Hi Binos
How does it fit with Spybot, Adaware, free anti-virus programs, even for that matter browsers like Mozilla?
As with anything on the net, there's good and bad stuff. I've known about Lycos' Sidesearch for a long time. Experience really is all I can go on.. plus being a staff member at some of the biggest tech forums helps..
If I'm not sure, I'll know someone who is. I'm lucky though, in that I know a hell of a lot of the crap that mucks up people's machines, just from the name.
The first way of telling if something is iffy is just gut reaction. Any doubt about clicking the mouse just before you download is a good sign. If in
any doubt, just hold back and check out what it is exactly you're installing. If you can't find any definite info out, I'm always happy to check up for anyone here, and I'll ask over at one of the staff rooms if I can't get the info.
A good check is to google the name of the program, then add either
castle cops or
techsupport forum or
techguy to the string. Look at the post in that forum and see what they say. These forums invite people to become experts, so if it says in their profile that they're an expert, you know you're in good hands.
Again, it's experience ultimately, and very few will bugger your computer up entirely, although they can be a pain sometimes.
Anything specific you'd like checked out? Adaware, Spybot etc will keep you pretty clean, but as with any software it's only as good as the updates. That's why I always like to check HJT logs just to make sure. Very few people have 100% clean machines, it's just getting as close to 99% that's the key.
Hope that helps..
Cheers
Liam