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This might be "old man shaking fist at clouds", but was crapware this bad before centralized app stores? I know it was out there - most famously stuffed into So

This might be "old man shaking fist at clouds", but was crapware this bad before centralized app stores? I know it was out there - most famously stuffed into SourceForge downloads - but it didn't seem to be as prevalent. Though perhaps it's more a reflection of increased ROI from doing things like this in 2021 vs 2001.

DataGata 6y ago
> was crapware this bad before centralized app stores? Yes, 100% yes. Back in the day, a Boomer web browser was a half a screen of installed toolbars.
lotsofpulp 6y ago
It was even worse back then. At least with the App Store, I can set my parents free on it and they won’t get a keylogger or remote access tool installed unwittingly. Not to mention malware back then slowed the computers down to a crawl and was a pain in the ass if not impossible to remove. Now it’s just holding it and pressing the little x. I remember that reinstalling Windows was a regular thing to do to get rid of the garbage.