Apple (they of the increasingly annoying adverts) are coming for in for some stick after finding ways to sneak their latest web browser onto Windows PCs.

Their Safari browser, previously found only on Macs, now has a free Windows version. Nothing wrong in that, except rather than wait for people to choose to download it, Apple are using the Apple Update software that comes with their ubiquitous Itunes and Quicktime applications to offload Safari onto Windows punters - often without their knowledge. For the last week or so, users have been getting popup messages offering to "update" both Itunes and Safari, with both boxes checked by default - regardless of whether Safari was ever installed in the first place. Clicking "OK" with the default options checked (or letting Apple Update run automatically) results in Safari being installed on the desktop, whether you wanted it or not.

The CEO of Mozilla, the parent organisation behind rival browser Firefox, has blasted Apple for damaging web security. He's got a point - by slipping people an entire browser without (potentially) their knowledge or understanding, Apple could be storing up big problems. Like most browsers, Safari has its share of bugs and issues, some of them security related - and adding unknowing users into the mix doesn't help. It's also a bit of a breach of trust - and if underhandedness like this persuades people not to use auto-update features in the future (and miss out on genuine patches and fixes) that's officially a Bad Thing. Of course it's quite likely that the makers of Firefox are also upset that Apple can silently add millions to Safari's user numbers so easily, and that's probably a bit unfair too.

The whole story got even sillier today, with the discovery that since Apple never updated the end user license agreement (EULA) on Safari, it's apparently illegal to install any version of it on a Windows machine anyway. Despite the fact that Apple have been surreptitiously installing it on any Windows machine they can access, the license to their own software only allows it to be installed on an "Apple labelled" computer - ie, one of their own.

Maybe they should use Apple Update to automatically uninstall the illegal software, and then give people the option of installing a version they can legally use?