I suspect Partition Magic is intended merely as an example of the crapware-and-misleading-download-buttons trend. You can spot similar scamminess on (for example) http://getpaint.net/ and http://tortoisesvn.net/.
The commenter purports to have a degree of technical expertise - they're running a VM and have some need for Partition Magic. Those features place the scenario many standard deviations from typical Windows user activities.
More importantly, any person looking for Partition Magic in 2013 is likely to be an ideal candidate for crapware. They are performing system administrative tasks. They don't perform such tasks on Windows systems frequently. And they are ignorant of Partition Magic's demise as a product. To boot, they probably have an outdated skill set in regard to Windows.
Download aggregators started installing crapware five years ago. Any person concerned with crapware and who has recent experience avoids them if at all possible. In short, a person looking for Partition Magic in 2013 is likely to suffer from Dunning-Kruger syndrome.
The original claims depend upon a degree of sophistication which its author lacks.
It's an assessment of your Windows expertise based upon the specifics the experience you relayed, not ad hominem. By your own admission your familiarity with the Windows landscape is based largely on experience gained more than seven years ago and with an obsolescent version of the OS.
Dunning-Kruger effects are the result of one believing that they have more expertise than the do. With regards to the Windows ecosystem, this seems to be the case.
One of the salient features of my experience with the Dunning-Kruger effect is that I don't recognize situations in which I am exemplifying it - and logic would dictate that I exemplify it more often than I am aware.
As a crapware vector, partition magic is akin to Nigerian spam. Those who seek it are the ideal targets just as those who respond to the Nigerian banker's uncle are ideal candidates. Both pursue something too good to be true.
I am not claiming that your experience isn't real. I am saying that its conclusion is not that of a Windows expert.
> Dunning-Kruger effects are the result of one believing that they have more expertise than the do.
I never said I'm a Windows expert.
Maybe I just hit the worst case scenario or maybe you need street smarts when surfing the web from a Windows system. Maybe being an OS X user made me soft and easy prey. But still - alone that a reputable download source (one of those that pop up on the first google page) tricks me into downloading a custom archiver utility and wraps installers with crapware doesn't really speak for the Windows eco system.
Now it could be an isolated case but then again if crapware spreading wouldn't be successful people wouldn't be doing it. And I doubt that all crapware infections come from Partition Magic downloads on Windows XP.
> I am saying that its conclusion is not that of a Windows expert.
But the thing is that Windows experts are the minority of all Windows users.
I'm not convinced the conclusion is incorrect. The crapware situation on Windows IS horrible, whether you download any of it or not. Even if you manage to reliably avoid it, that still takes a non-zero amount of effort.
