But I bring this to your attention because from now on, when you download anything, pause for a moment while you're blindly and rapidly clicking "next" on each window that pops up, and look for the word "toolbar" on the list of things they're asking to cram onto your computer. Uncheck it if it will let you. If it won't, just bail out of the whole thing.

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That "cancel" button is there for a reason. The program won't be offended.

Even if you don't mind viewing your Internet through a two-inch window at the bottom of your screen (maybe you like to pretend you're seeing the world through the slit of a knight's helmet or something), a lot of these are malicious programs that track everything you do and, at random, will boot you out to some site they control.

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I'm also going to get rid of a lot of free programs that sounded really useful when you clicked on the banner ads offering them. Again, I don't want to lower your opinion of your fellow man, but "Registry Cleaner 5000" was, in fact, not cleaning your registry, it was spawning fake warnings to make you go download more bullshit. Weatherbug will, in fact, tell you the temperature, while it's spawning popup ads on your system. But there are other ways to get that information.