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New York, 3:15 AM
Tue Nov 17
58 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #bloatware more →

    Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better

    Microsoft Retail Store PCs Will Be Crapware-Free, But I'm Still Unsatisfied

    Every Sony Vaio TZ Will Get Bloatware-Free "Fresh Start" Option

    Sony Has the Balls to Charge You $50 to Not Install Bloatware on Your New PC

    Why Vista Will Suck in 20 Bullet Points or Less
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of fuchikoma fuchikoma
    10/30/09

    In reply to Microsoft Retail Store PCs Will Be Crapware-Free, But I'm Still Unsatisfied
    Windows PCs have been great this decade, but too often they end up running like crap when someone just buys one from a store. I help students at a local college get onto our network, and so many have come to me with a new Toshiba running Vista that takes 5 minutes to boot.

    All I can say is... DeCrapify them! Quick, painless bulk exorcism of dead weight trialware. #bloatware
     Reply
    fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred
    Image of Jeremy Washington Jeremy Washington
    10/31/09

    @fuchikoma: my vista computer was kinda slow sometimes but when i put windows 7 on it it was like an entirely new wonder beast that i loved just flying everything fast,fast,fast,stable fast yippiee....... #bloatware
     Reply
    fuchikoma promoted this comment Jeremy Washington was starred Jeremy Washington was unstarred
    Image of fuchikoma fuchikoma
    10/31/09

    @Jeremy Washington: Definitely... I'm running the 32-bit release candidate version on a 6 year old laptop and with all the graphical effects still on, it runs about like XP. #bloatware
     Reply
    fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred
    Image of something_unique_and_descriptive something_unique_and_descriptive
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    And this is why PCs get a bad rap. And it's not just that they slow things down, a lot of these programs are buggy as hell.

    The vast majority of problems I've seen on "fresh" PCs has nothing to do with the OS, or even the drivers, but the 30-day trial for such-and-such weather monitor or some other useless crap app the OEM gets paid to put on there. #crapware
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive was starred something_unique_and_descriptive was unstarred
    Image of Xjep Xjep
    10/29/09

    In reply to Microsoft Retail Store PCs Will Be Crapware-Free, But I'm Still Unsatisfied
    If Microsoft tried to tell Dell, HP, Sony etc to not do it I give it 4 minutes before the EU would be on their ass. #bloatware
     Reply
    fuchikoma promoted this comment Xjep was starred Xjep was unstarred
    Image of fuchikoma fuchikoma
    10/30/09

    @Xjep: Don't get me started... Apple bundles Quicktime and iTunes and it's ok. MS bundles Windows Media Player and they're anticompetetive. Every OS (even Linux distros, BeOS, etc) in the last decade comes with a browser. MS dares to include a browser? It's anticompetetive! Sue them!

    Now, back in the Win98 days I saw some logic to it since they tightly integrated IE to the OS to make it quick to load and hard to remove, in addition to adding other functionality to the OS that the other browsers couldn't... but now it's just standard practice and a common courtesy to put a browser in any desktop OS installation. #bloatware
     Reply
    fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred
    Image of phunnyballs phunnyballs
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    Asus gave me zero bloatware. I am officially an Asus fanboy. I dont understand why their laptops arent more popular. #crapware
     Reply
    phunnyballs was starred phunnyballs was unstarred
    Image of SumUp4U SumUp4U
    10/29/09

    @phunnyballs: My G2S came with some asus bloatware and one of them kept crashing my computer :/ #crapware
     Reply
    phunnyballs promoted this comment SumUp4U was starred SumUp4U was unstarred
    Image of phunnyballs phunnyballs
    10/29/09

    @SumUp4U: mine came with a webcam app and a thing to change your monitor settings with the media buttons. i think that was it. #crapware
     Reply
    phunnyballs was starred phunnyballs was unstarred
    Image of Slightly Bigger Than Wee Jock But Not So Big as Middle-Sized Jock Jock Slightly Bigger Than Wee Jock But Not So Big as Middle-Sized Jock Jock
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    [timidly raises hand at the back of the room] I thought "bloatware" referred to apps that tend to get huge and unwieldy, sucking up HDD space and sometimes memory (think MS Word). I thought the term for all the crap that comes preloaded on a PC was, well, "crapware". Did I miss a memo? #crapware
     Reply
    FigNinja promoted this comment Slightly Bigger Than Wee Jock But Not So Big as Middle-Sized Jock Jock was starred Slightly Bigger Than Wee Jock But Not So Big as Middle-Sized Jock Jock was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    Why reboot when you can just go sleep mode most of the time. #crapware
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of sortius sortius
    10/29/09

    @ripfire: Because windows becomes insanely unstable when continually sleeping and waking. They haven't quite nailed this on any OS (Macs can become quite unstable too).

