Filed under: Software, Productivity
DON'T USE PROCRASTINATR
UPDATE: A commenter on this post has published a fix for the Procrastinatr damage which I've tested multiple times. We have a new post here with instructions and a download.TUAW readers: I sincerely apologize for the damage that Procrastinatr did to iCal. I didn't notice any discrepancies in my calendar after trying this out (as almost all of my calendars are synced from Google Calendar), but please know that I have learned my lesson, and I will take much better care in the future before posting anything like this again.
One commenter has created an AppleScript that supposedly fixes the problem, which we are testing (and re-testing) right now. Again, please accept my sincerest apologies, and we will update as soon as we learn anything more.
If you're feeling overwhelmed from the onslaught of YouTube forwards, newsreader headlines, Miniclip games and software demos we tirelessly blog for you, Procrastinatr just might be your solution. Even though it's only a 0.8b version, this handy little app can help you make molehills out of mountains and start managing your time again.
Procrastinatr is provided free of charge from Procrastinatr.com.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
djSyndrome said 5:48PM on 6-21-2006
"Mr. Sutorius (who was kind enough to reply to my email message and verify his email address in the process) should also be held accountable -- perhaps in court -- for creating and offering the code."
No.
While I agree that the thing should have never been posted on the internet to begin with - if it was really supposed to be between friends, why was there a public webpage for it? - the legal disclaimers on the page clearly spelled out what was really going on. Not his fault if you or anyone else failed to read them.
I could write a script right now that wipes your entire hard drive, call it 'iSoStoopid', put it up on a website with a description on what it does along with a license agreement, and sit back and watch the flames come in. And as long as *you* clicked on that license agreement to run the software, there's not a damn thing you could do in court about it.
Now malicious code that is run without the user's knowledge - such as Sony's Rootkit - that's another story altogether.
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MikeK said 5:48PM on 6-21-2006
For the record David Chartier while making a major mistake is still a valuable member of TUAW. I have in the past, and hope to continue in the future, enjoyed his other posts. If he worked for me I would kick him the arse (Hard) and send him back to work. Mike
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Pablo said 5:48PM on 6-21-2006
"Pablo, Just exactly who's back should we be on?"
How about yourselves for installing software you knew nothing about? If you're going to be stupid gits downloading anything and everything this will assuredly happen again, and most likely it will be from an impoverished nation across the globe looking to steal vital information.
Regardless of Brian's lack of judgement here, you need to look at yourselves first and see that your complete lack of judgment has put your system at risk. The point being, Procrastinatr wouldn't have affected you if any of you took even a moment to think first.
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Brett said 5:49PM on 6-21-2006
You all need to get off of the writer's back. Who reads something on a website, follows a link, then downloads and installs software on their system without thoroughly checking the site it came from? I understand how you would come to generally trust this site, but for every app I've downloaded on the advice of TUAW, I took the time to read through the site where it came from. It's like eating McDonald's every day without reading the fat content, then suing them because you're fat!
As far as calling for the writer's head, please. Bloggers simply attempt to aggregate and summaize interesting news on a single site. They are saving you the effort of scouring the web for information on a given topic, and there was obviously no malicious intent here. Hell, even the guy who wrote this program didn't have any malicious intent, he took down his site and linked to a fix. So everyone relax and give David Chartier a break.
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MikeK said 5:58PM on 6-21-2006
Pablo, As I said earlier I read the comments here and I did not use this Trojan/Malware. I am not speaking from the vantage of one that has been preyed upon but rather one that avoided the predation. You comment that people get what they deserve is simply anarchy. Civilized societies don't work that way. Mike
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David Chartier said 6:01PM on 6-21-2006
Brian, while I thank you for posting the updated fix, either you or someone else named 'Zach' submitted this to us as a tip. Yes, I tested this out before I posted and since all my calendars are read-only gCal subscriptions I didn't notice anything - and I'm at fault - but you shouldn't have posted this for any reason.
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Douglas F Shearer said 6:05PM on 6-21-2006
I download and tried this a few days ago. You know what? I had a quick look in the README file.
It's called README for a reason, because you're supposed to read it! Fair enough it is a bit of a chore most of the time, but when you get something with very little introduction, it's worth looking at.
