Alost everything mainstream that was popular on Windows back then: PDF readers, picture viewers, Mp3 players, video players, codec packs, CD/DVD burning SW, anti-virus SW, firewalls, torrent clients, downloads managers, system drivers, etc.

They all had checkboxes for Chrome and other ad-ware. If you didn't pay attention to unchecked them during installation you'd find your default browser changed and other crap. Those who did "tech-support" for family members remember.

Exactly this. You had to be really vigilant during install.

Average joe: next next next done.

Don't ever fantasize about average users back then doing research if there would be a better web browser and then going ahead to download and install chrome on their own.

"What is a web browser?"

I remember third party IE toolbars being bundled (and that practice pre-dated Chrome, IIRC). But I don't remember the full Chrome browser being bundled (I do remember the Google Toolbar). I was a Chrome user from basically the day it was released because I found it to be superior so I may have been blind to the practice since I was already using Chrome.

The Google Toolbar adware installer component itself (the "Google Updater" or something like that) that you remember in installers eventually silently upgraded to a Chrome installer. Almost every installer that ever installed Google Toolbar was automatically a Chrome auto-installer, "thanks" to software as a service. If you didn't uncheck hidden "Google Toolbar" checkboxes, that would also auto-install Chrome. (That added to how hard it felt to keep Chrome from ever being installed on a machine, because sometimes you'd overlook the "Google Toolbar" in older installers as yet another trojan horse for Chrome.)

Eventually the Google Toolbar itself would just auto-upgrade to Chrome as well.

Anecdotally, my father liked the Google toolbar for giving a separate search box in IE, but disliked Chrome and was confused when Chrome auto-installed and the Google Toolbar partly became a big ad for "congrats, you can use Chrome now", and that was one of his reasons to (finally) switch to Firefox for good (he used both IE and Firefox for a long time prior).

I can't remember the names, too long ago. I thought even portableapps.com did do that, but I am not sure. The practice of bundling had become really common then: https://superuser.com/questions/850766/downloading-software-...

I remember that I had to specifically uncheck this during installation of freeware back then. People I helped with their computer had no idea where chrome came from, the internet changed on a sudden day. They believably told they didn't download it. Most likely it came with some freeware they did download. For some it could be that they __did download it__ in fact by being tricked into it by weasel wording from google. There was a real strong push, I remember the chrome ads and links to chrome where pushed everywhere in google's services.

Aside, ask a friend what the internet is and they point to chrome. We keep overestimating the average Joe. Young people are not necessarily any wiser, to the contrary I would say.

Everything with an installer basically

Adobe software from rough memory. So, at least Flash Player and Acrobat Reader I think.

I remember the Java updater, which basically anyone using a computer had to occasionally update.