Software Surprises

If you're interested in trying AOL's newest Instant Messenger software, you'd better make room on your hard drive. The public beta for AIM's next-generation application, code-named Triton, doesn't put just the instant messaging client on your PC. When we downloaded the beta version of Triton, we also got AOL Explorer--an Internet Explorer shell that opens, full screen, to AOL's AIM Today home page when you launch the IM client--as well as PlaxoHelper, an application that ties in with the Plaxo social-networking service. Triton also installed two programs that ran silently in the background even after we quit AIM and AOL Explorer.

Quest for Clicks

In the struggle to hold on to users, whose eyeballs and clicks pay the bills for ad-supported services, such well-known companies as AOL, Google, MSN, and Yahoo, among others, are increasingly bundling their free toolbars, instant messenger apps, and utility software together--or even with totally unrelated applications. The companies don't include truly dodgy spyware or adware, but customers nonetheless object to these unannounced visitors.

"I never said I wanted the [Yahoo] toolbar," says Miel Van Opstal, who found it on his PC after he upgraded his browser's Flash plug-in. "I feel betrayed, dirty, and used."

Bundling unrelated applications isn't new; but as companies refocus on their role as Internet portals, they are making more of an effort to get you to install their extras. "People's loyalty increases as they engage with more than one service" from the same company, says Yahoo spokesperson Terrell Karlsten.

The approach a company takes to bundling can vary greatly. Google makes it obvious when another application tries to install its toolbar. When you install the file compression utility Winzip, for example, it brings along the Google Toolbar--unless you tell it not to. But of the four instant messaging programs we tested, only Google Talk 1.0.0.68 didn't attempt to install anything else.

Both MSN Messenger 7.5 and Yahoo Messenger 7 with Voice install browser toolbars, change your home page, and alter Internet Explorer's default search settings. Both programs add the toolbars and make these changes when you opt for the default installation settings, but they permit you to customize your installation by deselecting some of the extraneous apps during setup.

AOL Instant Messenger's Triton Beta 0.5.21 never gave us an option to refuse the additional software. In our testing, we weren't even informed about the non-IM add-ins, such as PlaxoHelper. We saw how much extra stuff we got only after the software was installed and running.

Software bundling sometimes annoys even people within the companies concerned. Yahoo employee Jeremy Zawodny railed against the practice with a posting on his blog titled "No, you may not change my f'ing home page!"

"I don't know which company started using this tactic, but it's become the standard operating procedure for lots of software out there. And it sucks," Zawodny complains. "Leave my settings, preferences, and desktop alone!"

Custom Install

If you want to avoid bundled apps, pay close attention to free software's dialog boxes during the setup process. Never click blithely through screens; if it's available, pick the "custom" installation, which lets you deselect optional extras you might not want.

Not every bundle gives you such control, though, so keep in mind that you might be able to remove the extra apps separately (AIM Triton includes the AOL Uninstaller, which can remove all non-AIM bundled apps after you install the whole Triton package). But occasionally, you can't separate the extra stuff from the main program; your only choices then are to remove everything, live with it, or switch to an alternative.

In the worst-case scenario, where you can't seem to get rid of an unwanted app, Windows XP's System Restore function may be able to return your computer to a cleaner state.

Erik Larkin