How to get a bloatware-free PC

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Danny Gorog18 June 2007330 days ago.

If you are considering buying a brand-name PC, stop! and read this post.
There is a great video over at PC Pitstop that highlights why more users should be on the Mac. Apart from the obvious reasons like Macs look better, and come with a more reliable and secure OS, the video points out that most 'brand name' PCs are filled to the brim with junk software -- Bloatware -- that degrades the performance of the PC and makes it harder to use.

If you've got a friend who is considering purchasing a Mac make sure to email them a link to the video - it might help you persuade them in the right direction.

I might be a Mac fan but that's partly because I've had to set up so many Windows boxes in my life. I can tell you, in terms of out-of-the-box experience nothing comes close to a Mac.

Actually, in terms of in-the-box experience nothing comes close to the Mac either. Apple's packaging these days is phenomenal. In fact, the only bit of 'Bloatware' that PC Pitstop came across when setting up their trial Mac was a .Mac offer. I'd happily argue the point that .Mac (while a little dated) certainly isn't bloatware, and if installed and used doesn't stuff up your machine like other pieces of PC software.

Other interesting stats from the video; Gateway led the pack and came installed with 22 'Bloatware' programs (thankfully they're no longer sold in Australia), Sony ships with nearly 30GB of software (compared to Apple's 16GB) and takes 75 minutes to setup before the user can even get onto the Internet.

This is where PC manufacturers need to sit up and take notice, especially companies like Sony who had a reputation for quality products.

PC makers need to stop hiding behind coloured cases and cheesy promotions (a Lamborghini branded laptop?) and start adding value that the end consumer finds useful in the long term.

These changes will only happen as more of this sort of research filters through to the mainstream press and gets the attention of the end users who are considering buying PCs.

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Feldwebel Wolfenstool:

....click START, click CONTROL PANEL, click ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS, click onto your ANNOYANCE, click REMOVE....then POOF, IT'S GONE. Now, that's gotta be a DUMMIED-DOWN SOLUTION, even a MAC-ADDICT could understand! Time to find something else, that you think is so TERRIBLY WRONG, with Windows....

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Dan Warne:

A) why should a user have to spend half an hour to an hour uninstalling crap they don't want from their brand new PC?

B) some apps, notably Norton and McAfee, often don't uninstall cleanly. In fact their makers provide separate downloadable apps that do a post-uninstallation cleanup to do the job properly. Why should users be faced with this task when it's a brand new PC?



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Bill:

So that's FIVE steps for removing EACH unwanted program? What a hassle PC's can be! Not only did my Mac come with no bloatware, but removing a program cleanly is as simple as dragging it to the trash.

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Feldwebel Wolfenstool:

....once you're into the ADD or REMOVE PROGRAMS, you click each annoying program only once....no, sorry, it's WAY EASIER than you think. I can't understand why you need it to be so dummied down? With such few programs available for you, can you afford to delete ANY?

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Joseph Hewes:

Please dont just drag apps to the trash - this is not a good way to deal with unwanted apps on a mac or a pc.

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Toni:

What the heck are you talking about???
Putting apps in the trash is Apple's prefered way to "uninstall" an application! Why do you think Mac apps don't come with an 'uninstaller' and there is no 'unistaller' built into the OS??

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Dan Warne:

It is true though that quite a number of Mac apps do need uninstallation to get rid of all their stuff. Adobe apps, Microsoft Office, various shareware scatter support files around the place. The difference with OS X though is that there's a fairly predictable number of places that the files will be -- Library > Application Support, User > Library > Application Support and so on, which makes manual uninstallation a lot easier if it is necessary. (Not a solution for 'mum and dad' Mac user though.)

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Martin:

Ever tried completely and succesfully removing a (pre and/or post-installed) Norton product from a PC using the above technique, smart-arse ? Didn't think so.

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Joel Bassett (New user):

There's a pretty good program that is slowly growing that takes the hassel out of it. Aptlt named PC Decrapifier - pcdecrapifier.com

Uninstalling sometimes doesn't always remove all the files from your 'bloatware'. I've found that Revo Uninstaller seems to clean up all those left over files and registry settings - www.revouninstaller.com

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U752181:

I am sorry but you seemed to have confused 2 arguments.

You make points about Windows vs mac which the reader can either agree or disagree with but this has nothing to do with bloatware and only serves to divert attention away from what I think is the intent of the article which it to point out the extent of bloatware that is out there on Windows PCs.

After all if each of those vendors sold Macs and Apple allowed them to be configured as the vendors wished then the Macs would be similarly filled with bloatware. It is not Windows that is the issue but the system builders.

Yes there is too much bloatware on the systems sold by these vendors but it is not a technical issue but rather it is a marketing issue.

To make it a Windows vs Mac issue is a diversion from the intent of the article.

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Danny Gorog:

I think the two issues are intimately related. It's not just about Mac OS vs Windows OS. It's about hardware, software, buying experience, after sales support and community. The reality is you can achieve the same outcome on both platforms. The Bloatware issue is a typical example of the lack of respect vendors have for their customers. While Apple is like any other big company in many respects at least they focus on the customer experience and respect the customer enough not to ship their machines with a bunch of software that isn't worth a cent.

