Why does crapware still exist?

bigmck said:

What I have noticed more of recently is that when you go to a reputable site to download, like The Official ImgBurn Website the first button you see which appears to be the download is a crapware button, not the download that you went to the site for. It has become hard to find the download button.

I've noticed that too. The real download button or link is often at the bottom of the page.

I swear if I ever become a computer sciences teacher, one of my assignments would be to properly download and install some programs while avoiding crapware.

alphanumeric said:

Fantail said:

Crapware - HA!
My first thought was 8's metro.

Funny you should say that. Lucrative Windows crapware market is exactly why we need app stores | PCWorld

Free speech means people will also get to insult other people, but that doesn't mean free speech needs to go. Along the same line of thought, open platforms mean we get both good and bad software, but that doesn't mean we should move to a closed platform just to weed out the bad software.

Or as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Anyone who suggests that we move to a closed platform because of crapware pervading through the environment of open platforms is either an idiot or misinformed, supports censorship (whether intentionally or not), refuses to take responsibility for their own welfare, and answers to short-term gains while giving up fundamental user rights and an environment where developers can develop software the developers themselves envisioned.

King Arthur said:

alphanumeric said:

Fantail said:

Crapware - HA!
My first thought was 8's metro.

Funny you should say that. Lucrative Windows crapware market is exactly why we need app stores | PCWorld

Free speech means people will also get to insult other people, but that doesn't mean free speech needs to go. Along the same line of thought, open platforms mean we get both good and bad software, but that doesn't mean we should move to a closed platform just to weed out the bad software.

Or as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Anyone who suggests that we move to a closed platform because of crapware pervading through the environment of open platforms is either an idiot or misinformed, supports censorship (whether intentionally or not), refuses to take responsibility for their own welfare, and answers to short-term gains while giving up fundamental user rights and an environment where developers can develop software the developers themselves envisioned.

Free speech should extend to and terminate at the point when it impedes other's right to free speech.

Example: Westboro Church.

In addition to what's been mentioned about bundled trialware which can earn authors commissions to pay for their freeware, many are also are trying to sneak spyware onto your PC.

Almost any search service, updater or toolbar is spyware that's gathering behavioral information about you which is crunched into data that can be both sold and used by the purveyor.

In addition these may paste ads everywhere you go based on searches or even text you type into emails. Hence when I invited a friend to lunch by private email every ad suddenly became lunch specials at local restaurants. This invasion of privacy pushed me to investigate and with John's help I learned how to Opt Out of Network Advertising tracking ads.

I am so tiered of being asked to install the Google Toolbar when installing just about anything that I want to puke. If it's not that its the Bing desktop or toolbar.