I can't be the only one that has noticed in the last year or so a massive increase in foistware? I'm talking about software that gets installed side-by-side with the application you intended to install. Browser bars, security scanners, search helpers and a myriad of other such crap that you definitely do NOT want installed.
What makes it so much more annoying is the insidious manner in which companies think they can 'fool' you into saying 'Yes' to installing their useless malware tat. Installer packages are now an absolute minefield of double negatives, almost hidden 'No' boxes and cleverly camouflaged terms and conditions.
And some of them can be doubly hard to get rid of once they're parasitically embedded into your system. I had one that wrecked my network to the point that a re-install was necessary to flush it out.
My latest was Acrobat reader, slyly trying to foist some Mcafee tosh alongside it. I think not.
I think a campaign to stop this sort of underhanded nonsense should be started and some form of EU legislation brought in to stamp it out like the cancerous menace it is.
/rantoff