Annoying Yahoo toolbar and Online Sales that give you more than you wanted
I don't know how it is that I could have missed it. Somewhere I must have said "yes I want your annoying toolbar installed" wh...
I don't know how it is that I could have missed it. Somewhere I must have said "yes I want your annoying toolbar installed" when I clicked too fast during an installation of this or a that. It's an obstacle course installing software now and if I don't pay attention I get to the other end with some unwanted guest installed, an undesired automatic renewal in place, an add-on or useless helper cluttering up my menu bar.
Not that I have anything against Google toobars and Yahoo menu helpers and this and that thingy, it's just that I didn't ask for it. Or I didn't think I did. But, apparently I did. "It was there in the Terms of Service," one level headed customer service representative of a third party application I purchased told me when I called to complain about the extras now installed. When I tried to uninstall the extras, confusing messages warn me that by installing this or that file-which may or may not be used by other unnamed program-overall functionality may be impacted adversely.
"What happens if I leave it on my system?" I wonder to myself with a rising sense of irritation.
Or like the small charges that were appearing on my credit card monthly that I noticed recently. I challenged them with the assistance of my bank, to be told that I had definitely selected a free membership to a service that converted to a paid service at the end of 30 days entitling me to reduced prices for service in which I am not interested.
"When did I select it?" I enquired. "Oh you had to have clicked one of our offers on the web and it would have been followed up with a confirmation that you were interested in the product."
"There was no such thing." I insist.
Oh wait. "There was," I discover from the politely insistent agent. It was tucked away in the fine print of an online purchase of a shaver I got for a gift for a friend. And by the time I navigated through the multiple special offers for everything else I didn't want, the magazines, the double-up your orders, the this the that, I had, explains the agent, "also subscribed to our free service."
"I don't want it, and there is no way to unscubscribe," I complain.
"I'd be happy to help you," he says, "But may I first offer you a free subscription to...."
Sigh.
It is the season for non violence and my mind is a center of indignation filled with less than beautiful thoughts.
A few days ago I received a text message inviting me to receive weather updates. I checked the name of the service online on my favorite search engines to discover a nightmare trail of people who had been hoodwinked into monthly phone charges for weather reports they could get anywhere for free. Many people who have fallen for this reported that the cost was small enough to be over looked. So I call my cell phone provider and request a block on this service as well as a pin number installed so that all future cell phone services purchsed through text message must be verified.
How do my elderly relatives manage this nightmare? They don't very well. They call with wrecked systems, bogged down by the hazards of ordinary searching and renewing of licenses and subscriptions.
That's all.
Ten most annoying programs on the internet
Not that I have anything against Google toobars and Yahoo menu helpers and this and that thingy, it's just that I didn't ask for it. Or I didn't think I did. But, apparently I did. "It was there in the Terms of Service," one level headed customer service representative of a third party application I purchased told me when I called to complain about the extras now installed. When I tried to uninstall the extras, confusing messages warn me that by installing this or that file-which may or may not be used by other unnamed program-overall functionality may be impacted adversely.
"What happens if I leave it on my system?" I wonder to myself with a rising sense of irritation.
Or like the small charges that were appearing on my credit card monthly that I noticed recently. I challenged them with the assistance of my bank, to be told that I had definitely selected a free membership to a service that converted to a paid service at the end of 30 days entitling me to reduced prices for service in which I am not interested.
"When did I select it?" I enquired. "Oh you had to have clicked one of our offers on the web and it would have been followed up with a confirmation that you were interested in the product."
"There was no such thing." I insist.
Oh wait. "There was," I discover from the politely insistent agent. It was tucked away in the fine print of an online purchase of a shaver I got for a gift for a friend. And by the time I navigated through the multiple special offers for everything else I didn't want, the magazines, the double-up your orders, the this the that, I had, explains the agent, "also subscribed to our free service."
"I don't want it, and there is no way to unscubscribe," I complain.
"I'd be happy to help you," he says, "But may I first offer you a free subscription to...."
Sigh.
It is the season for non violence and my mind is a center of indignation filled with less than beautiful thoughts.
A few days ago I received a text message inviting me to receive weather updates. I checked the name of the service online on my favorite search engines to discover a nightmare trail of people who had been hoodwinked into monthly phone charges for weather reports they could get anywhere for free. Many people who have fallen for this reported that the cost was small enough to be over looked. So I call my cell phone provider and request a block on this service as well as a pin number installed so that all future cell phone services purchsed through text message must be verified.
How do my elderly relatives manage this nightmare? They don't very well. They call with wrecked systems, bogged down by the hazards of ordinary searching and renewing of licenses and subscriptions.
That's all.
Ten most annoying programs on the internet
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4 comments
tres interessant, merci
Replytres interessant, merci
ReplyIt's a paradigm shift...from looking forward, seeing what a product can do for you, to inserting eyes in the back of your head to see what said product has left behind, screwed up/maligned, or just plain deleted in its wake after you've installed it. There'll be college courses in this very subject soon, and at least we'll be able to get credit...for something.
ReplyGrin - I know, I know, and yet, how I love this modern world of technology. I was remembering telex machines and manual typewriters with a friend just yesterday.
Reply