echodrift » Apple http://echodrift.com Hello! I'm currently working on the site so pardon any errors or funky formatting you may come across. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:25:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 When software becomes spyware http://echodrift.com/2008/attic/when-software-becomes-spyware http://echodrift.com/2008/attic/when-software-becomes-spyware#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:04:36 +0000 Allie http://echodrift.com/?p=98 Several years ago AIM was the only instant messenger I used. I had an MSN account and a Yahoo account from different email addresses I had but everyone I talked to used AIM. One day a new version of AIM came out. Like quite a bit of software there were several notifications that you should upgrade to the new version. I thought “Why not” and upgraded. It required a restart of AIM as is usual with most software upgrades. However, when I restarted AIM it popped up with some kind of AIM Today page in AOL Browser. The problem? I never installed AOL Browser. I never asked for it to be installed and I was never informed that it was installed. I immediately went to Add/Remove programs to get rid of it since I wanted nothing to do with it. (Side note: there is no Add/Remove Programs in Vista. It is instead called “Programs and Features.” If you’ve always looked for Add/Remove Programs it is really annoying that it’s no longer on the top row of icons.)

To my surprise AOL Browser did not appear as an installed program, thus having no remove option. Do you know what that reads as in my book? Spyware. I never asked for it, I was never informed about it, and I wasn’t presented with an easy method to uninstall it. I found an uninstall file buried somewhere in the AOL program folder and promptly uninstalled AOL Browser. It wasn’t long after that I uninstalled AIM completely and have used Trillian or Meebo ever since.

Now what would bring me to write about something that happened several years ago? A certain well known company has also been involved in such shady practices. For a while now Apple has only offered QuickTime with iTunes included, or iTunes with QuickTime ,depending on which you were originally after. Before I had an iPod this annoyed me to no end. I had no use for iTunes and didn’t want it on my computer. Let’s not forget that several items are added to startup once you install this bundled.

It appears that they have stepped up their software bundling practices. If you’ve installed one of the latest versions of this iTunes/QuickTime monstrosity you might want to check out your control panel and look for a MobileMe icon. How did that get there? iTunes. Did I ask for it? No and I am highly irritated by it. When you try to run it it asks you for your MobileMe log in information. It also has a prompt for you to be able to sign up for an account if you don’t have one. How handy… except I don’t want a MobileMe account, thank you very much. (To be honest I didn’t notice this until I came across a post on this site though I’m pretty sure I would have found it sooner or later.)

MobileMe isn’t the only thing that comes with the iTunes/QuickTime install. While browsing my installed programs list I found one called Bonjour and couldn’t recall installing it. A quick search shows that it is yet another Apple product that is installed when you install iTunes without any notification whatsoever. Yet another program I never intend to use that’s sitting there junking up my computer. Thanks, Apple.

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