Are you sure you know what you are downloading? - asks Peter Clarke of PC PAL
A number of my customers have contacted me saying that their computer has spontaneously changed their home page and internet searches are getting slower.
There is an increasing trend for companies to offer free ‘extras’ when you are downloading legitimate programs including updates of those programs already on your computer. It is these ‘extras’ that can be the cause of these issues.
You still need to update programs so how do you stop the unwanted items slowing, or altering the view, on your computer? The easiest way is to carefully read the box and choose not to download extras – they tend to put ‘download extras’ as default. There are many programs that adopt this approach and here are two examples:
- Your legitimate program may recommend you download the extra as it will improve your internet experience
- The optional action of downloading the toolbar and/or making a home page of their choosing will be already selected as default – simply click in the box to deselect the additional download and carry on with the download you actually wanted!
If this has already happened to you, don’t worry, it can be corrected and I have successfully restored many customer computers back to the way they want them!