    First thing I do with a laptop is nuke it and install a real version of Windows if it's to be a Windows machine. My HP TX2 is quite snappy with booting after I nuked it. #crapware
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment sortius was starred sortius was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    10/29/09

    @sortius: I generally have my MBP go in and out of sleep for about a week or more most of the time, and I haven't seen any stability issues. I have an old Dell Inspiron that I almost never turn off as well, and I used to avoid putting it to sleep because of serious BSOD's after a while, but since the update to SP3, I haven't had a problem since. #crapware
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    10/29/09

    @sortius: Interesting. I don't have any problems with my PC going into sleep mode. In fact, it's gotten better with Windows 7 with sleep/hibernate hybrid. #crapware
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of jayhawk11 has assimilated jayhawk11 has assimilated
    10/29/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: Seconded. my current record for my MacBook Pro is 38 days up-time before I had to reboot for an update. It's always been reliable in sleep mode. #crapware
     Reply
    jayhawk11 has assimilated was starred jayhawk11 has assimilated was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    10/29/09

    @jayhawk11: Yeah, and the newer MBP makes it a bit easier, because it almost seems to sip almost no juice at all in sleep mode. Left it at home one day after fully charging it, came home around 7:30 and the thing still had 96% juice left off the power supply. #crapware
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/30/09

    @sortius: I hybernate my work laptop every single day and normally after a couple months something will finally crash, but it's normally Firefox (normally when it has been sitting on 800mb+ of ram for weeks). It also sleeps every day when I take my lunch.

    My MB is constantly sleeping and I haven't had any issues there either except after extended periods. #crapware
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Bokusatsu_Tenshi Bokusatsu_Tenshi
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    Unfortunately, not enough consumers knows or will ever know about this.

    So there can be some complaints and stuff, but in the end, it's still profitable for those manufacturers to keep the bloatware there.

    Even more when it's exactly those who don't know much about the stuff they are buying the ones who will eventually pay for the demos and limited software.

    Like most business models, this isn't targeting consumer satisfaction, but rather profit. #crapware
     Reply
    Bokusatsu_Tenshi was starred Bokusatsu_Tenshi was unstarred
    Image of Andrieux E Fernanda Andrieux E Fernanda
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    Look for PCdecrapfier on google. #crapware
     Reply
    Andrieux E Fernanda was starred Andrieux E Fernanda was unstarred
    Image of jibbly jibbly
    10/29/09

    @Andrieux E Fernanda: Are you crazy? Google ADDS crap onto your system. I love their products, but no, please don't try to shovel nasty bloated tool bars onto my browser or have stuff at start up that isn't necessary. #crapware
     Reply
    -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties! promoted this comment jibbly was starred jibbly was unstarred
    Image of -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties! -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties!
    10/29/09

    @jibbly: Wow.... i can't tell if your being sarcastic.... or just terrible at reading comprehension? #crapware
     Reply
    -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties! was starred -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties! was unstarred
    Image of kingbob337 kingbob337
    10/29/09

    @jibbly: I guess he should have said, "Google PCdecrapifier" and things would have been clearer #crapware
     Reply
    chauncy that billups promoted this comment kingbob337 was starred kingbob337 was unstarred
    Image of chauncy that billups chauncy that billups
    10/29/09

    @kingbob337: No, that makes it sound more like a google product, like "Google Toolbar" #crapware
     Reply
    chauncy that billups was starred chauncy that billups was unstarred
    Image of jibbly jibbly
    10/29/09

    @kingbob337: Christ, I feel like a fucking fool.

    I have only one excuse: My actual job interfered with dicking around on Gizmodo.

    I apologize and am currently seasoning my foot with EVOO, salt, and pepper. #crapware
     Reply
    jibbly was starred jibbly was unstarred
    Image of madog madog
    10/30/09

    @jibbly: You owned up to it, good job! Everyone fucks up from time to time!

    As a side note, I absolutely hate just about every free app installer for PC. "Install the Yahoo/Google/MyPC/DressUp Girl/Donkey Dick Toolbar for IE!"

