{"id":2850,"date":"2013-07-11T13:21:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T21:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/?p=2850"},"modified":"2015-12-22T14:17:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T22:17:23","slug":"pet-peeves-3-latchware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/pet-peeves-3-latchware\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Peeves #3: Latchware"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few things as annoying in the world of free (and paid) software as latchware<\/strong>. Yes, I made this term up myself, and yes, it is a real thing. These are the programs, toolbars, and unnecessary junk that hitch rides on software installation packages. At best, they waste your disk space and prompt an immediate search for the “Uninstall” button; at worst, hidden malware infects your computer and there goes several hours of your free time.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Java<\/a>
These are the defaults when updating Java. Make sure to uncheck those boxes lest you end up with a completely useless toolbar in your browser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most notorious examples is the Java auto updater. Every single time Java is updated, a screen pops up asking if I want to install a toolbar from the failure of search engines, Ask.com<\/a>. Then, it prompts me to set it as my default search engine, a crime equally grievous to using IE6.<\/p>\n

Even Google has fallen prey to the idea of latchware. Inn their Chrome browser install package, there is a option to install the Google Toolbar. While I like Google as a company and I see the good intentions of suggesting a toolbar to install, I despise them. You see, when you install too may toolbars on a system, your browser will begin to look like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Another pet peeve of mine: toolbars. Even one is furiously annoying.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes, latchware can be more than just annoying; it can harm your computer. I’ve seen plenty of shady software where if you go through the install process too quickly, you end up installing latchware. This latchware could contain viruses (or be malware itself), which is bad news for your computer. Saving 15 seconds on program installation by fast-clicking Next definitely isn’t worth it when later, your virus scan detects a thousand Trojan Horses crawling through the system.<\/p>\n

So my rule of thumb when it comes to installing anything: Be careful, don’t speed through the installation or setup, and uncheck any boxes for latchware unless you’re completely sure you want it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are few things as annoying in the world of free (and paid) software as latchware. Yes, I made this term up myself, and yes, it is a real thing. These are the programs, toolbars, and unnecessary junk that hitch rides on software installation packages. At best, they waste your disk space and prompt an immediate search for the “Uninstall” …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,806],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/java-ask.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Zt3y-JY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2850"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5470,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions\/5470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-liu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}