A co-worker today called tech support to get rid of the spyware/adware that had crept onto his machine. After running their cleaning tools, they installed the Google Toolbar for him to get rid of pop-up ads. The toolbar is a fine utility - I use it on my work machine, too - but it’s only useful because it plugs an Internet Explorer feature hole. If IT would just let us use Firefox, we wouldn’t need an extra software to block pop-ups and we wouldn’t get nearly as much crapware on our machines due to its decreased vunerability to security issues. But I guess if they gave us tools that work properly they wouldn’t get paid to fix them, so instead we have to live with an intentionally inefficient system.