    I can always tell when I work on a computer with 5 toolbars that the person either doesn't know what they are doing or doesn't care, and has been programmed to think they need to buy a new computer every 2 years because "the megabytes are getting low, and the ram is slowing down".
     Reply
    Edited by madog at 10/30/09 12:24 AM madog was starred madog was unstarred
    Image of Andrieux E Fernanda Andrieux E Fernanda
    11/05/09

    @jibbly: PCdecrapfier its not from google. #crapware
     Reply
    Andrieux E Fernanda was starred Andrieux E Fernanda was unstarred
    Image of bagellord bagellord
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    That is why I will build my next computer. I bought Apple because of Vista and bloatware, but I need a computer that I can really fiddle with as far as changing out stuff. I will probably continue to use Apple laptops because I like the look and feel etc. Windows 7 all the way though. #crapware
     Reply
    bagellord was starred bagellord was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    10/29/09

    @bagellord: If bloatware was the only reason you switched, you're a sucker. bloatware can be eliminated in a matter of minutes. #crapware
     Reply
    bagellord promoted this comment NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of bagellord bagellord
    10/29/09

    @NorwoodIsMyHero: I said that because of Vista's awful performance for me, I switched. And HP's bloatware that refused to go away. #crapware
     Reply
    bagellord was starred bagellord was unstarred
    Image of Zerod Zunaro Zerod Zunaro
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    That's exactly why I completely clean the whole thing up and boot my own version of the OS.

    Bloatware begone. #crapware
     Reply
    Zerod Zunaro was starred Zerod Zunaro was unstarred
    Image of FigNinja FigNinja
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    This is why I buy my PCs from small online retailers that don't put that crap on there. Either that or I build them myself. #crapware
     Reply
    FigNinja was starred FigNinja was unstarred
    Image of TBM-Fan TBM-Fan
    10/29/09

    @FigNinja: or format the harddrive and start with a clean install
    that's what i do when allowed #crapware
     Reply
    FigNinja promoted this comment TBM-Fan was starred TBM-Fan was unstarred
    Image of FigNinja FigNinja
    10/29/09

    @TBM-Fan: True, but another reason I like the resellers is that I can usually get better hardware, too. Rather than tossing some crap hard drive & memory in there made by lord knows who, they let you choose premium components. #crapware
     Reply
    FigNinja was starred FigNinja was unstarred
    Image of anexanhume anexanhume
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    I'd be interested to see if they tried Sony's free "Fresh Start" that supposedly ships it to you without all the crapware. #crapware
     Reply
    anexanhume was starred anexanhume was unstarred
    Image of Travis Forbes Travis Forbes
    10/29/09

    @anexanhume: New Sony FW with Fresh Start. Total boot time with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit ~45 seconds. #crapware
     Reply
    anexanhume promoted this comment Travis Forbes was starred Travis Forbes was unstarred
    Image of Travis Forbes Travis Forbes
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    Just get the Fresh Start option from Sony. All extra bloatware is removed. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment Travis Forbes was starred Travis Forbes was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    I am not defending bloatware. However, that bloatware is why you generally pay a little less for a PC laptop. Companies pay OEMs to have their software preinstalled and, like the eye-level shelves in the supermarket, pay a premium to have a desktop icon.

    There should be an option for an "unsubsidized" version of a laptop that comes with the OEM drivers preinstalled but without any of the bloatware.

    In fact, I'm surprised that the major OEMs don't offer it. I'm sure there is a market for people to pay an extra $100 - $200 for not having to uninstall a lot of junk. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of anexanhume anexanhume
    10/29/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Sony's Fresh Start supposedly does that, which they used to charge $50 for. Now it's free. #crapware
     Reply
    anexanhume was starred anexanhume was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    10/29/09

    @anexanhume: Well there you go. That makes me want to choose Sony over other OEMs for my PC needs.

    Build a better mousetrap. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of slater slater
    10/29/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: You nailed it. Bloatware is the only reason companies like AOL are still around at all. A lot of people just go with whatever is already installed on their computer when they buy it. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment slater was starred slater was unstarred
    Image of noamjamski noamjamski
    10/29/09

    @anexanhume: I just bought a Vaio laptop off the shelf at Best Buy on Win7 launch day. The only pre-installed software was an MS Office trial, Norton and Chrome. I was incredibly impressed. I was prepared to spend 2 hours uninstalling everything under the sun. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment noamjamski was starred noamjamski was unstarred
    Image of Valatar Valatar
    10/29/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: I do occasional computer building as part of my IT business, and was approached by a few companies offering cash to preinstall their crap on my customers' computers.
    I didn't take them up on that, but I can sure see where an OEM maker would be tempted to add a hundred bucks to the bottom line of every machine they sell. Pass the money to the consumer in the form of a discount? Hell no. #crapware
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment Valatar was starred Valatar was unstarred
    Image of UGAdawg UGAdawg
    10/29/09

    In reply to Acer's Bloatware Adds 2+ Minutes to Boot Time, HP, Dell and Sony Not Much Better
    PC Decrapifier FTW! I absolutely hate all that crud that comes factory installed, especially the M$ Works trial install me now program. That application has made uninstalling alll that stuff a breeze.

    [www.pcdecrapifier.com] #crapware
     Reply
    lostarchitect promoted this comment UGAdawg was starred UGAdawg was unstarred
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