I think this is symptomatic of the monopoly pcs once had. When the average user had no alternative, then software and hardware vendors had carte blanche to load

I think this is symptomatic of the monopoly pcs once had. When the average user had no alternative, then software and hardware vendors had carte blanche to load up crap ware. I think it's funny how adobe is mentioned several times, as acrobat is one of the most intrusive applications I've ever used. From the install, you are asked to install a tool bar that you opt out from (opt in by default), security updates happen frequently and the adobe updater is just plain annoying.