Discussion on:

Five tips for getting rid of crapware

I would call it UselessWare. Most of these softwares are really useless and irritating.

It seems more appropriate.

My AV package rates Softex Omnipass as malware!

The little toad would not die properly until I booted from a PE disc. Then I combed through that HD looking for other vast amounts of crud, including the AOL stuff, which I also pruned from the registry by hand.

or
- JunkWare
- TrashWare

UselessWare hits the right meaning correctly but is a bit too long.

but we all know the REAL name is SHITWARE, crap is just the nice way to say it...

NoWare for me does it nicely as for one
No I dont want it
and two I dont want it nowhere on my computer

Might be appropriate, since that's how it usually makes your new computer perform.

Someone earlier pointed out, for those who do not have an install disc only an image disc, borrowing one and installing from it using the registration data from the machine gets around the problem.

There is another way. Way back during my voyage through the Windows PE disc material I found two useful utilities. One of them slipstreams service packs onto the install disc, the other can extract the necessary files from an installation on a HD to make an install disc. I have never tried the latter, and I cannot remember the package's name, but it apparently works.

Just another way to defeat this crap. It goes without saying that I would first of all image the bundled installation and check it. Otherwise buy another HD and leave the original untouched, except to test that it works. Guarantees and all of that.

Slug ware is, imho, perfect: Slug is a name for a counterfeit Coin, i.e., something that is worthless, but pretends to be worth something; and it is a name for a small shell-less snail that leaves a slimy trail everywhere it moves. It also is the root for sluggish, and I'm sure that there are other parallels.

aaron

Because it wears down your machine:

Wearware

And a good tool to find any wearware on your machine and delete it could be called:

WheresWearWare

Or another spin for crudware could be:

Warewolf

As it transforms you PC into something evil, though it may be likely that some IT illiterate could blow a hole in the monitor with a silver bullet!

Bloatware

The termination ware implies it may be useful to somebody. For me it is not shitware it is ****.

call it... UnderWare - Just think of all the fun jokes we'd have

I like that, it could means many different things. More importantly, Idon't think it would offend anyone.

A favorite text editor among programmers in the days before Windows. I think Borland eventually bought them.

Intrusive Ware

I feel this is appropriate since it has an adverse effect and its uninvited.

call it UnderWare (think of all the fun jokes)

Wasteware?

That's it, just Lard

shitware

That's it - one word = BULLWARE

Non-Essentialware
Pure Windows

Slutware.

Not politically correct but sums up the 'crap' ware experience. The software is really dressed up, annoyingly present but leaves unwanted side effects that needs special treatment to get rid off

.

It's totally unsolicited - only difference between it and spam is the delivery mechanism.

Leachware gets my vote

Since the OEM installations are aimed at getting you hooked on some ap, it reminds me of a spider web, hoping to snare you.

Ken

fabulous - it's shareware with a line removed..

something you can say in front of ALL your customers, and very accurate as to the purpose of the unwanted apps

Some of the stuff that gets preinstalled is yucky as in yuckware. Such software screams "YUCK"

Fatware. And I agree.
It makes the computer fat with pointless processing and 'idiot-proofing'.

If i want step-by-step instructional software on how to run every application I own, I'll load it myself, thank you so very much.

The vendors are trying to get new PC owners to "try" and hopefully buy.

Another possible name is "EnticeWare"
The vendors are hoping to entice the new users into buying the limited trial software.

"trialware" is what the vendors call it!

Don't buy proprietary computers - Build it, or have it built.

Bad luck for any laptop users, though!

Edited:
This is not in the correct spot, unfortunately.

That MS and some vendors are offering crapware-free computers.

Does that increase the base price for these machines?

Without the support from advertising (ie: Crapware), how can these vendors make the (I suspect) 500% target profit?

There was a time when a small shop could offer their own line of computer and make a good margin competing against national/international brands. This is clearly no longer the case.

A laptop selling at a low-end $400 has to cost more than $65 to bring to market. Just look at the cost of a Windows OS license. It can't be done once you consider shipping, packaging, marketing, operations/support and personnel overhead.

