There are many software vendors that bundle third-party applications with their software.  This is a controversial practice at best, or down right despicable; depending on your point a view.

Calendar of Updates has been compiling quite a list of applications that come bundle with third-party applications.

Calendar of Updates - Installers Hall of Shame (unwanted add-ons) - Calendar Entry (for the current list)
Calendar of Updates - Post your dodgy installers which pre-check things, A collage for our members to view? - Forum discussion

CoU’s - Installers Hall of Shame - as of 06 July, 2008

• Adobe Flash Player - Google Toolbar
• Adobe Reader - eBay Desktop
• AOL Instant Messenger - AOL Toolbar
• Apple’s Software Updater - Safari Browser, QuickTime, iTunes
• Applian FLV Player - Yahoo Toolbar
• AVG 8 - AVG Security Toolbar (Yahoo Search bar)
• BitComet - Google Toolbar
• CCleaner (standard installer) - Yahoo Toolbar <<<Offers ‘Lite’ version, without toolbar
• Comodo Firewall Pro - Ask Toolbar (This toolbar is detected as spyware/adware by several vendors)
• Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 - Google Toolbar and BETA of Moovielive
• Daemon Tools - Search tool and sponsor ad module
• DivX - Yahoo Toolbar
• GoogleTalk - no addon but will change default search setting of IE
• GoogleEarth - Pre checked Google Toolbar installation
• ICQ 6 - ICQ Toolbar
• Iobit advanced one care - Yahoo Toolbar (selecting no will still do changes on the system)
• IrfanView (Google Toolbar for IE and Google Desktop Search)
• Logitech Setpoint (Logitech Yahoo! Toolbar)
• MP3 WMA Converter - Yahoo Search and Delio Comparsion Shopping Toolbar
• Nero Burning Rom - Ask Toolbar (This toolbar is detected as spyware/adware by several vendors)
• PC Tools Firewall Plus - Google Toolbar and Threatfire
• RealPlayer - Google Toolbar
• Shockwave Player - Norton Security Scan or Google Toolbar
• Skype - Google Toolbar
• Spyware Doctor - Google Toolbar
• Spyware Terminator - Web security guard, Crawler
• Sun Java RE (online installer) - Google Toolbar
• Sun Java - OpenOffice.org
• Trillian - Ask Toolbar and Weather Channel Desktop
• Veoh media player - Yahoo toolbar, search engine change & search protection
• Webroot SpySweeper - Ask Toolbar (This toolbar is detected as spyware/adware by several vendors)
• Winamp - Winamp Toolbar
• Windows Live Installer - Windows Live Toolbar and Sign-in Assistant
• Windows Update - Windows Genuine Advantage Notification - (pre-checked, not required, should not be high-priority)
• Windows SteadyState - Windows Live Toolbar
• Winzip - RegistryBooster
• xplorer2Lite - Conduit toolbar
• YaHoo! Instant Messenger - YaHoo! toolbar, with ‘YaHoo! Search Protection’ and homepage change to YaHoo!
• ZoneAlarm - SpyBlocker (Ask Toolbar) (This toolbar is detected as spyware/adware by several vendors)

The Internet has brought us many joys. It’s rewritten the rules of business and pleasure.

And pain. For it allows what may have seemed like bright ideas at the time (’let’s use it to make sure our customers have the latest software’, for example) to turn into a stinking pit of misery — usually, but by no means always, after marketing gets its fangs in.

Here are just ten of the guilty parties who try to do the impossible: to make us hate the internet and wish it had never been invented — and who very nearly succeed. -

While checking headlines at TechNewsWorld, I found this opinion piece by Gene Marks, 10 Technologies Not Yet Ready for SMBs. Can’t miss it. It’s the first article on the home page. Gene Marks is a columnist for Business Week.

I was rather enjoying the cheekiness of the piece, until I got to this:

Open Source Software. Sure, open-source software may be “free,” but the propeller-heads you need to actually get it working, customized, and supported aren’t.

Spending time customizing a software product, just because it’s “open source,” doesn’t mean that time is well spent. Business owners should stick to the boring, off-the-shelf stuff for now.

That passage alone tells me this guy, just doesn’t have a clue.

Gene why don’t you go ask your employer, MSNBC, what type of technology powers their web presence. If the answer is Apache on a Linux Server. Guess what? It’s Open Source Software.

I find that in general, people who make these kind of statements, like the above by you, have never used Open Source Software.

The ability to customize open source, to fit a particular need, is a selling point. Fact is, that the vast majority of the time, the software fits the need without customization. If a person can use MS Word, I bet they won’t have a problem using OpenOffice Writer. No need to pay some “propeller head” to install, configure, and customize Writer, to get it to work.

From the results of a Google search, I deduce this isn’t the first time you have been off the mark.

While installing Windows XP SP3, you receive the following error:

Windows XP Service Pack 3 installation failed.
Access is denied.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Resolution:

1. Backup the Registry

2. If subinacl.exe is not installed, download and install subinacl.exe.

3. Create a file called reset.cmd with Notepad. Copy the text below into the file reset.cmd and run reset.cmd from an account with administrative privileges:

Windows XP Home Edition:

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
 
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f

Windows XP Professional:

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
 
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
 
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

4. Run windows update.

Windows XP SP3 should now install.

EDITS:
09 May 2008 - Article changed to reflect the release of Windows XP SP3 RTM
10 May 2008 - Windows Batch script updated to a more comprehensive/complete fix.