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Disasterware?

Most shareware is great, but bad apps can hurt a PC. Here's what readers say--and what to do.

Tom Mainelli

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Net Effects

Shareware--especially if it's untested--can be a major headache for corporate IT people, says Harold Kester, chief technology officer at Websense. "If you're managing 500 to 1000 PCs, and half are downloading freeware, you can imagine the problems that can result," Kester says.

Sam Ash Music, a national chain based in Hicksville, New York, uses Websense's service to prevent downloads. If each of the company's PCs carried different software, IT simply couldn't cope, says David Ash, chief operating officer.

Worse yet, if your work PC is on a corporate computer network, your system's freeware problem can quickly escalate to epic proportions, says Frank Gillman, director of technology for the California-based law firm Allen Matkins, which blocks all employee software downloads.

"You may not know that you are connecting to 250 other devices in the firm," Gillman says. "So if you add something to your machine that causes a problem, you can affect a much wider group."

In addition to dealing with crashing PCs, IT professionals must cope with adware--software that displays advertising when you use a program. While many users consider it annoying, it's largely (but not always) harmless.

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