Hi Im new to this and have only had my ipad for about 3 weeks. Im finding that occassionally if Im connected to the internet, when I finish what Im doing that a couple of new apps seem to have been downloaded to the ipad...some sound harmless (tap zoo) and some dont. I havent opened any of them and have deleted them straight away. How do I stop them from happening at all? I dont understand how they are happening because if I ever want to download an app I usually have to put my password in twice. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

If you have more than one iOS device with the same iTunes account (or someone purchases stuff in iTunes on the computer using that account) apps can be downloaded automatically across all devices. To prevent it on a specific device to to Settings > Store and turn off Apps. You'll notice that both iBooks and Music can also be automatically downloaded across devices.

You'll find the same setting in iTunes on the computer under Preferences, the Store tab.

There are others that sometimes use my itunes account but the type of apps that I received is unlikely to have come from them (and they always tell me before they do anything because they can never remember the password!). I have disabled the automatic download on the ipad as you suggested but the function was already disabled in itunes on my pc. I'll wait and see what happens now. Thanks for your information

The function only enables/disables the downloads on the device it is turned on/off on. So if it was turned off in iTunes, that would not prevent the downloads from happening on the iPad.

I can think of no other explanation for extra downloads. Someone has to be making them. You may want to change your iTunes password if you keep getting indications that apps are being downloaded without your knowledge. Don't forget to log out and back into the various stores on the iPad if you do.