Foistware - And Beware CNET Downloads! (Get Ninite)

Click here for another great article by Bob Rankin, entitld DOWNLOAD ALERT - Foistware Warning.

Foistware is a term used for software that's "foisted" on you, typically without your knowledge or explicit consent. Foistware isn't technically malware, but it can range from marginally useful, to annoying, to malicious. Most often, foistware takes the form of browser toolbars, but it can also take over your browser homepage and preferred search engines. Some foistware pops up when you visit online shopping sites, and tries to steer you to certain vendors or offers.

Foistware almost always tags along when you download a program that you do want. Through various deceptive practices, the download process may try to add extra, unwanted software to your installation package. Usually it takes the form of a checkbox that's already selected, and if you just click NEXT or CONTINUE without reading carefully, you'll end up with this extra software clutter.

The foistware problem is not limited to downloading and installing dodgy programs you probably shouldn't be messing with in the first place. Rather, some of the Internet's most trusted and widely used applications are among the offenders:

You might think this problem would show up mostly in the dark corners of the Web. But the most egregious offenders are some of the most trusted and popular names in Internet software. If you try to download or update your Adobe Reader or Flash Player, Skype, or the Foxit Reader, you'll see examples of what I mean. Adobe pushes the McAfee Security Scan, which you probably don't need because you've already installed one of the options in my list of Free Anti-Virus Programs, right? Foxit Reader, which I use and recommend, is also guilty of pushing the useless Ask.com toolbar.

Toward the end of the article, Bob says: "I've saved the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) for last." And that best (or worst) is downloads from the venerable and previously respected CNET. He describes his "six-part horror story" performing a CNET download. The upshot? DO NOT DOWNLOAD FROM CNET. They are sneaky and deceptive. I still trust and use CNET for their product reviews, but I will not use them for software downloads.

In passing, Bob recommends a little gem of a progam called "Ninite." If you download and run ninite.exe, you get to choose from a wide variety of well-known applications you wish to monitor. It will install those apps for you if they're not already there, and any that you already have loaded will be checked for the latest updates. Ninite guarantees no toolbars or foistware. In other words, those application installations have been checked by Ninite and careful choices have been made to exclude the junk. Ninite is particularly helpful for those of you who help others set up new computers. Check the applications you wish to install, and let Ninite do the work -- no need to monitor each installation to click Next, Next, Next, while accepting EULA agreements and dodging foistware attacks.

UPDATE: I just reviewed a previous Bob Rankin article I had flagged for consideration and then forgotten about. It's a plug for -- Ninite! Entitled "Finally: The End of Next, Next, Next...," it goes into Ninite at some length. Well worth exploring: Click here.