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Last post Author Topic: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet  (Read 36671 times)

lanux128

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The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« on: June 01, 2008, 08:37 PM »
there is another thread that deals with "annoying" things in general but i had been wondering what are the software DC'ers love to hate. just to kick-start the discussion, i'll post this article i found at TechRep.

ws-techrep-10annoying-1.png
http://blogs.techrep....com/10things/?p=361

Deozaan

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2008, 09:46 PM »
The ten listed on that site were pretty good.

I'll just add to that: Just about anything that bundles other software, especially toolbars, is among the most annoying.

icekin

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2008, 12:48 AM »
#8 is quite easy to get rid off, just reformat and reinstall Windows. I know that's not a realistic option for non-techies, plus manufacturers never give you a true Windows XP copy, just a recovery disc. But, even if you had to pirate it, it would be better to have a clean illegal XP rather than a crapware fill original installation where you can't even decide how it should be partitioned. Plus, what the heck is that recovery partition for anyway? It doesn't even compare to a real acronis disc image.

mouser

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2008, 01:12 AM »
I don't know about the rest of them, but #1 is dead on the money.

steeladept

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2008, 01:44 AM »
The only one I don't really get is Yahoo.  I can agree to varying degrees with EVERY OTHER ONE.  However, I only use Yahoo for online mail, so maybe that is why?  I know I hate their toolbar, but I never use it.  I only hate it because it is packaged with so much other crap.  YIM is another package I never use, so I can't comment on that either.  Is there any other software they have that I don't use?  Who knows, who cares.... :P

nosh

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2008, 04:00 AM »
I love Y! Messenger but Yahoo is by nature, intrusive. For example, the latest messenger beta released a few days back installs their toolbar (and makes other changes like setting your home page, IIRC) if you choose the default option, it's only if you choose to customize the install that you see what it was trying to slide past you. I also hate the fact that they've teamed up with Opera and try to push their way into their browsers (including Opera Mini)  in a way that's not easy/possible to change.

I don't know why she's picking on flash though, from what little I've seen of it, it seems like a really promising technology. Blaming flash for all the badly designed sites using it isn't really justified.   

There’s nothing wrong with Flash, provided you don’t use it to construct Web sites where people want to find information, navigate easily, or do anything beyond passively consume exactly what you choose to give them in exactly the way you’ve decided.
Not always true, I've seen some pretty decent sites that use flash for navigation.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2008, 04:10 AM by nosh »

Renegade

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2008, 04:09 AM »
Certainly funny and a good read, but like most "reviews," the author just doesn't get it and shows their lack of understanding of some of the things listed. I'll run with Adobe Reader (AR hereon in) for the moment...

Which is a shame, because other lightweight PDF readers seem to manage perfectly well.

Ummm... What part of "light weight" did they NOT understand?

AR is NOT just a simple reader. It's a platform for document control.

Let me quickly repeat that... PLATFORM!!!

Did you expect 274kb assembler program load times from a platform? Of course it's slower! But it also has a huge amount of functionality in it too that you don't get in the other "readers."

I'm done.

But all the update stuff and other junk really is annoying.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

tamasd

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #7 on: June 02, 2008, 11:26 AM »
Of course it's slower! But it also has a huge amount of functionality in it too that you don't get in the other "readers."
Functionality that 99% of users don't need nor care about nor really understand...explain that to someone who just wants "to read that pdf".
It's not that hard to significantly speed up AR, but again, a venture that most of the users will prefer not to go through.

Edvard

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2008, 04:37 PM »
AR is NOT just a simple reader. It's a platform for document control.

Let me quickly repeat that... PLATFORM!!!

So make Adobe quit calling it READER fer pete's sake.
While we're at it, let's have 3 Adobe pdf products:
Adobe Acrobat for the rich folks who want to make pdf's
Adobe Platform for those who need a platform for document control
Adobe Reader for us average folks who JUST WANT TO OPEN THE !@#$%^&* PDF FILE!!

