Exorcise the Demons That Come Preinstalled

July 24, 2008 from The New York Times – “CALL it junkware. Or call it bloatware or demoware or adware. Computer users denounce it as crapware. It’s the software preinstalled on new Windows computers. (Bloatware is entirely a Windows issue; Macs don’t have such software.) It is there, usually in a trial version, to entice users to try a particular service or buy the full-featured program.

It might be a trial version of security programs from McAfee and Norton, graphics programs from Corel, multimedia applications from Roxio, or offers from Internet service providers like Earthlink or Internet phone service providers like Vonage. Even Microsoft has stripped-down versions of its software, like Office, offered up on the desktop of a new PC.

In other words, marketers are using the computer you just bought as a billboard. The bloatware is there because software makers or service providers pay the manufacturers to install it. Most PC makers, locked in a fierce price war, want the cash to bolster their thin profit margins.

“This stuff is just a headache for consumers. When new buyers turn on their PCs, they’re not expecting to see these buttons and icons, and they become confused,” said Michael Redmond, director of software for the NPD Group, a marketing consulting firm in Port Washington, N.Y. “On the other hand, manufacturers don’t want to turn away that free money.”

180 View – One of these products from Roxio caused me a huge amount of time to get Vista working last year. Getting rid of these programs should also speed up boot-times.