A new friend of mine is currently downloading demo and freebie CAD softwares found all over the net which work in 98. He got hit a few years ago after installing some (unknown) software by some Anti-competition bug set into the demo software.

What happened back then it essentially destroyed or overwrote elements of any CAD software already set up on to the hard drive of his computer. Then too, if you tried to load up yet another competitive CAD software, it would not permit that to operate properly or not to load whatsoever. You then got stuck with the CAD software, like it or not, and only way to erase it was to reformat the hard drive. The normal Uninstall did not completely remove it, for by installing, it altered the boot up sequence of that computer. The fellow thought OK and used the demo software for a while, and then began getting requests and Update information pop-ups every few months.

He once had TurboTax (Win 95 version) on the hard drive and it acted similar during the winter of each year. Boy, that that firm ever want the purchaser to send in $15 to obtain an update at the end of each year.

Has anyone come upon such software and may know the name of it?

Wm.

Free software can be full of nasties and bundled with all kinds of other programs. There's really no way to know what's causing the problem since he continually downloads all kinds of software.

I'm not really sure what your question is; Is there one software that will do what you're describing? No. There are many individually and also the more that is downloaded, the more the possibility of conflict or corruption with other programs installed.

Life is more painless for those who are brainless.