Comments on: The Bloatware Co-Processor

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:09:07 +0000

Absolutely true. It's rediculous to have 5 or 6 auto updaters constantly slowing down not only basic functions, but eating up internet bandwidth.
http://www.aesistech.com

By: Chris Morley

Chris Morley — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:48:07 +0000

You're quite welcome, Chris S. While I'm quite comfortable extolling the virtues of Velocity Micro in public, this little piece had been turning over in my head before I came to work for VM. I never got a chance to publish it for the website I used to work for.

By: Chris S.

Chris S. — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:18:36 +0000

Thanks for the information, Mr. Morley. You aren't shilling for your company at all here, are you?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:32:03 +0000

First thing I do with a new system is repartition and format the HDs and then load a copy of Windows myself. Of course it doesn't prevent my wife from installing all sorts of crap… :-)

By: Tree

Tree — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:31:54 +0000

eMachines is also famous for this. Funny how the first step to installing a name brand computer is to uninstall all the crap that came with it.

By: Billco

Billco — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:47:39 +0000

I don't think we can so easily point the finger for this trend. The reason there's even a market for these “craplets” is because it is a profitable business. OEM's get paid to preinstall software as a form of advertising… It's like a dope dealer saying “the first hit is free” hoping you'll get hooked and buy more of the product (upgrades, yearly subscriptions etc). The reason OEMs like Dell, HP and Gateway load their systems down with crap is because it's the only for them to make money anymore. Today's consumers are crazily obsessed with low prices, thanks to Wal-Mart and other gross abuses of capitalism. Fewer and fewer people care to pay for quality anymore; well you got what you paid for.

I'm an independent PC builder, and I can't match Dell's bargains even at my supplier's cost, so I charge more. Do I load crapware ? Absolutely not. Do my systems run faster and more stable than big-box PC's ? Most certainly! But is the 20-25% higher price worth it ? That's for the buyer to decide. The word cheap has a double meaning.

By: Pavel

Pavel — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:05:29 +0000

Anyone who has read the article on digg regarding Norton's hogging of system resources. Personally, I slosh through msconfig startup programs every few months to trim the hedges and keep my boot time down.

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:59:57 +0000

To Smiley,

What happens if your parents buy a PC with this on it? Most people that are not tech experts just use their PCs as-is.

By: Smiley

Smiley — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:59:25 +0000

So…don't fill up your PC with this crap software.

And if it comes preinstalled, remove it!

By: Chris M.

Chris M. — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:07:37 +0000

Dell PCs are notorius for this too. Not only do they load your PC up with software that no one wants, but they have their own software updater that constantly runs in the background sucking up your CPU and memory.