Yes, we Windows geeks have built up an immunity to this type of junk. You’ll have to wait until later - Ask is hoping you’ll forget to do that. The Ask Toolbar even attempts to hide before installing itself, so you can’t immediately uninstall it if you accidentally agree. Some readers may see the warning and accidentally agree as they click through the installation wizard - it’s meant to trick you, after all. Be sure to decline the offers.” But not all readers will pick up on that warning. We’d write something like “Be careful when installing this software, because it will try to install junk on your computer. We’ve tried to avoid this in the past by including warnings in the article. RELATED: The Shameful Saga of Uninstalling the Terrible Ask Toolbar This junk is marked as “Recommended by BitTorrent”, so less experienced users may think it’s actually recommended software, not that they’re being paid to recommend junk they would never use themselves. μTorrent is a popular BitTorrent client, but have you tried downloading it recently? You have to click through various offers that attempt to install the Conduit Search adware and a scammy PC cleaner on your computer. Oracle’s Java runtime attempts to install the Ask Toolbar. This is true even for established, legitimate software. Installers filled with junkware are perfectly normal in the Windows software scene. Adware, Toolbars, and Other Junk in Installers Lesser-known utilities are even more suspect.

However, we’ve also recommended popular applications like Foxit Reader and µTorrent and seen them turn to the dark side. We regularly recommend software like Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice, CCleaner, VLC, and other popular applications.

This shouldn’t apply to more trustworthy software, but it sometimes does.

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