An anonymous reader writes: I haven't given this subject much thought, and now that I think about it, I imagine that the average user doesn't think of it at all. But when one installs software on their system, are they inherently trusting the maker of the installer to not subvert them in, well, any way? On a Mac, many installers ask for an admin password, and this is the equivalent of giving the installer root. On Windows, software appears to be able to install without any authentication? Really? On linux, if you're installing open source software, you can say that you know what's in the installer: but not really. That's only true if you have compiled it yourself. What is the need for installers, and why do OS vendors not do more to protect users? I don't think I should even trust companies like Adobe to respect my privacy, let alone some random guy who made a cool little utility.