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Newb:

The other problem with the bloatware (now called Crapware), is that it tends to sucker in the not too technically savvy.

Yes it does show a lack of respect. Yes, you can uninstall it, but given that the idea is that a prebought computer with a pre-installed OS should work "out of the box", well the less savvy have to figure out how to get rid of crapware.

I hope Dell sell Ubuntu laptops in oz. I will definately buy one. If not, my missus might nag me into a mac, if nothing else, than because it looks pretty.

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tin:

Bloatware has to be the worst excuse to buy a Mac. Seriously... If you don't like the bloatware, you're probably someone that can install Windows anyway.

When I buy a new laptop, I boot it once to see what they supply, then I install what I want, how I want. Usually Linux, Windows and a shared partition.
When I buy a new desktop, it comes in parts anyway.

If I bought a Mac, it would be the same deal (only bung MacOS in there too).

I know all that's just me, but it's still a lame excuse to suggest a Mac.

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webmonkey44:

Bloatware is very difficult to treat @ the cause...

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McBanjo:

Yeh, I like Macs. But they are also very expensive.....

Yeh they're expensive.

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dgeorge:

as a former windows user, i don't want to have to delete programs from windows, not as long as they continue to have a registry to deal with. bad enough ADDING programs. saying not to blame windows but rather the box maker....please! mabe if microsoft wouldnt license its software to anyone whos check will clear, and take some pride and resposibility, mabe windows would be more reliable. but then, they would be more like apple, wouldn,t they?..........

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annoyed:

Match a mac and a PC spec for spec (or as close as you can get) and you will see that the vast majority of the time the mac is cheaper than its PC counterpart. Please stop spreading this FUD as it was true 15 years ago but if you didn't get the memo: it is no longer 1992. In 2007 macs typically cost less than PCs but may appear more expensive because Apple doesn't sell low end computers. Apple; not more expensive just less configurable.

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Dru Richman:

When will this idiocy stop? When you compare 'like configured' Macs vs PCs the cost differential is about $20. Really expensive!

See here for more details - http://systemshootouts.org

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McBanjo:

I'll admit, Dell PC vs. iMac, little to no difference in price. But brand packaged PCs are definitely a BIG rip, plus all the crappy trial software. Macs aren't so much of a rip off.

I should've said that I get my PCs from a local supplier. From this perspective, Macs are super expensive.

Plus there's the expensive jive that you get from Apple. You just walk into their stores and notice the 200% minimum upmark on all of their accessories and software. This is a major turnoff and I want it to change.

Apple makes their billions of dollars from somewhere other than iPods you know.

I was just on Apple's store last night buying a theoretical system and to get 2GB of RAM costs an extra $270 on a 1GB of RAM iMac. I can get a full 2GB for $124 on PC (http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf.) This means Apple takes at least $208 of profit on 1GB of RAM.

I want Apple to start charging real world prices before I consider them. Top end computers don't need to cost $2000. The benchmark figure is $1000 today.

That said, Apple laptops are nothing to frown over.

But Macs are still very expensive!

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Jake Schoermer:

In my opinino no computer, whether it be a Mac or a PC should ever come with any trial software, not even the potentially useful .Mac which at any rate is only really useful if the customer buys the product.

I' not certain on this, but didn't Apple bundle a 30-day trial of MacWorks?

At any rate, I don't think that any user should have to do any configurin or uninstalling at all.

At my local shop we remove all of that anyway on our brand-name PCs (mostly laptops) and only leave on what the user actually wants/needs and include a data transfer and account setup.

If you ask me, a quality, locally built computer is the best way to go short or building the computer yourself. S' just a shame theres no such thing as locally built Macs with out even that admittedly minimal amout of trial software on it.

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Anonymous8888888:

Once again it depends on how you look at it. Macs are definitely NOT bloatware free (my MacBook had MS Office 2004 Trial and Apple iWork Trial installed when I bought it). iLife is also pretty useless if you are serious about multimedia and will be using more advanced software.

Yes you can drag it into the Trash bin, but the thing is that it was there when I first turned the MacBook on, just like bloatware on other Windows computers.

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blahdeblah:

Other crap that comes pre-installed on Macs:
- Big Bang Board Games
- Comic Life
- Sherlock (somehow it's morphed into this horrible sponsored search portal)
- perhaps even Quicktime - it keeps popping up asking you to upgrade to Quicktime Pro when you use it

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Aaron:

One of my favorites was an eMachines PC that had the software for the multi-card reader installed but the hardware was not included in this model.

I tried to do the "add/remove programs" on this particular application and it said, "Sorry, you have to have the card reader installed to remove this application." WTF?!

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Jinzo.pk3:

This is another reason to build your own PC, Just so you know where EVERYTHING is going.
If you dont want to waste your money on a MAC or get ripped off paying too much for a PC that is only worth half of what you pay (pretty much any package PC), then make it yourself, so you have more control over what goes on it.
If you DO buy a Dell or something I would say it a good thing anyway to go through it and clean out the software you do not require, just to familiarise yourself with what you have just bought.

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Wes:

Yes, build your own is good when you are looking at a desk. That way you install