The Most Annoying Software Out There

superglaze writes "ZDNet UK has a very entertaining round-up of the most annoying software out there, and everything from RealPlayer and Adobe Reader to Java and Norton Antivirus gets a kicking. 'The internet has brought us many joys. It's rewritten the rules of business and pleasure. And pain. For it allows what may have seemed like bright ideas at the time ('let's use it to make sure our customers have the latest software', for example) to turn into a stinking pit of misery — usually, but by no means always, after marketing gets its fangs in.'"

Comments

Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[elrous0]

Print Version (unless you want to click through about 10 pages)

And I agree with most of these, particularly Apple. I recently spent several hours trying to remove Quicktime from my system and replace it with Quicktime alternative. I had to go in and hand edit the registry. The damn program was incidious about wriggling it's way back into my system tray and running processes if every single reference to it wasn't removed from the registry. That will be the last piece of Apple software I ever install on my system.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Worse than that, actually. If you try to delete qttray.exe, the quicklauncher app that sits in the task tray and eats up memory for no other reason than giving QT a minor boost on startup, the quicktime application will detect this on system reboot (because it is registered as a startup application) and recreate the qttray.exe executable file from a stored version somewhere in its own bowels.

That's right. If you delete qttray, Quicktime opens its maw and barfs up a new version of it. Then it turns it on and puts it back in the task tray.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[Keruo]

Removing Norton is simple, it just takes few steps.

Just open Start->Settings->Control Panel->Add or remove programs and uninstall it. Reboot.
If the install asks for password, the password is symantec.
After reboot uninstall Live-Update, also from control panel. Reboot.
Then download norton removal tool and run it to make sure it's gone.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[gaspyy]

No - if you disable it instead of deleting the entry, it'll stay away.

It's the first thing I do after installing stuff - disabling stupid startup items.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[FredFredrickson]

You're right, that is simple.

I work in computer repair, and on more than just a few occasions, the actual uninstaller for norton doesn't work. In fact, it takes very little effort to get a copy of norton to stop functioning properly. The security center will warn that certain parts of the software aren't working properly- and when you try to fix it, they just don't work. So then you try to uninstall it, and it comes up with an error.

So, I'd like to correct your few steps:

Step 1. Run the Norton Removal Tool. Don't waste your time with any of the other steps.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[greetings programs]

You can avoid installing QT by using QT Alternative here http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm All the goods without the bloatware.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[Dahamma]

It's a piece of shit program that happens to be required/automatically installed with iTunes (which is slightly less annoying software in itself that unfortunately is a must have for those little trendy devices called iPods...

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[Zanth_]

I use Windows at work, I have a Debian server and a Ubuntu desktop at home and I own a MBP dual booting Leopard and XP SP2. Windows is easily the most frustrating out of the ones I use but my response is mainly an enquiry regarding your mac.

I run dual monitors (24" Dell) with my MBP, I run VM Ware Fusion with 1 GB of RAM allocated to the machine (I run a 2G MBP so it is capped at 2 Gigs of Ram). I have Fink installed and when compiling I can still have the VM up and all the while not having any stability issues. I hardly have any updates (and I check weekly). I've never experienced nor heard of anyone in my circle (we are about 20) who have had issues with Leopard. Despite it being a bit sluggish compared to a well setup Ubuntu install or a stripped down XP SP2, I would say it is more stable than the other two over time. I do get the "sleep" problem you mention though, but that seems to be endemic across laptops and OS'. For whatever reason, no one has perfected awaking from sleep yet.

I'm wondering if your laptop might not have some serious issues. What you describe seems out of the ordinary. You might want to send it off for a checkup. Perhaps you have dying RAM? I've never had to restart Leopard safe for a major update (usually a security patch) and certainly never when plugging in a second monitor. I plug it in and it just works.

Sure, myself and the 20 folks I work with are a small sample size and therefore this is mostly anecdotal, but just in case, you may want to get it looked at.

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[hudsucker]

Jeez, do guys you turn off lights by hitting the switch with a hammer? Why not just use QuickTime's control panel to tell it you don't want an icon in the notification area? Then it will never return.

1. Right-click notification area icon, select Settings.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Under Tray Icon, turn off the option "Install QuickTime icon in system tray".

Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes)

[toddestan]

Because the icon is only a symptom , the real problem is all the worthless processes Quicktime spawns. While that option does get rid of the icon, that's all it does.

Re:Norton Products...

[The Living Fractal]

Repeat after me:

AVG Free.
AVG Free.
AVG Free.

You should start to feel better soon.

Honestly, these problems are solveable

[It doesn't come easy]

Adobe Reader - Using open source PDF reader "Evince Document Viewer" instead. Result? Software does not annoy.

Apple iTunes - Using open source music program "Amarok". Result? Software does not annoy (and works much better than iTunes as well).

Windows Update - Using Genuine Linux Distro "Ubuntu". Result? No licensing restrictions, no DRM, no repeated system restarts, no service packs to fix the previous service pack, that fixed the previous service pack, that fixed months old critical bugs.

RealPlayer - Avoiding RealPlayer like the plague it is (using "Amarok" for the same functionality, if not the same file format). Result? No privacy leaks, no ads, no reporting back to Real on what I listen to or where I visit on the web.

Java - Using Sun's Java without the Yahoo toolbar. Result? Java is reasonably well behaved. Looking forward to truly open-sourced Java in the near future.

Yahoo - Use Yahoo's maps to check up on Google results. Use Yahoo throw-away email when I need to be a little bit stealthy. Otherwise avoid Yahoo.com like the plague it is. Result? Happy camper.

Norton Antivirus - Using upgraded OS "Linux" so that viruses are not a problem. Result? Viruses? I don't have no stinking viruses!

Preinstalled software bundles - Using upgraded OS "Linux" so that preinstalled software bundles are not a problem. Result? Preinstalled software bundles? I don't have no stinking preinstalled software bundles!

Outlook/Exchange - Using "Evolution". The jury is still out on whether "Evolution" is worth using verses online calendar and scheduling web sites.

Flash - Using...nothing. Avoiding flash based websites like the plague they are. Results? Fast web page loading, no privacy issues, no vector for malware installation, only see web pages that actually provide links to relevant content.

Re:Honestly, these problems are solveable

[theaceoffire]

I don't like your flash solution, so here is mine: Firefox + Flash Block.

I get all the benefits of no flash, but can still watch youtube and all the rest if I change my mind with no hassle.

Re:Honestly, these problems are solveable

[unformed]

On Windows, use Foxit PDF Reader. It's not open-source, but they do have a free version for non-commerical purposes. It's fast, it's small, and they have it available in a ZIP so you don't have to run an installer.

Re:Norton Products...

[gravyface]

While I'm a regular AVG user (Free Edition at home, and Network Edition for my clients), the interface is attrocious, the malware encyclopedia is next to useless, and the bizarre update/error-state notices are a nuisance. Version 8 improved the admin console a bit, but not nearly enough.

Takes one to know one

[Roger W Moore]

Since they were including companies as well as just software I hereby nominate ZDNet for most annoying website. Why can't they stick the 11 short paragraphs making up the article on ONE PAGE!

My vote: HP

[truthsearch]

We have one of those all-in-one HP printers at my office, where we're all on Macs. When we first got the printer I installed the disk with the Mac drivers. It also installed a bunch of utilities. Playing around with these utilities I found a tedious maze of buttons and windows. I couldn't even find the most obvious features, like where to see a scanned document.

But I also noticed my computer was running slower, even when no HP utilities were being used. So I looked at the Activity Monitor and found the HP background applications were permanently taking up 10% CPU, even if nothing was ever printed or scanned. So I removed all of the HP utilities and drivers and found a driver built into OS X which was for almost the same model number. I have no problems at all printing and my CPU is back to normal utilization.

Not only do these HP utilities suck, but they're annoying when you're not even using them.

Java update process needs fixing

[schwit1]

Some of my users' add/remove programs have a half dozen separate Java installs. And they all install in separate folders.

Java(tm) 5 update 6
Java(tm) 5 update 11
Java(tm) 6 update 1
Java(tm) 6 update 3
Java(tm) 6 update 4
Java(tm) 6 update 6

Re:Bloody Adobe Reader

[MBCook]

I've been using FoxIt recently which is quite nice. That said, Reading is an amazing piece of software.