So todays tip-top-tip for the masses is: READ THE README!!
[Lots of comments on this, poor people, it is a bit nasty!]
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David Chartier said 6:15PM on 6-21-2006
Guys, let's put an end to bickering over this. We have a solution:
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/21/a-fix-for-the-procrastinatr-damage/
In the end, it boils down like this:
1) Brian should never have created the script.
2) I could/should have caught this, but through an odd quirk of technology - most of my calendars are read-only gCal subscriptions - I didn't.
3) We have a fix for the problem that should get everyone's calendars back to where they should be
4) I am deeply, sincerely sorry for this mess I made. I love you guys, I absolutely love my job, and you can be assured that I'll spend a heckuva lot more time investigating silly little apps like this in the future so we all don't get burned again.
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Pablo said 6:16PM on 6-21-2006
MikeK,
Anarchy has nothing to do with being smart enough to think before downloading. I question not Brian's culpability in the matter, but none of those affected have admitted any wrongdoing here.
If you were to leave your laptop in a public place unsecured and it gets stolen is that solely the thieves fault? Do you not consider yourself responsible for th protection of your own belongings? You should be taking every consideration to keep your property safe knowing full well that in a "civilized society" there are those that wish to benefit immorally from the idiocy of others.
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Splashman said 6:41PM on 6-21-2006
My thoughts:
1) David: Telling someone they shouldn't have created a script, is pissing in the wind. You may as well wish for a pony. Responsibility for the blog entry is yours and yours alone.
2) I sympathize with those whose calendars were messed up. Just as I sympathize with those who play in traffic and wind up in the hospital. It's an unfortunate circumstance, with real consequences to real people.
3) When you do something stupid, there are consequences. That's life, and that's how you learn not to do stupid stuff. In this case, it appears you folks with damaged calendars are being given the opportunity to learn a lesson on the cheap (i.e., fixable). Be thankful. Will you learn?
4) David's lesson doesn't come so cheap. And it shouldn't.
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Conner said 6:43PM on 6-21-2006
Really, guys, forgive David. Everyone makes mistakes, and he posted the fix for it. He tested it out, but as he said, he was in the position that it didn't affect him. He couldn't have forseen it doing damage to everyone, because he tested it on himself. This is what READMEs are for people, to read. I didn't read a readme once, and I bricked a computer, which is why I have a Mac Mini now. The person who sent in the tip, if they knew it was bad, should be yelled at. Brian wanted it to prank his friends, not all of us. I suppose, having a public page like that could better fool his friends, and look more real. Calm down everyone.
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olivier said 6:47PM on 6-21-2006
come on, read again the name of the app and tell me that it didn't sound suspicious!
you like to test new software, fine, but you know that it can harm your mac and data so you backup.
give us a break, give brian a break, give david a break, there are tons of backup solutions. i personally have 3 different automated backups of my contacts + calendars (.mac/external drive backup/server backup).
and most of all, i think twice before pressing the INSTALL icon of an application i've never heard of.
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Nut Muddler said 6:53PM on 6-21-2006
I don't know what everyone is bitching about. Procrastinatr kicks ass!!! Not only has it stopped the whining on my MacBook Pro and cleared up the discoloration on my white Macbook, it has also cured my genital herpes as well!!! Thanks, Brian and David!!!!!!!!
NM
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Zombie Flanders said 7:12PM on 6-21-2006
Wow, I'm glad I came from Windows, I've been suspicious of everything I didn't create or buy for myself for the last 10 years : )
And also, you are all very lucky because OSX is very insular; if this is the worst event that has happened to OSX users in years (and really, I think it is 'cause of the TUAW audience size)..and it's a _reversible_ event that the creator (and the guy who posted it here) profusely apologized for and did the best possible to rectify. In the end, yeah: you were scared and pissed off. But you're all back to square one. Lessons learned all around. Relax and contemplate.
"Orange whip? Orange whip? ... Three orange whips!"
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SuitCase said 8:33PM on 6-21-2006
Oh, wah wah, suck it up. People who had their whole life ruined because their iCal database got modified by an toog--good-to-be-true Applescript: 1. You should have read the readme, 2. You should have kept a backup and 3. You should realise that this was really just a big accident that never had any malicious intent, and the "perpetrators" have provided what seems like a quick fix for those with ultra-important calendar data that strangely wasn't important enough to back up.
