When you go to the homepage of the Business Software Alliance, you see this:

When you click on that button, you see a system whereby you can “rat out” an employer using pirated software and do so anonymously. Now, a one million dollar payday would, of course, be limited to people who expose a really big case. But, a recent news release by BSA says they are expanding that program and that they have awarded $58,000 to 14 people who provided credible reports of piracy.

Continued

Engadget publishes a story today that is actually pretty infuriating. Sony, like a lot of computer manufacturers, likes to load up their new machines with loads of crapware.

Engadget actually reports that they tried to review an ultra-portable from Sony and it blue-screened on them on the first boot. As they say, that is thanks to all the bloated software that came pre-loaded on the machine.

Well, Sony learned the error of it’s ways and “solves” it. Or do they?

Actually, they are not charging a fee of $50 to remove the trial applications and games that come pre-loaded on their machine. This option is currently only available on the Vaio TZ2000. It is called “fresh start” and it is described, according to Hardware 2.0, as:

Opt for a Fresh Start™ and your VAIO PC will undergo a system optimization service where specific VAIO applications, trial software and games are removed from your unit prior to shipment. Fresh Start™ safely scrubs your PC to free up valuable hard drive space and conserve memory and processing power while maximizing overall system performance right from the start.

What a load of crap that is. As 9 to 5 Mac says, Sony is pulling its head from it’s ass - but only slightly.

If you don’t want to fuel Sony’s insanity, try PC Decrapifier instead. And whatever it doesn’t catch, I guess you’ll need to remove it yourself.

More times than not, the built in program uninstaller in Windows Add/Remove program is more than enough, but if you are looking for a bit more functionality, take a look at MyUninstaller.

MyUninstaller, in addition to the obvious function of uninstalling programs allows you do remove dead entries, view more detailed program information (including installation strings, installed paths, etc.) and export currently installed program information.

The program is free, but I expect only power users would want to take a look into this. If you are happy with the existing functionally of the Windows utility, by all means stick with. MyUninstaller, however, appears to be a great alternative for people looking for a bit more.