…at least when it comes to installing the Flash Player plug-in for IE.
Just great! now I have to help people with installing the Flash Player because Adobe makes the install procedure way harder than necessary! Here is the story:
First of all, most people who need to install the Flash Player are probably not as handy and familiar with the internet like you and me. And they were most certainly linked to the install page by the site they wanted to view.
Note that I emphasized the word “need” because these people want to see a certain site (or other Flash-app for that matter), but therefore they need to install the player! Remember that the Flash Player is just a tool!
Like I said, most people who need the player are internet rookies, so the trick would be to keep the procedure as simple and clean as possible. That way people can’t click the wrong buttons or panic because they are afraid to click anything at all (like my mother always does 
).
Unfortunately the install procedure is just the opposite simplicity.
It starts at the first page:
1) There is too much text and it’s all over the place; causing the panic effect.
2.1) There is some stuff about the Google Toolbar. Why??? I want to install the Flash Player. Nothing more, nothing less.
2.2) The Google Toolbar-install is preselected.
If I wanted that toolbar I would have downloaded it elsewhere! But OK, if they want to point out how useful the toolbar is, fine! but DON’T PRESELECT IT!!! If I want it I can select it myself, thank you!
3) The “Install Now” button is somewhere in the middle of the page. Put it on the top or the bottom of the page so people can find it! I admit it’s a clear button, but if you’re using a small resolution (still normal to most people though) you could just as easily miss it when scrolling down too fast.
4) The instructions on how to install are BELOW the install button!?!?
This means that when I press the install button I miss out on the part where they tell me about the security alert on the next page. Which leaves “my mother” clueless when the alert shows on the next page.
Somehow all above problems are gone when you try to install the player on Firefox. So they know how it must be done, but they just refuse somehow…
Anyhow; if the user gets to the second page (most users probably are already scared of by the first page) it’s slightly better… if the player was installed. But if the user clicked the “Don’t Install” button (because he didn’t read the instructions on the first page) there is no message telling the user the installation has failed because he didn’t allow Adobe products to be installed. Resulting in the following situation:
They display a small version of the instruction on this page again (saying “click Yes” while there is no “Yes” button for miles around 
), but if your browser screen is not big enough (like in the image below) you see the warning after you pressed “Don’t Install”, leaving the user clueless on what to do next (no “installation failed” message, remember).
If Adobe doesn’t change the install procedure of the Flash player I’m afraid many inexperienced internet users can’t get the player to install and will never experience the beauty of Flash… 
PS: this story is based on real end-user feedback (some of them even sending me screenshots of the install procedure) which means I’m not just assuming this procedure sucks, it means:
I know this procedure suck!
