Trojans, unwanted junkware – the downside of free software

A lot of people like free software, I included, and so knowing how to legally and safely acquire it is a popular topic.

Back in 2009 the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle was to knowledgeable computer users as it would have been for Star Wars fans to learn that Luke, Hans, and Chewbacca had been acquired by Darth Vader.  Sun had promoted free and open source projects such as Java, MySQL, and Open Office while Oracle is the Death Star of proprietary software.  While Java has remained free, Oracle has pursued some insidious ways to monetize their products.

It used to be that Skype and Adobe were the worst offenders when it came to foisting Trojans and unwanted junkware programs onto user’s computers.  Both of these companies have for the most part cleaned up their acts while Oracle now pushes unwanted software on users of Java by using sleazy and deceptive techniques.  Users installing or updating Java will see a dialog box offering the opportunity to decline installing the annoying “Ask Toolbar,” however; it has been shown that ten minutes after the user answers “No” by unchecking the options, Oracle waits until nobody is looking and then silently and surreptitiously installs this junkware anyway.

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