Microsoft stores reselling PCs without crapware

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Microsoft is reportedly selling PCs without the typical crapware found on proprietary Windows-based computers. Although the company resells systems from its hardware partners including Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba, the standard third-party and in-house crapware is excluded. The machines aren't entirely clean though, as Microsoft bundles some software of its own.

Installed on "Microsoft Signature PCs" are the following applications: Microsoft Security Essentials, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, Playready PC Runtime (for WMC), Adobe Flash Player for IE, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Essentials (which includes Windows Live versions of Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Toolbar, as well as the Office Live Add-In and Silverlight).

Granted, that's quite the list of software, but it's still an improvement over most systems straight from HP and others. Users would probably install a lot of the programs in one shape or another anyway, and Microsoft's packaged software could even prove helpful for the less experienced folks out there.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/36753-microsoft-stores-reselling-pcs-without-crapware.html

 

[treeski]

Are these the computers being sold on the Microsoft online store, or somewhere else?

A link would be helpful

 

[Guest]

These are the computers sold in their new ‘brick and mortar’ stores in Scottsdale, AZ and Mission Viejo, CA. I do not know if online store carries the same systems

 

[PUTALE]

it's good news because all of these crap-wares sure sucks. At least some manufacturers let you uninstall them but some won't.

 

[ebolamonkey3]

That list doesn't look too bad at all, if those are the only things on the computer.

 

[TomSEA]

That is great news and I hope other manufacturers follow MS's lead. Whenever I have friends that purchase new laptops or pre-built PC's it takes me an hour or more to get rid of all the crapware and than another hour to tweak settings for performance. Also think it's lousy marketing to innundate less than tech savvy people with a slew of pop-ups demanding they buy this, that or the other app or their PC won't work properly.

 

[beezze]

crap*****s! it should be forbidden! i álways do a fresh install as soon as i buy any new packaged pc. I recently bought got a good deal from MSI. An Awsome laptop WITHOUT OS. I was so happy!

 

[treeski]

If it is just in the stores, I hope MS starts opening more stores in more places and sooner!

 

[freedomthinker]

Well at least Microsoft is doing something useful, crapware sucks its really annoying when you get a new computer there is a bunch of crap you seriously don't need and have to spend 2-3 hours trying to get it out . Thumbs up for Microsoft !

 

[mattfrompa]

I think the apps Microsoft installed make sense.

 

[Timonius]

I would rather build my own system anyway. ZERO crapware! The only 'branding' you'll see on my system is 'inside' it. But kudos to M$ for at least reducing crapware on its machines.

 

[treeski]

I wonder if the lack of crapware will affect the computer prices though. The PC retailers would make more money off of installing the crapware for the other companies, so I figured they would be able to charge less for the PCs themselves.

 

[kafaak]

Yeah! I really hate it when my new laptop/PC comes with these crapwares. I have to uninstall them manully everytime I reinstall Windows.

 

[lynxon]

I don't think they should have all that junk in there to begin with, sure, this is a start down the right path but they've still got some stuff to remove. Although this doesn't really affect me seeing as how I just fresh install every time I get a new computer, but still!

 

[kimsland]

Trial ware is removed from the PC

Hooray :grinthumb Nothing worse than getting a brand new computer and then to spend an hour removing all the junk
Yes they mention: PC Decrapifier, but in most cases Users don't know why their Office doesn't work anymore etc etc etc
And I'm a little thankful for MSE instead of trial Norton D) or any other horrid program

 

[Whiffen]

Glad that they are starting to catch on too what more customers are wanting from a product. Personally I love things as bare as they can be so this is only good news for me.

 

[ET3D]

That's an interesting way to attract customers. Nice thought by the marketing team.

 

[guyver1]

Very good move by MS, OEM builders take note!

Wont affect me as I've never bought an off the shelf PC, I always build my own.

Geeks FTW!!

 

[JMMD]

I'm all for less crapware being installed on off the rack PC's but the amount of software that still comes included in these PC's is just out of hand:

nstalled on "Microsoft Signature PCs" are the following applications: Microsoft Security Essentials, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, Playready PC Runtime (for WMC), Adobe Flash Player for IE, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Essentials (which includes Windows Live versions of Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Toolbar, as well as the Office Live Add-In and Silverlight).

Look at that list of stuff that comes with the "no crapware" PC. Personally, I format and re-install any PC that I or anyone I know gets from Dell or Best Buy before doing anything.

 

[limpangel]

OEMs just don't get it.
Let's say you are not such a tech savy and you buy a notebook with pretty decent specs (maybe even high-end). Now, every time you boot, Vista needs between 5-10 minutes to get you to the desktop and become usable, all because of the crapware that bloat Windows.
In those moments you wish you listened to your friend and bought a Mac.

Seems Microsoft got that and OEMs should follow if they want to stay competitive with Apple.

 

[Rig]

Finally!
I got a Compaq PC once and the crapware was unbelievable. It seemed so integrated it was like it was part of the operating system.
Thankfully MS have realised that crapware really isn't the way forward.

 

[fref]

The last laptop I bought was so full of crapware that it severely affected the computer's performance. After getting rid of all the add-on toolbars, useless utilities and that dreaded Norton Antivirus, it felt like I had just upgraded the laptop's CPU and doubled the RAM. It was so much more responsive! Too bad all manufacturers do this though. Hopefully, Microsoft will inspire some of them.

 

[SoulSeeker]

fref said:
The last laptop I bought was so full of crapware that it severely affected the computer's performance. After getting rid of all the add-on toolbars, useless utilities and that dreaded Norton Antivirus, it felt like I had just upgraded the laptop's CPU and doubled the RAM. It was so much more responsive! Too bad all manufacturers do this though. Hopefully, Microsoft will inspire some of them.

Yes, those pre-installed programs make a big dent in the performance of a new PC\Laptop. Amazingly, the "normal" user never officially complains about them.
But I don't think it will "inspire" anyone... Microsoft still puts on their crapware and just leaves out the third-party stuff... so HP might be inspired to only put on HP-Related crapware etc., but thats it. A pre-configured PC will still be ready for a fresh install as soon as you buy it.

 

[waterytowers]

Its a shame they had to leave Windows installed, they left one bit of bloated crapware behind I think it is great that Microsoft is removing this stuff but I can't see OEMs going without crapware since I believe they get paid to install it. As for Mac, why use a Mac? Why pay more money for a lower spec machine? I have friends that have the iPhone and Mac disease, the iPhone is great as a portable photo viewer.

If you want to get away from bloatware, try ubuntu. The learning curve is getting shallower every release.

I use Windows, Unix and Linux at work and Windows just takes too long to get things done. I use my Windows machine for my work email and that is all. I could use my linux machine to connect to exchange but I have to use the Windows machine for something. There are not many tasks on linux that cannot be done by a quick google search. It takes me a couple of hours to get my laptop completely reinstalled and configured with ubuntu. Windows takes at least a day, once you have installed office tools, development tools, remove added bloatware etc...

 

[abautu]

@waterytowers: I like Linux and I'm an ubuntu user for long time. I support it, yet i have to admit that Windows (excepting Vista) it's much more snappier and resource friendly than Ubuntu. Especially on machines with 512MB or less. This is not true only about the OS itself, but also about software running on it (just compare Excel and OpenCalc).