By Jane Larson
The Arizona Republic

Consumers are a curious lot when it comes to how they behave on the Internet.

They are wary about paying for subscriptions for premium Internet sites, fearful that they won't use them enough to justify their costs.

They rarely uncheck boxes on Web sites, because making choices is harder than going along with the default option.

And they complain about managing lots of e-mail, but they are hesitant to try solutions designed to make it easier.

That's the consensus of more than 400 experts, executives and investors who gathered in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the recent PC Forum, an annual event to discuss trends in the tech industry (www.edventure.com/pcforum) .

"People aren't as smart as economists think they are," says Eric Johnson, a professor at the Columbia University School of Business who has studied consumer behavior on the Web.

For example, users say they like to be able to make choices, but they hate having to make them, he says. So if software requires them to choose whether to activate a firewall, or if a Web site requires them to uncheck a box to avoid spam, they tend to go with the default choice, even if something else would be better, he says.

Johnson found a similar disconnect during searches. Though the Internet offers users the chance to search for the most information and the best price, he found people tend to use one favorite Web site when shopping. They don't want to take the time to learn another site, so they become loyal, locked-in users.

As anyone who has searched for "Paris" and gotten millions of hits knows, consumers also wish search engines would know more about what they are really looking for, says Langley Steinert of TripAdvisor, a travel reviews site (www.tripadvisor.com) .

The findings are important because they could influence how companies tailor future online offerings.

Travel site Orbitz, for example, could help users search on topics such as "skiing in April," instead of requiring them to choose a destination first, chief executive officer Jeff Katz says.