It's slow. Really slow. Amazingly slow. It uses tons of memory. It's just atrocious. But I was used to it on Windows (before a friend pointed out FoxIt which I switched to immediately).

Then I switched to OS X and got to use Preview. It's wicked fast. It's like opening a 1kb text file in Notepad on Windows. It's almost instant. It's easy to use, no crazy interface, not 6 updates to the updater each time I open it.

Then I installed CS 2.

Soon I tried to open a PDF and thought my computer locked up because the file didn't pop open. After a bit the loading screen popped up and loaded. Then the program, then the document. It was terrible.

So I went and changed the file association and now Preview handles them again and my system works.

I remember when I had a full copy of Acrobat (not reader, Acrobat) and it opened about 10x faster than Reader does on the relatively high-end (multi-core, 2GB+ RAM) machines I've been forced to use it on.

Almost everything on the list was good at one time or another. RealPlayer, while not perfect, was small and fast. Norton (the first version for 95) was quite good, even on my slow 386 (yes... 386). Outlook used to be WAY faster than it is now. On my nice desktop it feels like I'm running it through VirtualWindows on a 500MHz G4.

Flash it's self isn't bad. But so many people seem to not use delay loops and let it run at 600 FPS and suck up all the CPU. Combine that with the terrible and slow interfaces people use it for and it gets a bad rap. Flashblock is your friend here.

Re:Norton Products...

[Hankapobe]

My brother in law "all of a sudden" lost his internet connection on his computer. After testing the connection, I ran some diagnostics. Guess what? Norton AV was blocking port 80.

But wait! it gets better. You cannot uninstall it through the remove programs. You have to go into safe mode and uninstall there. Otherwise, you'll just get error messages - regardless if you use Norton's uninstall or Windows.

What a kick in the balls!

Resident processes for no reason!

[Hankapobe]

Many programs have these resident services (Windows) that sit there and just take up memory and CPU for no reason.

For example: Quickbooks. Why does it have to have (IIRC) three services running EVEN IF QUICKBOOKS ITSELF IS NOT RUNNING!? One of them is for updates. The other two I have no idea, but all three sure bogged my system down. I uninstalled Quickbooks and it took Registry Mechanic to get rid of everything. I tell you with this and other problems I've had with Intuit, if I see that company's name on something , I refuse to buy it.

Back in my day, when we had to program in the snow, uphill both ways, we would check for updates upon startup AND allow the user to turn it off.

Folks, just because there is a feature for programs or cool way of doing something, does not mean it's a good design.

Now about Windows registry and the fact that it only grows.....Never mind. I need a drink.

Re:Norton Products...

[KlomDark]

It's so much more fun to say "Avast! Avast! Avast!" - I've used AVG for years, but am finding Avast even better with a far better GUI. (Although shut off the audio alert "Virus Database Has Been Updated", especially when you have the speakers set for loud and then thing goes off at 4AM or when you're busy with your girlfriend. Scares the hell out of you!) http://www.avast.com/

And they had 64-bit support before AVG, that's why I switched.

foxItPDF fixIt

[Forget4it]

Two grumbles for the latest FoxItPDF:

• the icons don't look red enough to be pdf.
• It insists in changing the register value for .fdf every time it launches. So if you like to create a new folder by Right-Click N F it no longer works.

Anyone know how to banish shellNew permanently from the Reg? Temporary solution is (last line sets the icon back to adobe's)

REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.fdf\ShellNew]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FoxitReader.Document\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Acrobat 7.0\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe,1"

Re:The answer is right there in front of you

[Guanine]

I can help you with that. Grab the latest version of Firefox at Portable Apps -- I would have gone crazy at work long ago without Firefox Portable. The way it works is it installs software to a USB drive, i.e. only to one directory. You miss out on browsing history and page caching (to avoid wearing out your USB memory), but I've used it for 9 months without problems or headaches. Anyhow, I put my FF Portable on a USB stick and start it off that each morning. If you can't mount USB drives, you can run the software off your desktop. If you can't access that website, you could attach the exe file to an email to yourself, renamed to something like firefox.ppt -- enjoy Firefox at work!

Re:Bloody Adobe Reader

[darkwhite]

Use Sumatra PDF, or kpdf/whatever on Linux. Finally, an Adobe-free existence!