Speed-read that license agreement

You know you should read the full text of every end-user license agreement (EULA) before you install a new program. But do you? Ha! Admit it: You rarely pause for more than a nanosecond before you click the Continue button. And you have lots of company.

Which is why JavaCool Software (makers of the superb SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard products) have introduced EULAlyzer. If you can’t be bothered to read the full text, at least run the EULA through this utility first. It highlights any “interesting” words or phrases and gives you a chance to think about whether you really want to install that new program.

Of course, I installed it without reading the license agreement. Afterwards, I analyzed Eulalyzer’s EULA, which concluded that it only had three phrases that required a closer look. And the program crashed with a run-time error on two different computers when I fed it the Microsoft Office 2003 EULA.

Good idea, but you should still read the EULA!

(via Donna Buenaventura)