Otherwise I agree with the rest of the article. Completeley.
But I must say, Realplayer on Linux is refreshingly sterile.  ;D

Veign

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #9 on: June 02, 2008, 04:59 PM »
#3 - I couldn't imagine the state of the mom and pop computers I come across if it wasn't for Windows Update.
#9 - I use Outlook and like having my email, tasks, appointments and contacts in a single application.
#10 - To mention Flash is not fair as Flash is an excellent platform for creating some ingenious things.

Agreed on all others especially #1 and #4...
« Last Edit: June 02, 2008, 06:45 PM by Veign »

Darwin

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2008, 05:14 PM »
Acrobat Reader (or whatever they're calling it these days) USED to be a bloated PITA (think versions 5 through 7 or so) but using Adobe Reader SPeedup, I've managed to get it to start as quickly, and in some cases, more quickly, than the light-weight alternatives. Doing this means you get all of the other functionality that Renegade mentions - it just doesn't auto-load whenever you start the program.

Adobe Reader SpeedUp is a simple application that was created to help make the loading time of Adobe's Acrobat/Reader software bearable for everyday use. AR SpeedUp only needs to be used once (a process taking only a few seconds) and then your 'Reader will be transformed forever. There are also some tweaking options available.

Basically, you're given a simple GUI from which to disable plug-ins that you don't often use from starting every time the Reader is invoked.

skybright

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #11 on: June 02, 2008, 06:45 PM »
I certaintly agree with #1.
Windows update I have automatic update turned off. I prefer to do manual updates once a week.

steeladept

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2008, 01:28 AM »
I don't know why she's picking on flash though, from what little I've seen of it, it seems like a really promising technology. Blaming flash for all the badly designed sites using it isn't really justified.   
There’s nothing wrong with Flash, provided you don’t use it to construct Web sites where people want to find information, navigate easily, or do anything beyond passively consume exactly what you choose to give them in exactly the way you’ve decided.
Not always true, I've seen some pretty decent sites that use flash for navigation.

Thanks for the update on Yahoo.  Like I said, I only use their online offerings.  I even use YIM through the online email the rare time I use it at all.

As for Flash, that is great and wonderful when they work, but have you ever tried using it behind a firewall that blocks flash, or on a cell phone, or in a plethora of other locations?  Using flash, especially as navigation, is just bad,bad,bad!  :down: :mad:

Edvard

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2008, 10:29 AM »
...but have you ever tried using it behind a firewall that blocks flash, or on a cell phone, or in a plethora of other locations?

Like a dial-up connection?
 :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:
 >:(

mahesh2k

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2008, 11:31 AM »
I think whoever wrote that article is frustrated with computer...i have found adobe reader and windows-update & bundled package most annoying..but other than that rest of the programs are OK..Whats wrong with Apple and Yahoo?..just because some itunes is less usable makes entire apple lame? in that case try using Macbook pro...And about ..Yahoo well i think that guy loves Google and never used search engine before google..Yahoo was most widely used along with altavista before google..i think that guy forgot it isnt it?

So if you hate Flash so much then why not Adopt Silverlight which has no official installer for mozzila..instead mozzila team is working with moonlight for extention on their own..MS not even cares for the firefox or Opera users....Silverlight maybe small in size but it exhibits simmilar problems as that of flash..

Daleus

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2008, 01:01 PM »
I hate to beat a dead horse even more, but I think Adobe Reader has long since taken the deep plunge, and is just gathering more speed with every iteration.

Twice in the past month I've come across applications designed in earlier versions of Adobe (and I mean earlier by one or two) that simply don't function in the latest versions of the Reader.  In one case, the app rendered a document with blank squares in random sections, and printed nothing but blank paper.  In the second case, the app caused Reader to crash.

The Solution? Foxit pdf reader, one of the so-called lightweight readers.  I've been using Foxit for over a years now (I have no affiliation) and it hasn't peeped croaked or farted even once.

