Unwanted Program Installation

Periodically I check the listing of programs installed on my Windows 7 system and quite often find things that have installed that I/we did not intentionally authorize. These can be adware, toolbars or a myriad of other unwanted applications. Each time one is found, time & effort is required to remove them, so ---

The question - Is there a Windows setting that can be applied that will require specific authorization before a program will be installed?

Thanks in advance for any assistance offered.

C.

My point is that, No program gets installed in your PC without your permission. Things that get installed without your permission are only Adwares and Trojans. So keep your antivirus upto date.
Also keep your eyes open while installing any program. There may be any check boxes in the installer windows which gets the permission to install the adware without you even noticing. So, Check every step in Installation wizard of a program. Mostly these check boxes are found after 'Accept terms and conditions page'. For Example, Avast installers comes with Chrome online installer embeded in them. AVG installers come with ASK toolbar installers. Flash Player installer comes with McAfee Security Toolbar. So Its your duty to uncheck the unwanted programs during your Installation.

Imrankhan said:

My point is that, No program gets installed in your PC without your permission. Things that get installed without your permission are only Adwares and Trojans. So keep your antivirus upto date.
Also keep your eyes open while installing any program. There may be any check boxes in the installer windows which gets the permission to install the adware without you even noticing. So, Check every step in Installation wizard of a program. Mostly these check boxes are found after 'Accept terms and conditions page'. For Example, Avast installers comes with Chrome online installer embeded in them. AVG installers come with ASK toolbar installers. Flash Player installer comes with McAfee Security Toolbar. So Its your duty to uncheck the unwanted programs during your Installation.

I currently use Kaspersky Internet Security that updates automatically. I would respectfully disagree about all installs requiring permission. These things happen without installing other (wanted) applications so it does not appear to be a matter of noticing & checking/unchecking some boxes. I suspect these things happen when visiting sites on the web but so far have been unable to pinpoint where. The system is presently free of those however, the most recent one encountered was "dealplylive"!

The idea was to find a Windows setting that would require SPECIFIC authorization before proceeding with an installation. Perhaps this is a browser issue instead?

C.

As Arc has said there is no settings that disable installing a software. When UAC asks permission for exe to execute, you select 'yes'. So you have given all the rights for the installer to do whatever it wants to do in your Windows. It may give you additional program that you dont need. Or it may contain programs you need. So it depends on the executable you have given permission. Always run a Trustworthy program executable/installer that wont harm your PC and dont go beyond its limit.

OK - Thx for the information!

C.

Something else - most installers offer you a Complete install or a Custom install, the latter often marked 'for advanced users' which is bunk. Always take the Custom option as that often gives you the option to opt out of things you do not want. I would also download from the author's site if MajorGeeks or FileHippo don't have what you are looking for.

PC Tools Firewall provides a great solution to this, it pops up a warning every time a certain exe wanted to write to registry, access kernels etc. It's annoying but you'll get used to if you realy wanted to know what's happening behind the screen.