Keep Your Software On A Leash!

[farangsay]

This is not a request for assistance.

This is a rant.

Now I am somewhat of a computer dinosaur , having

worked in the computer field for 30 some years , but

my aim was always to produce software which (hopefully)

did what you wanted it to do.

Nowadays the theme seems to be software which does

what it thinks best for you! You don't know any better

so just buckle up for the ride OK !

I am constantly irritated by bubbles which come up on

my screen from MS (telling me my computer may be

at risk) and Macafee (which knew on installation that updates

were available without ANY contact with the outside world).

Last night I downloaded and tried this Spybot thingie.

Wasn't impressed with what it did so figured on deleteing

it in the morning.

This morning I fired the box up and went off to put the

coffee on and drain the one-eyed trouser snake.

When I come back there's this stuff all over the screen.

This thing has launched itself , gone on the internet and

updated itself. No need to ask my opinion !

I have since killed it. It did resist but it is MY box and

I decided it had to die.

Anybody else as old fashioned as me ?

[Simmo]

Grandpa Simpson would be a more appropriate avatar .

[Crushdepth]

Keep your software in its box...with a firewall :-)

I get pretty annoyed with automatic updates, but mostly because *everything* tries to update itself simultaneously after you boot, jamming up your processor and internet connection. Would be good if there was a small random delay before programs tried to update themselves to avoid the initial congestion...

[friend2]

Most softwares these days updates themself as default.

Usually there's a tickbox buried somewhere where you can have it shutoff.

[ovenman]

Most softwares these days updates themself as default.

Usually there's a tickbox buried somewhere where you can have it shutoff.

I make it a point to seek out those little boxes and disable any automatic updates. It's also really useful to have your firewall set so that you must grant permissions for individual programs to access the Internet. That alone gives you a good insight into what is trying to do what...

[cdnvic]

The thing that bothers me is when software developers take their product too seriously, loading it into memory on startup and putting it in the task bar, trying to associate files automaticly, or having uninstall warnings like "WARNING! If you uninstall Microwidgets, you will no longer be able to update your email smilies! Are you SURE you want to do this?"etc.

When it tries to force you to do something, like Windows Media Player auto-launching websites when you play radio on it. I actually phoned Microsoft to complain about that w@nkerous act.

When they turn into adware like Winamp did.

When someone produces free software, promotes it as if it was a modern miracle, and then when someone points out a legitimate flaw they say "Don't complain, it's free!"

Edited December 13, 2006 by cdnvic