HoneyBakedHam: Nothing on this planet is as mind-numbingly useless as a search engine toolbar polluting your browser's interface.

Thus I post this warning. I just used Microsoft's Direct X Web Installer (in an attempt to solve an issue with Civ 5 freezing up) to make sure my versions of Direct X was up to snuff. Everything worked fine. No worries.

HOWEVER, had I not been paying attention I would have missed the checkbox that was conveniently pre-checked to install the Bing Toolbar in my browser.

I expect that Yahoo Messenger wants to sneak the Yahoo Toolbar into my otherwise pristine browser. I look for these things when I'm adding or updating a variety of software. I even expect Microsoft to try and clog up my system with shovel-ware if I download their ridiculous Messenger package.

But hiding toolbar loaders in driver updates or the like... well, why not just jam a bunch of malware into a service pack?

Anyway, if you update Direct X anytime soon... watch out for the Bing Toolbar loader.

HoneyBakedHam: Nothing on this planet is as mind-numbingly useless as a search engine toolbar polluting your browser's interface.

Thus I post this warning. I just used Microsoft's Direct X Web Installer (in an attempt to solve an issue with Civ 5 freezing up) to make sure my versions of Direct X was up to snuff. Everything worked fine. No worries.

HOWEVER, had I not been paying attention I would have missed the checkbox that was conveniently pre-checked to install the Bing Toolbar in my browser.

I expect that Yahoo Messenger wants to sneak the Yahoo Toolbar into my otherwise pristine browser. I look for these things when I'm adding or updating a variety of software. I even expect Microsoft to try and clog up my system with shovel-ware if I download their ridiculous Messenger package.

But hiding toolbar loaders in driver updates or the like... well, why not just jam a bunch of malware into a service pack?

Anyway, if you update Direct X anytime soon... watch out for the Bing Toolbar loader.

orcishgamer: Valve let those folks distribute Gator (actual adware/malware) with Gunman Chronicles. I'm pretty sure that takes the cake.

MobiusArcher: OpenOffice is an excellent open source MS Office alternative. I doubt their motives were the same as when an install bundles a toolbar. I honestly think that they believed they were doing people a favor.

rampancy: I admit that I'm not as well-versed on this as I should be since I'm primarily a Mac-guy, but, isn't it (shouldn't it?) be trivial to remove these toolbars? I thought IE by now had an extension infrastructure similar to that in Firefox, which would presumably make removing or disabling them easy?

rampancy: I admit that I'm not as well-versed on this as I should be since I'm primarily a Mac-guy, but, isn't it (shouldn't it?) be trivial to remove these toolbars? I thought IE by now had an extension infrastructure similar to that in Firefox, which would presumably make removing or disabling them easy?

HereForTheBeer: Not necessarily. I encountered one a couple weeks back on a relative's machine. Extensive searching online only gave instructions for turning it off; nothing was shown to actually get rid of it. I suspect the browser would have to be uninstalled and reinstalled but they were fine with just turning it off.

lukipela: OpenOffice is terrible.

HereForTheBeer: Not necessarily. I encountered one a couple weeks back on a relative's machine. Extensive searching online only gave instructions for turning it off; nothing was shown to actually get rid of it. I suspect the browser would have to be uninstalled and reinstalled but they were fine with just turning it off.

lukipela: OpenOffice is terrible.