Be careful when installing apps. How to block additional apps installation.

[Wolfie]

Hi all,

the title may be a bit confusing so let me explain.

When you download an app, there is often a very dubious button or box that you should click to finish the install process. All well and good you would think but a lot of installers want to install more bloatware or unwanted apps on to your system, most important of these is an anti virus app which could eventually disable your system if you already have an AV app installed and it sees the other as a virus!.

When installing Mini Partition Wizard (as an example), you will be confronted with the following window which gives you the impression that there should be a tick in the box, if you leave the tick in, it will also install Avast AV without further notice, take the tick out!.

In the next window, click on "Decline". (This window appears when you run the updater installer which is slightly different from the original installer window just to confuse people even more!).

Further to that, they even try to get you to install even more software (the price of cheaping out and installing the free version!).

One further example is from the Recuva software installer which insists you need Google Chrome as your default browser!.

That's it folks, just please be careful when installing 3rd party apps as you never know what other apps they install in the background if you are not careful!.

 

[Bighorn]

Yeah, I got distracted during the initial phase of installing a program the other day and before I got back to it got Google Chrome installed. I prefer not to use it so uninstalled right away.

 

[Charliedog]

There is a program called 'Unchecky' that supposedly prohibits boxes being checked automatically. Regardless, a person should read everything carefully when installing programs.

 

[Wolfie]

@Bighorn , Been there done that many times in the past, I try to be more aware of what I am installing these days!.

@Charliedog, I have never heard of "Unchecky", they claim: "Unchecky aims to keep potentially unwanted programs out of your computer.". How good a job it does is any ones guess but thanks for the heads-up.

Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear

Unchecky aims to keep potentially unwanted programs out of your computer.

unchecky.com

 

[JustinC]

I believe that this is one more way of blocking the installation of unwanted apps:

On the Windows 10 Creators Update, you can use the following steps to block desktops apps from being installed on your computer:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Apps.
3. Click on Apps & features.
4. Under "Installing apps," select Allow apps from the Store only option from the drop-down menu.