Too many toolbars

I wish software marketers would learn that if there is one thing that most computer users don't need, it is yet another tool bar.

Yet today I got yet another semi-spam message advising me of a new "must have" toolbar. Do they really think I am desperate to look at a screen full of tool bars, most of them with links to the same search engines, and the same other useless stuff?

Worst of all are the ones that install their toolbars along with their programs, without asking if you want it. And then they don't go away. Firefox asks me if I want to uninstall add-ons that I want and use, but on the junk ones that I'd love to get rid of the "uninstall" option is usually greyed out, and one can just disable it or enable it. And I keep getting notes advising me of updates to the toolbars that I don't want and can't uninstall.

One of the problems with too many toolbars is that some web sites (often those of the people who automatically install unwanted tookbars) have pop-up windows that demand a response, but you can't see what response is needed because the buttons for responding are hidden below the bottom of the screen, and you can't scroll down the window to see them, and you can't move the window up above the numerous toolbars.

Some virus writer is going to make a killing one day by writing a program that claims to be able to remove unwanted toolbars, just like a lot of the anti-spam programs that actually transmit viruses.

That's my pet peeve of the day. I feel better now.