{"id":40537,"date":"2021-02-19T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T07:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/?p=40537"},"modified":"2021-09-23T15:47:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T15:47:42","slug":"easily-identify-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/easily-identify-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Easily Identify Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Bundled programs, also known as bundleware, are programs that are included as an extra in an installer. Malware takes advantage of this by injecting themselves into an installer, disguising themselves as a legitimate \u201cadd-on\u201d or \u201cextra feature\u201d and tricking you into installing them alongside the program you originally intended to install.<\/p>\n

However, not all bundleware is malware. Some are legitimate programs or offers that have actual features that you may or may not need. For example, Avast, a popular free antivirus software, can often be found as a bundleware in many programs.<\/p>\n

It is important, then, to be able to identify a bundleware when installing a program. This can prevent you from unknowingly installing an unwanted software or even a potential malware on your PC.<\/p>\n

Identifying a Bundleware in an Installer<\/h2>\n

It can be hard to spot a bundleware and it can even be hard to prevent it from getting installed.<\/p>\n

To ensure that you\u2019re not accidentally installing it, make sure you carefully read an installer\u2019s window every time you click \u201cnext\u201d.<\/p>\n

One example of a bundleware is pictured below:<\/p>\n

\"bundleware<\/p>\n

This type of bundleware is easy to spot as you can see the words \u201coptional offer\u201d above the window.<\/p>\n

To prevent this from getting installed, you will want to select Decline<\/strong> (not Back<\/strong>). If you click Accept<\/strong>, it will be installed, and in this example case, where the bundleware is Avast, it will lead to system instability<\/a> if you already have another third-party antivirus installed.<\/p>\n

While the above example of bundleware is easy to spot, some are almost indistinguishable unless you carefully check the installer. Consider the example below:<\/p>\n

\"sneaky<\/p>\n

Notice the one pointed by the arrow. If you\u2019re not careful, instead of having only the program \u201cCore Temp\u201d being installed, a game called \u201cGoodgame Empire\u201d will be installed as well.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t carefully review what an installer prompts you to do, you may sometimes find yourself confused as to why a certain software or even a game suddenly appeared out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

If you suddenly find yourself in that situation, then Mirekusoft Install Monitor can help you.<\/p>\n

Identify a Program By Window with Mirekusoft Install Monitor<\/h2>\n

Mirekusoft Install Monitor can easily identify a program through its window. To do that, launch Install Monitor then go to the Tools<\/strong> tab and then click Find Program by Window<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"mirekusoft<\/p>\n

For this tool to work properly, ensure that the unidentified program\u2019s window is visible. After clicking the \u201cfind program by window tool\u201d, a dialog box will appear with the instructions you need to follow to successfully identify a program.<\/p>\n

\"find<\/p>\n

What you need to do is you need to position your mouse over the dialog box that appears. Hold left-click and then drag it to the unidentified program\u2019s window. Once the mouse is over the window, release it and Mirekusoft Install Monitor will show you the program\u2019s information on its Programs<\/strong> tab.<\/p>\n

From there, you can either uninstall it completely or do more research about it using the Search Online<\/strong> feature.<\/p>\n

You can also go to Tools<\/strong> > Program Tree<\/strong> to see which programs are installed together. This will give you an idea of which programs have bundleware. Note<\/strong>: not everything in the Program Tree is bundleware, sometimes a program will install a necessary \u201clibrary\u201d alongside it and it will be recorded in the Program Tree as being installed together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bundled programs, also known as bundleware, are programs that are included as an extra in an installer. Malware takes advantage of this by injecting themselves into an installer, disguising themselves as a legitimate \u201cadd-on\u201d or \u201cextra feature\u201d and tricking you into installing them alongside the program you originally intended to install. However, not all bundleware … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[202,12,14],"tags":[27,58,23,94],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirekusoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}