Daleus, Curmudgeon-at-Large

Renegade

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2008, 02:11 PM »
What ticks me off about AR is that it won't print ' characters properly... I always get random crap. Most annoying.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

steeladept

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2008, 12:15 AM »
So if you hate Flash so much then why not Adopt Silverlight which has no official installer for mozzila..instead mozzila team is working with moonlight for extention on their own..MS not even cares for the firefox or Opera users....Silverlight maybe small in size but it exhibits simmilar problems as that of flash..
Two things:

1) I have adopted Silverlight in addition to flash on my home PC and wherever I can.  However,
2) I think it is truly poor when people rely on these engines to provide content.  I have no problems with it being an additional capability on the site for those who want to take advantage of it, but why force it down peoples throats?  Why not give the consumer the option instead of alienating a segment of the population that is otherwise interested in your content?  I have a very similar gripe against those who publish only HTML emails...

tymrwt33

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2008, 11:03 PM »
Why is Windows Update annoying?. I have mine set on automatic, download only but ask permission to install. If I am too busy doing something else I refuse until I am ready.

Fred Nerd

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2008, 05:55 AM »
I just found out that Foxit will open secured PDFs which Adobe blocks saying license expired. Foxit also prints them, etc. Not that I should be doing it, but that doesn't stop me


(I needed to know the Australian Standards for my schoolwork, the school license means every time I want to look at the PDF, I have to re-download a 5mb file, sounds great >:( so I used Foxit and don't have to bother with red tape......)

f0dder

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2008, 07:11 AM »
I agree with Edvard on the Adobe/Platform/Reader idea - most people don't need the additional crud, and AR is an abomination. FoxIt is unfortunately pretty slow on 64bit Windows (with complex PDFs), and Sumatra is still a bit immatura... but both are better.

Apple? Hell yeah, quicktime and itunes, burn in hell. Along with the ugly and overpriced hardware. I guess I'd be a bit milder-mannered if Apple would offer OS X for non-apple hardware.

As for the rant about Windows Update, ho humm. The "you need to reboot now" (with "reboot" being the default-focus button) dialog is deadly annoying, especially because it keeps popping up ever X minutes. But WU itself is a good and necessary thing.

RealPlayer, yep. At least I can get along without it.

Java... I don't mind the language, but I do agree with the annoying-points. Oh, and it's too bad SUN can't for the life of them make a JVM/JIT with decent performance, Microsofts JVM was so many times faster.

Yahoo? Glad I don't have to suffer that :)

Norton Antivirus, I mostly agree. The worst part is how many machines it comes preinstalled in, and how annoying it is to get rid of it - "are you reeeeeally sure?", and a couple of reboots. OK if you buy a single new machine for yourself, but frustrating when you need to set up five new laptops, "and make it yesterday".

#8: Preinstalled software bundles - I only have one thing to say: death sentence for whoever came up with the idea. Oh, and the people implementing the idea.

Don't have a grudge with Outlook, really.

Flash? Oh, don't get me started. It's fine for games, videos and commercials. But please, don't ues it for anything else. It hogs up CPU time, it makes site navigation bothersome (and often makes it very hard to bookmark individual pages), et cetera. Just use clean HTML/CSS, kthx.
- carpe noctem

mzah8

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2008, 11:56 AM »
What ticks me off about AR is that it won't print ' characters properly... I always get random crap. Most annoying.

At my uni, the Linux computers have trouble printing out some Windows fonts. I found this out the hard way when I converted some of my friend's Word files to PDFs so I could print them out for her with my free printer credits, and all her headings came out as rectangles.

My department puts that down to Windows not being very good with converting files to PDFs though. So I'm not sure if it's Adobe Reader's fault...

(I didn't try other PDF readers though, to see if the same thing happened)

zenzai

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2008, 06:44 PM »
As for Adobe Flash Player, I'm having a good laugh. I have several video players on my system and they all play Flash files fine - the only one that won't is Adobe's...  ;D

zenzai

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2008, 06:58 PM »
As for the rant about Windows Update, ho humm. The "you need to reboot now" (with "reboot" being the default-focus button) dialog is deadly annoying, especially because it keeps popping up ever X minutes. But WU itself is a good and necessary thing.

From my "Thing's I'd like to see in Windows" archive:


automaticupdates.gif

CWuestefeld

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Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2008, 09:47 AM »
The Windows Update "reboot now" prompt is my favorite application of the FARR "sctrl" plugin. Just "sctrl autom" (on my system), and it stops the darned service until the next reboot (on my own time!) lets it restart.