The installer for Java 6 Update 15 was just released, and I see they've switched from the Yahoo toolbar to an online backup provider. What's up with it never remembering the previous setting? As is, I have to make sure and let all my friends/family whose computers I help maintain to uncheck the box every single time they update. It's not just Java, either - I know the Trillian installer is bundling the Ask toolbar, and I'm sure there are countless others.
How do y'all manage the situation? It's completely unreasonable to expect everyone I help out to catch these cases as they arise, and it takes up my time whenever I have to go back through and dig things out that slip by.
Not a solution but I am really waiting for a developer to create an application that has a preferences for installers to respect, together with sample code for others to implement these choices in their installation routines + a website advocating this installation standard.
Possibly an opportunity to add extensibility for application updaters that can link into this.
Installers which bundle toolbars and other adware crud are bad enough, but updaters are worst. When you're setting up someone's computer for them you can uncheck the rubbish at install-time, but if the updater does it too you're left with an untenable situation: disable the updater and potentially leave net-facing software insecure, or leave it on and wait for the machine to get messed up with unwanted apps.
So, I just don't install Java any more. Sorry Sun, but your client-side experience — the updater especially — has always sucked. Applets (plus the few popular consumer Java apps) just aren't enough for me to put up with your crap. This abuse was the final straw: into the bitbucket with you.
(The same goes for Real and QuickTime. Flash video won, you guys with your annoyances are no longer welcome. And you, Adobe Reader: there are better alternatives that don't bundle anything or try to install a pointless plugin that makes my browser insecure.)
Other software (that unlike network-facing plugins is not quite as security-sensitive) can have the updaters turned off until I get around to checking manually. But anything that tries to bundle on an update is getting uninstalled fast anyway.
Ban the check [1]. Kill software that uses bundling updaters.
[1] http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/blogs/mowgreen/index.php?showentry=1564You have to weigh up the cost (in terms of time and inconvenience) against the benefit.
Software tends to fall into three categories:
1) That which behaves well in this regard and therefore so long as it's even remotely useful is fine
2) That which behaves badly but is very useful (or, like Java, basically mandatory) in which case you have to go through advanced installs, deselect options and then tidy up after it. Not great and leaves a bad taste in your mouth but ultimately the effort is still worth it because what you get at the end is still worth having (or at the very least the price of doing business).
3) That which behaves badly and doesn't offer enough benefit in which case for me it doesn't even get as far as completing the install.
I can see the appeal of the model from the perspective of those being paid but for those piggybacking their products it's essentially the refuge of the desperate. Think about it - your product is free but it's so bad you're effectively having to pay to get people to install it. How about putting that money into developing something people don't object to instead? Might be a bit more sustainable.
Put that way I'd hope that this is something which will pass with time, a business model which will ultimately be seen as unworkable, that does little other than skew the installed user base numbers (after all, who cares if they've got it installed if they don't use it, hate it and hate you as a result) and damage your reputation. I just wish they'd get there sooner.
As a result of this cropping up more and more, I've now started turning off auto-updates on Java every time I install it.
Not great for security but I don't see what choice I have.
Find alternative distributions (e.g. portable apps), or alternative software (preferably FOSS ones).
You could try creating a batch file that calls the installer silently and unchecks the additional software boxes. This is typically done in corporate environemnts for a large-scale software distribution or update. Send out the patch installer and the batch file together, and just instruct your friends/family to run the batch file instead of the installer.
In the end the bundling is a way for the developers to make money.
Every time I develop software, I always make it able to run from a single path, and if I can, from a single EXE. The uninstaller: rm.
Sadly, the only way I know of right now is to educate people about disabling these options.