potential problems.  You can also review Terms of Service agreements by the same method.

As an added bonus, you can save the EULAs to a file on you computer and read them at your leisure.

EULAlyzer is not the ultimate program and does not offer any advice, but only suggestions.  It is a good utility that I can recommend you keep in your spam fighting toolbox.  Did I mention the price?  You can download and install the program for a one time payment of $0.00.

You can download EULAlyzer here.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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