Foistware

Foistware is software bundled with completely unrelated programs. That means that there is no particular property in the software that makes it foistware, but rather the context in which it was installed.

An equivalent marketing scheme exists in the educational book publishing field. A required costly textbook may only be available as a shrink wrap package with unneeded other general reference books or software, creating a mandatory expensive purchase.

Shovelware is sometimes used to denote foistware which was chosen to fill up the remaining space on a freely distributed CD-ROM.

Examples

*New computers shipping with Google Toolbar and Google Desktop already installed.
*New computers from Dell being shipped with My Way Search Assistant already installed.
*An Internet Explorer search toolbar bundled with an MP3 player.
*An anti-virus program bundled with a word processor.
*In the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s, it was common for America Online to come bundled on CDs included in computer magazines.
*Viewpoint Media Player is bundled with AOL Instant Messenger and other programs.
*FrostWire comes with the default option of installing Yahoo! Toolbar

Developers

Developers of shareware or freeware with large distribution sometimes get paid to bundle unrelated software with their software. The foistware in most cases is mentioned in the End User License Agreement.