How do I download software without picking up junk?

Almost all unwanted software on home computers arrives with something the owner installed deliberately. The bundling is legal, disclosed in small print, and designed around the fact that people click next.

Step by step

1. Go to the software's own site directly.Type the name into the address bar and check the domain matches the product. Download portals that wrap free software in their own installer are the single biggest source of bundled junk.
2. Ignore sponsored search results.Paid adverts at the top of search results for popular free software regularly lead to look-alike sites. Scroll past the adverts to the real result, or type the address yourself.
3. Prefer the platform's store where the software is there.The Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store versions are sandboxed and cannot bundle extras. They are sometimes a version behind, which is a fair trade.
4. Check the file before running it.The name should match the product and the size should be plausible. A twelve-kilobyte 'installer' is a downloader that fetches something else, and often something you did not choose.
5. Choose custom or advanced installation.This is the whole trick. The express or recommended path accepts every bundled extra; the custom path shows them as tick boxes.
6. Read each screen and untick.Watch for a changed browser home page, a new default search engine, a new toolbar, an 'optimiser' or a 'driver updater'. Decline every one; none of them are required.
7. Watch the licence agreement step specifically.Some installers place a second, separate agreement for a bundled product on the same screen as the main one, with a decline button that is deliberately less prominent.
8. Check the browser afterwards.Look at the home page, the default search engine and the extensions list. Changes here are the commonest evidence that something came along.

Tips

• Driver updater and registry cleaner utilities are the two categories where almost everything on offer is worthless or harmful. Get drivers from the hardware manufacturer.
• On a Mac, software distributed as a disk image should be dragged into Applications. An installer package that asks for your administrator password deserves more scrutiny.
• Keep the number of installed applications small. Every one is something to update, and unused software is the most common thing left unpatched.

Common mistakes

• Clicking the big green Download button on a portal site — Those buttons are usually adverts. The real link is often a plain text link, smaller and lower down the page.
• Using express install to save time — It saves about fifteen seconds and accepts everything bundled. Custom is two extra clicks and is the entire defence.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask