Can I remove the pre-installed applications ?

[starvista9]

Good Morning TechSpot.

My PC and my family's PC came with pre-installed software; CompuServe, Encartia, McAfee AV and Firewall, AOL 8.0 , AOL instant messenger.

I nor my family never have and never will use any of these applications. Would it be safe to remove these un-used applications ?

 

[Spike]

You can remove some of them, if not all.

For sure you can remove AOL, but you'll never get rid of it completely. When you uninstall AOL, be sure afterwards to search for a file called AOLBACK.exe or AOLBAK.EXE, as this sometimes gets left behind. Strangely enough, it's sole purpose is to reinstall aol, so double clicking it is a bad idea. lol

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Make a note of how you do it. If you ever have to restore from CD, you'll have to do it again!

 

[starvista9]

Update + question.

I managed to remove almost 300mb of junk last night, but I was unsure about ICQ. I was reading its a instant messenger program, but didn't know if other applications "depended" on ICQ. I forget where you can look to see what programs rely on one another, I think its in control panel >Admin Tools somewhere.

So is ICQ safe to remove ? In control panel > add/remove programs it says last used:never.

 

[Nodsu]

You can safely remove all the extra software with no harm unless it is drivers.
Nothing depends on ICQ except ICQ itself and its accessory programs.