In a maneuver that is sure to surprise absolutely nobody, the first Windows 8 PCs will of course be bundled with what’s affectionately known as “crapware”. The full list of crapware is in the linked article, but some of the crap that will be preinstalled is a 60-Day Trial Edition of Microsoft Office 2010, a 60-Day Trial Edition of Norton Internet Security Suite and Adobe Reader among others.
There is basically no way to buy a new pre-built PC or laptop that doesn’t have crapware preinstalled on it. You will spend several hours uninstalling all the junk, because of course removing the crap from Add/Remove doesn’t truly remove it. You’ll have to dig deep to get rid of the garbage with a utility like CCleaner after uninstalling, hunt and peck around in hidden directories like %APPDATA% (Start/Run/type %APPDATA%, click OK) to further remove unnecessary garbage, and so on. You’ll basically have to spend the better part of the day “de-crapifying” your brand new Windows computer…
…and that’s sad.
The only true way to have a crap-free Windows is if you install it yourself to a blank hard drive on a computer where the internet connectivity is purposely unplugged (it makes the installation process go through a whole lot quicker that way). After installation, you plug in the internet, “activate” Windows, let the system grab the updates it needs to and then you’re off to the races, so to speak.
The fact any of us have to go through this nonsense just for a quick-running crap-free Windows is just ridiculous.
And for those of you who would say, “Linux doesn’t do that!”, how wrong you are. You have to watch out even with certain Linux-based distributions for crapware these days.
Is it worth it to buy a separate copy of Windows just to avoid the crap?
I can’t give a straight yes or no answer on that question. The way I will answer is, “Only if you want the easiest possible way to have a crap-free Windows from-scratch installation.”
Personally, I know enough about the Windows operating system to where I can “de-crap” a new pre-built box properly. It takes anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, depending on how much crapware is installed, and figuring out what I can safely remove and what should stay there (example: On Acer PCs, “Acer eRecovery Management” needs to stay so you can make OS recovery discs). And believe me when I say that yes, it does in fact take that long to ‘clean out’ Windows of pre-installed crapware properly, because that crapware digs its meat hooks deep into the OS.
If I were to install Windows 7 or 8 brand new to a blank hard drive, my setup time is basically cut in half from 4 hours of de-crapifying to 2 just to wait for the OS to complete its install routines. And the only reason it takes 2 hours and not less is because of system updates afterward when the internet is plugged in.
At the end of it all, I’d be spending 100 bucks or so for a Windows license just to shave off two hours of setup time. For me, that’s not worth 100 bucks, so instead I opt to waste time (and it is a waste) de-crapifying the OS instead of installing it new from a purchased separate license.
Crapware comes pre-installed on pre-built Windows PCs and laptops, and that’s just the way it is.
Unfortunately, even with the new Windows 8, the crapware is still going to be bundled with new pre-built units. So if you thought Win8 would finally be the one that OEMs would deliver crap-free, well.. nope.
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Have you looked into the Microsoft signature series computers? They’re crapware-free. http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.MicrosoftSignature
I’ve been faced with the choice of either building a clean PC with an OEM Windows for the office…or giving in and buying a Dell and going through the ‘De-Crap’ protocol.
1– Maintaining a ‘De-Crap’ Skill set is time consuming.
2– The Necessary Information changes and grows with each new production cycle– so you need to constantly upgrade your ‘De-Crap’ skills.
3– The process of ‘De-Crapping’ a PC takes longer than just Installing a Clean OEM.
4– It was Interesting the first time I did it– but it was NEVER fun. And the ‘Interesting’ part shouldn’t involve half an afternoon. I’ve better things to do with that time.
In the end.. when you Install a Clean OEM, you only need to know ONE fixed Set-up Protocol. When it’s finished, The PC is ready. Done.
Crapware has become something we just have to live with, and I’ve come to the conclusion that so is leave-behinds from uninstalling apps. I used to obsessively delete the registry keys and leftover files/folders, but I’ve given up. For the most part, they do no harm (though as you note, certain ones in the registry are real drags on performance). I have started to install less junk apps, though, which is a good practice anyway.