Reason Software, developer of herdProtect and Should I remove it?, has acquired RaMMicHaeL’s smart adware-blocking Unchecky.
The program is an innovative free tool which monitors software installations, looks out for bundled adware, and automatically clears their checkboxes to ensure they’re not installed by default.
Reason has integrated the technology into its "second opinion" antimalware suite, Reason Core Security, where it’s now known as bundle protection.
If you’re a fan of Unchecky then there’s no immediate need for concern. You can carry on using the program as before, and it’ll continue to be developed as a stand-alone project.
Your other option is to install the free build of Reason Core Security, which gets you the latest Unchecky, a program uninstaller, startup and browser extension managers, and on-demand malware scanning (real-time protection is reserved for the commercial version, priced from $29.99).
Our first impression of Reason Core Security is that full system scans are slow, and there are too many false positives, but more testing is required before we can confirm that. Unchecky is certainly a good addition to the package, and we’ll be interested to see if Reason develops it further.