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Nagware
I have noticed something recently that bugs me to a degree not quite approaching, but reminiscent of, spam. I'm speaking of updatey-nagware; many programs I use have an auto-check feature to see if there's a newer version available. Some of them - like my virus definitions for my A/V software - happen automatically; I'll just see a little brief popup message in the corner of my screen that tells me it's been done.
But a lot of other programs have a progress-blocking popup that has to be replied to before I can get on to doing whatever it is I want to be doing. For example, I use a Firefox add-on called "NoScript" that keeps java scripts from running on a website unless I choose to permanently or temporarily whitelist them - very handy and gives me a warm fuzzy glow of security. But it seems like every three or four days when I open Firefox, I get a message telling me that there's a new version available, and do I want it, and if I choose yes it downloads and installs it and then opens another tab taking me to the homepage where I can read all about the spiffy new improvements in the latest version. The annoying aspect is that there is no option to do this automatically and transparently; every time a new version comes out I have to go through this. And multiply that times the three computers (work, home, laptop) and I seem to be spending an annoying amount of time dealing with something that should just happen invisibly in the background. And I am finding more and more programs are doing this.
It's a trend that must end.
But a lot of other programs have a progress-blocking popup that has to be replied to before I can get on to doing whatever it is I want to be doing. For example, I use a Firefox add-on called "NoScript" that keeps java scripts from running on a website unless I choose to permanently or temporarily whitelist them - very handy and gives me a warm fuzzy glow of security. But it seems like every three or four days when I open Firefox, I get a message telling me that there's a new version available, and do I want it, and if I choose yes it downloads and installs it and then opens another tab taking me to the homepage where I can read all about the spiffy new improvements in the latest version. The annoying aspect is that there is no option to do this automatically and transparently; every time a new version comes out I have to go through this. And multiply that times the three computers (work, home, laptop) and I seem to be spending an annoying amount of time dealing with something that should just happen invisibly in the background. And I am finding more and more programs are doing this.
It's a trend that must end.