Yes, this would have been somewhat annoying had I run it, but since I keep a backup and can recognise there's a script that easily reverses the changes Procrastinatr made, I'd mainly be a little bugged that I wasted 20 minutes of my life with software supposed to ease procrastination. :| So leave these two guys alone, I think they've done admirably to make amends for a small mistake.
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LD said 8:35PM on 6-21-2006
From the original post I would suspect David had absolutely no idea what the app even did. If he saw no changes because he uses read-only gCal calendars, what was he posting about? I didn't download this because his original post made no sense and gave no indication of what the app was.
I chalked it up to crappy blogging because it was a post devoid of any content or information. Apparently it was much worse than that.
David, how can you reconcile your original post with actually having checked out the app? You don't even mention what it was supposed to do.
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edmund said 9:40PM on 6-21-2006
David, what did prompt you to write the original post? Not explaining that would be far worse than anything else you have done.
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David Chartier said 9:49PM on 6-21-2006
My reason for posting in the first place:
I originally posted this on our 'Fix' post, but it probably should be explained here too:
In all honesty, I thought it was just a harmless joke app when I saw it. iCal wasn't running when I downloaded it, so when I opened Procrastinatr - and remember almost all my calendars are read-only gCal subscriptions so it didn't do anything to me - it simply opened iCal, so I thought it was just a harmless joke. Kind of a pun at getting more pro-active in being organized.
Honestly guys, I love you. I in no way shape or form ever mean any harm to you guys. I thought this app went right along with those other gag apps, like the "click here to install your new cupholder" apps that opened your CDROM drive stuff of days gone by.
Please, if you will, acccept my sincerest apologies again.
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Mike R said 10:00PM on 6-21-2006
Normally I would excuse such a post (though that's providing someone had actually used it and done a thorough write up) , but
DAVE, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO LOSE YOUR JOB. PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN FIRED FOR FAR LESS. GO WRITE FOR THE UNOFFICIAL DELL WEBLOG- YOU'RE AT THEIR STANDARDS.
1) Dave's reporting for TUAW ranks behind his peers. His peers might not think so, but the readers do. Let's not forget his awful DRM writeup, or the Firefox ad which everyone and their grandma had seen.
2) Dave's personal attitude is unprofessional. Usually if someone contests his claims, he gets indignant- do we really need more of that as mac enthusiasts? Look at the Firefox ad posting- I expect better of 6 year olds.
3) Dave's accountability is questionable at best. Here you have a malicious app that he didn't even investigate, AND he posted it! How dense is this guy? . Heck, it was even IN the Readme! .
I think the developer did try to prank Mac users, but c'mon, we expect better.
Dave, get the heck out of this blog, we have no tolerance for incompetence.
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Mike A said 10:08PM on 6-21-2006
After reading about this i was curious about how this procrastinatr thing was advertised and did find this in googles cache:
"Congratulations! You've found Procrastinatr, the new and industry-leading time management software solution for the Macintosh. With Procrastinatr, you can efficiently prioritise your calendars and regain lost time.
Procrastinatr was built from the ground up to integrate the ease of use of the Mac OS with the robust functionality of Unix. Managing your time can be accomplished with only two clicks, and we're counting the two it takes to open the application.
The public beta of Procrastinatr is now available! Click here to enter your email address and download the beta version of Procrastinatr. It's a small download (29 K) so in less than a minute, you can be saving hours!"
There is not the least explanation about how this application works or what it does - "industry leading time management software" - "small download (29k)" - why would anybody download this?
To all the ones who are blaming Brian (Who's only responsibility is to play a silly joke. Who hasn't? Most of us will have done worse things in their lifes, killing a fly is exponentially worse!) or/and David i can only say: Look at Yourself and don't be surprised if you see Shadows of Grief.
To MikeK aka "Civilized societies don't work that way". Thats exactly the problem of our so called "civilized societies". People do no more take responsibility for themselfs or for their actions. And this generates REAL problems, daily, worldwide. And by the way: anarchy is something completely different from what you apearently think it is.
And now: "A man with a taperecorder up his nose".
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