Tired of the Crapware
This post was published 1 year 6 months 11 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.I understand that PC manufacturers work in a commodity business. They work with products that have very low profit margins and hope to reap rewards with bulk sales. However, I’m tired of the money grab that PC manufacturers go through to squeeze every cent from their product.
First of all every PC manufacturer gets paid to sport a Windows Logo and Intel logo on the front of their boxes. But what really gets me is all the crap that PC manufacturers install. I spend more time removing these stupid trial applications then I spend installing the ones I want. It used to be as simple as formatting a machine the second I got it and just install Windows but with these new restore CD’s all that happens is the crap gets installed again.
My question to you is what are your best methods of dealing with the crapware? Would you switch computer brands to avoid the crap? Do you actually find the software valuable? Let us know in the comments.
I just use a standard Windows XP install disk after getting the product key from the registry (I forget which tool I use…it’s been a while). Either that, or I build my own and don’t have to deal with it.
Or you could just install Linux =)
I’ve gone through this many times. Generally speaking, I uninstall the crap that bothers me, then reformat the computer later if it starts acting weird. Lately I too have been getting the disks that have all of the bloatware already installed, but I usually don’t have a problem finding a friend that does have just the OS disk, and I just use their disk and my key to reformat.
The only exception to this is my laptop, an Asus R1F… Since I can’t really get the tablet version of an OS disk without all of the bloatware on it already, well, I just gotta live with some of the stuff.
can’t you edit your original install disk with a tool like nlite? should be possible from my understanding …
http://www.nliteos.com/
What sucks is that, now that Best Buy offers to remove the software now, for a fee, there is now a complete corporate ecosystem for the crapware. It’s not going away :(
If it’s a laptop, I uninstall all the unwanted programs, or buy a microsoft install disk and use that…. or install Ubuntu on it (though my current beta testing has prevented a full conversion to that)
On desktops I build my own and use OEM versions of windows and usually end up partitioning the hard drive(or adding a second) so I can run ubuntu
also, since I’ve gone to vista, I want to try vlite and see if I can remove that from it
http://www.vlite.net/
not sure how well that will work, but seriously, I shouldn’t need 2 disks to install 1 OS…. my toshiba laptop has two and I’m hoping that program can fix it, but I won’t have time to test that out till way later this week….
This is what I used recently. Used to be call “Dell De-crapifier”.
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com
The PC Decrapifier will uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many of the PCs from big name OEMs.
First thing I always do when I get a new system is set up a new installion disk. I use [n|v]Lite to remove the crapware, update the patches and install the drivers onto the windows installation disk, as well as remove any apps and services from windows itself that i don’t need. Then do a nice neat reinstall.
This always gives me a much cleaner, more stable and faster installation than the installation supplied with the system.
I used to go the nLite option but now I just format and install Linux(Kubuntu)
I probably won’t be buying a PC anytime soon, but back in my hay day when I used to buy them from time to time I would also open the box, reformat the hard drive, and install a fresh clean XP with the new serial.
Now however, I’d probably just install Ubuntu, or make sure my specs were suffice for a OSX86 install. Only PC I run anymore is my media center hooked to my TV, and that is more than likely on it’s way out as Ubuntu and Linux in general gathers a larger following and the media support starts to flourish.
Weird. My laptop came without any trial-ware, browser toolbars, or advertisements. Not only did I NOT have to uninstall any software, but the software that did come with it was pretty decent (it even came with decent backup software from the manufacturer). The restore disc had just the OS on it. I didn’t have have to activate anything either. No driver nonsense either.
:-)
Even Apple isn’t immune to this totally, but their crapware is all in-house. iPhoto takes ten to twenty seconds to load on my computer, a 1.6GHz G4. Pathetic. And, it wants to load every time I stick a USB stick on the bus, rendering the computer unusable with the beach ball while iPiggo takes its time loading up. At least it is somewhat useful after it loads.
The same type software under MorphOS on the Pegasos loads up by the time your finger gets off the mouse button from clicking the icon.
I see the hassles my wife’s XP box gives her, so I don’t bother to try Windows anymore. Will probably do Linux next time, or wait for the heir-apparent Pegasos III, under whatever name Genesi gives it. It will be able to play Blu-ray DVDs and that’s all the power I need :-)
*sigh* nothing’s as good as the Amigas I had back in the day…
I use Mac.
@TRONGUY
Finder > Applications > iPhoto.app + (CMD+Backspace)
problem solved :D
I have to admit though, Apple is prone to this as well, your Mac comes out of the box with a “trial” version of iWork if you buy a MacBook Pro. Also there is more than likely a trial of Microsoft Office, and sometimes some other crap… like “comic book studio” or something.
I think the main difference is they try to give you software you will actually use or might need (iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, iDvd, Garage Band, etc.) not AOL or Compuserve, or some lame ass Virus Scanner cleaner yadda yadda yadda. The other key difference is the ease of removal. Mac apps are literally “drag to trash” easy to remove. Ever tried uninstalling AOL and its counter parts from that new Dell?…. How about your trial version set to expire and explode of McAfee or Norton?… requires multiple reboots, and usually mucks up the registry pretty well before you even get to start using your damn system.
If you’re a windows lackey and linux scares you…. http://linuxmint.com (aol not included)
Build my own.
@TRONGUY
I suspect your iPhoto problem is because you’re running a 1.4GHz G4. That’s from, what, 2001? 2002? Also, how much RAM is in that thing. How many photos are in your library? These things impact performance.
I’ve got iPhoto ‘08 with a library of about 4000-ish photos on my AU iMac 2.8GHz and it opens in less than a second.
So, iPhoto is not crapware just because your machine is slow. That’s a poor argument.
We still can’t figure out how to get IE7 on my dad’s Dell computer (Windows XP) to recognize that the Dell Solutions web page should not be the home page every time he opens IE7. We’ve changed the home page setting many times to about:blank and other things – it doesn’t care. THAT is what crapware is all about – demos, home pages, etc. that entrench themselves in the OS.
<3 Ubuntu
@TRONGUY
Tell iPhoto to stop opening when you put in a drive. It’s probably not that hard, given I’ve had to do similar things with Apple programs and it was pretty much a 2-click process. And a 1.6ghz? Do your computer a favor and upgrade it.
@Enzer Milliard
Actually, depending on what you are beta testing, you probably could totally convert to Ubuntu. Just add this to your existing /etc/apt/sources.list file and install VirtualBox via either apt-get or Synaptic:
# The VirtualBox non-free binary edition
deb http://www.virtualbox.org/debian/ etch non-free
(Though you will have to have linux-headers installed first – type ‘uname -a’ in a console to find what you are running – and you may need to change ‘etch’ to your version. Also, add your username to the virtualbox group, then logout and log back in)
You can run Windows with your laptop’s key in a window in Ubuntu. Works beautifully!!!
@Mibrilane
IE7 is NOT entrenched in Windows XP and can be removed. IE6 however… Fuhget aboudit!
Get your dad to use Firefox with Adblock Plus – much more gooder!
Well back in early days I used to just reformat the computer and install a clean copy of windows 2000 according to thats the only version of windows that is remotely usable…
but surprisingly my previous 2 computers had no crapware no spyware and just worked out of the box…
but then my my last 2 computers have been macs… :))