I wish there were a 500% margin, it would make custom-build all the more lucrative and much better than when I could sell the same components - hand-built - at the same price as Gateway or Dell.

But the point remains that, without advert software, vendor profits would decrease.

People who are going to buy vendor supplied computers are going to buy them with or without crapware, so the fact that vendors are removing the crapware won't actually increase sales much.

So where they're fining the money to show the advertisers the door is beyond me.

Yeah, there may be some like us who DISPISE useless crap on our computers that we didn't ask for. But the vast majority of users, especially those buying laptops, don't know/care/understand. In fact, to many the prospect of receiving a plethora of "free" goodies is tantalizing - like Christmas.

For those companies that offer both crapware and non-crapware options, the number of dissenters would be minimal, and therefore not a big issue. But those that have stopped including crapware altogether... Not sure how those numbers work, but maybe it's a case of one competitor doing it, and the others having to follow suit to compete..?

As for alternate names, I've always called it "scumware" or "skankware", though I use them more often to describe malware and adware.

My two cents...

The crapware installed on prefab computers does not raise the profit margin of the companies that install them on their computers, at least not directly. Rather, the crapware subsidizes the cost of the computer. The crapware vendors pay to have their crap pre-installed, and in turn, this allows the PC maker to sell the computer at a lower cost to the buyer. The more pre-installs the manufacturer can sell, the lower they can price the computer, in the hopes of undercutting their competition in what has become a PC price war.

Remember the days where you could buy a PC for dirt-cheap, so long as you signed an extended service contract with an ISP? It's a lot like that, but worse.

here's a recent twist to that,

one of the local ISP around here
at least once a year, offers a "free PC" with 3 year Internet subscription

and guess what, it also comes with the Pre-installed Bloatware.

Ouch!!

"But it was Free!"

Two years ago I bought a laptop from DELL Australia, having negotiated best price I could I asked to have it shipped with just the OS, when told they would not do that, I said I would proceed with the purchase, I was then offered an additional $230 discount. I still had to clean the machine though.
At least one company in Australia ( Pioneer Computers ) sells bare bone laptops, you choose the hardware and any software including the OS and pay for what you order.

My new policy is also to buy bare bones, and I am now starting down the Linux path. There will always be at least one Win 64 bit machine here 'for the foreseeable future', but as the Linux market grows I have a feeling that MS may have to do something revolutionary to draw my attention. It goes without saying that Apple has no chance, although I've often played with the idea of having a pretty, designer toi.

To be pretty good in most cases.
Fast support times, good service, no dicking around.

But being offered a discount because they wouldn't remove the crapware? I'd not be complaining about that! But it goes to show how much profit they throw on top...

NT

Revo Uninstaller (free version) is worth a mention especially in the light of the Norton 60 day wonder that comes with many brand name computers these days. Revo uninstalls not only the progrma but the registry entries, files and folders it leaves behind. In the case of programs like Norton Internet Security Suite (trial) it's a gold mine of a program.

Revo also offers cleanup of junk files, a built-in windows tools interface, browser cleaner, MS office cleaner, windows cleaner, evidence remover and unrecoverable delete.
Anything I have found that Revo will not do usually turns out to be a really, really borked partial uninstall.

As annoying as it is, it is nothing new. At least on a PC the crapware can be removed. I am much more concerned with the s***--fr beyond crap--that wireless providers are loading onto smartphones. I really do not want to be forced into rooting the new phone I will be buying next month (and I cannot afford an unlocked model), but what choice do I have? At least PCs can be cleaned up without voiding a warranty.

I will stick with my iPhone.

An iPhone is, I suppose, lovely if you live somewhere that is not heavily populated, or if you want reception in most places.

Boston, NY, LA, and SF are severely under-provisioned, resulting in unacceptable delays in mail delivery, dropped calls, etc., to say nothing about the abysmal state of the ATT "network."

All cellcos s**k, but at least I can get a signal in places where ATT phones are paperweights.

And could someone PLEASE tell me why the Nanny Squad at Apple allows things like iFart, but had a cow over the 100th anniversary release of Joyce's Ulysees? The fact that iFart is the 39th most popular app does not speak well of the state of the nation or the erudition level of the FanBoyz