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Author Topic: Internet giants grab at your desktop
radiorahim
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2777

posted 15 October 2005 03:01 PM      Profile for radiorahim     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Last week I downloaded WinZip, the file compression utility that everyone used until Microsoft built Zip support into Windows. When you run the install, a dialog pops up offering Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search, with both options defaulting to Yes. It feels like a cheap trick, where you sign up for one thing and get something else that is both intrusive and unrelated, but this is becoming standard practice for free downloads like WinZip.

A more prominent example is Macromedia's Flash player, which sneaks in the Yahoo toolbar during setup unless it is foiled. Now Sun is joining in with the announcement that Google's toolbar will be bundled with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). "What Netscape did for the Java runtime, the JRE can now do for the Google toolbar," said Sun's Scott McNealy at a joint press conference.


IT Week.co.uk article

[ 15 October 2005: Message edited by: radiorahim ]


From: a Micro$oft-free computer | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
Andrew_Jay
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10408

posted 15 October 2005 05:57 PM      Profile for Andrew_Jay        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
And these things from Google or Java can be easily ignored or turned off.

It's the non-big name stuff you have to worry about, the spy-ware junk that can cling to a lot of downloads.


From: Extremism is easy. You go right and meet those coming around from the far left | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
radiorahim
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2777

posted 15 October 2005 08:28 PM      Profile for radiorahim     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
True, they can be ignored, turned-off or uninstalled but most folks just accept default settings and let stuff get installed.

quote:
We have entered a new phase of combat, no longer the browser wars, but the toolbar wars. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft all have toolbars and will do anything to get you to install them. The forthcoming Windows Vista has a sidebar which does not look like it will co-exist easily with Google Desktop. This will be a headache.

It is worth reflecting on why typical Windows boxes are in such an appalling state in many homes. This is not just the work of viruses, but of uncontrolled installation of many pieces of software, each wanting to run on start-up and claim a corner of the desktop. In some cases this renders a machine almost unusable. Best practice dictates that software should be narrow in scope and do no more and no less than is necessary.


Yes malware is definitely a problem, but so is alot of the so-called "mainstream" stuff. Having cleaned up alot of Window$ boxes for non-technical folks, most of them are indeed a mess.

Even cleaned up a machine this past week that had never been connected to the net and it was a mess. They buy a printer and a scanner and maybe a digital camera and all kinds of unecessary software gets installed instead of just whatever device drivers need to be installed. All kinds of junk gets put into the startup menu and pretty soon the thing takes forever to start.

As a happy Linux user, I've been able to say goodbye to all this stuff.


From: a Micro$oft-free computer | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
Andrew_Jay
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10408

posted 16 October 2005 02:12 AM      Profile for Andrew_Jay        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by radiorahim:
True, they can be ignored, turned-off or uninstalled but most folks just accept default settings and let stuff get installed.
That doesn't make Google a bad guy. Your typical non-technical person would probably find one of these services useful to them while they go about surfing the internet, etc. (but no, they don't need 5 of them running at once).

From: Extremism is easy. You go right and meet those coming around from the far left | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
radiorahim
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2777

posted 16 October 2005 03:17 AM      Profile for radiorahim     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
(but no, they don't need 5 of them running at once).

Exactly the point. You install MSN Messenger, you've got the MSN toolbar. You install the Adobe Acrobat Reader, by default it installs the Yahoo! toolbar. And now if you install Java, by default you install the Google toolbar.

They all clash with each other and your Window$ system ends up being a mess...and that's assuming you haven't installed toolbars that get installed by malware. I've cleaned tons of these out of systems.

The even more fundamental problem though is M$' practice of by default giving administrative (root in the Linux/Unix world) privileges to every user.

In the Linux/Unix world this is recognized as an extremely bad practice and is not done.


From: a Micro$oft-free computer | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
ToadProphet
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10411

posted 16 October 2005 03:24 AM      Profile for ToadProphet     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
There's some pretty big privacy concerns with these toolbars and google in particular.

Scroogle


From: Ottawa | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Gir Draxon
leftist-rightie and rightist-leftie
Babbler # 3804

posted 16 October 2005 04:33 AM      Profile for Gir Draxon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Google toolbar has served me well. I've never experienced any ads or spyware as a result of using it. I am far less concerned about being quietly tracked than I am about getting shit loaded into my system that will eat all my resources and therefore cripple it. I delete my cookies from time to time, but accept that the internet is NOT anonymous. Anyone determined enough will be able to track my surfing no matter what I do. As long as no unwanted software is installed, then I'm fine.
From: Arkham Asylum | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
chubbybear
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10025

posted 16 October 2005 07:43 AM      Profile for chubbybear        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Get free, virus and spyware free applications at Nonags.
From: nowhere | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
scooter
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5548

posted 16 October 2005 09:55 AM      Profile for scooter     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The google toolbar also works for me. I find the popup blocker works great and I love the spell checker.
From: High River | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
scooter
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5548

posted 16 October 2005 09:58 AM      Profile for scooter     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here are a couple of very cool Google tools.

Moon Map by Google, try zooming in on one of the Apollo landing sites.

and my favorite which I use to get around town.

Maps by Google, the satellite + street map overlays are amazing. I can actually see my friends car parked outside her home.


From: High River | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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