{"id":45605,"date":"2013-09-11T19:11:38","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T19:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=45605"},"modified":"2013-09-11T19:11:38","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T19:11:38","slug":"death-by-toolbar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/death-by-toolbar\/","title":{"rendered":"Death by Toolbar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h3>Death by Toolbar<\/h3>\n<p>by Neil Harrison for Daves Computer Tips<\/p>\n<p><i><font SIZE=\"2\">Far too often free software is packaged with additional junk.&#8211;PC Pitstop.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n<p>One of the joys of the internet is the incredible array of free software to deal with just about anything you need to do. Unfortunately this free software often comes with some baggage  &#8211; additional junk software that gets installed at the same time.  Even big name companies try to make a little extra money on the side by hoping you won\u2019t notice the additional adware, trialware and other nonsense that will get installed with the software you actually wanted. Toolbars will be added, your search settings changed and probably your home page will be hijacked as well. At best all this slows your browser down, and at worst it can make your internet activities unreliable and even stop the browser working altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, in many cases, you can avoid most of these problems with just a little care and attention during the installation.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DCT1a-400x325.png\" alt=\"DCT1a-400x325\" width=\"400\" height=\"325\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-45607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DCT1a-400x325.png 400w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DCT1a-400x325-300x243.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><BR CLEAR=LEFT><\/p>\n<p><strong>Toolbars \u2013 where do they come from?<\/p>\n<p>Beware the pre-checked box<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whenever you install new software, there are usually a few windows which pop up where you have to click \u201cOK\u201d or \u201cNext\u201d to continue. That software license that you never bother reading, some option to have an icon on the desktop \u2013 that sort of thing. It\u2019s all too easy to be impatient and go click click click until the software is ready to run. Slow down! This is where you need to be vigilant.<br \/>\nOne example which catches many people is that Java update which seems to pop up all too often. If you have Java installed then keeping it updated is a good idea, but watch carefully for the ASK toolbar option which will be pre-checked by default:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.davescomputertips.com\/avoiding-death-by-toolbar\/\" target=\"_blank\">Article Continued Here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These excerpts are shared with permission from davescomputertips.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/techtalk.pcpitstop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DCT1a-400x325-150x150.png\" alt=\"DCT1a-400x325\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-45607\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Far too often free software is packaged with additional junk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[529,1766,3166],"class_list":["post-45605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daves-computer-tips","tag-crapware","tag-junkware","tag-toolbars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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