Removing Bloatware from WIn XP Home

[Wobwill]

Hi,

I have heard a little about removing bloatware from XP and would like to know more about this and where I can find good advice and guides.

Please would people point me in the right direction.

Will

 

[evilfantasy]

Check out PC Decrapifier
Free: This may be freely downloaded and used for personal use.

The PC Decrapifier will uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many of the PCs from big name OEMs.
You get to see the list of items it detects and then choose what will be removed automatically.

 

[Wobwill]

Thanks Evil,

may God's love shine upon you!

Will

 

[pdyckman@comcas]

Would you pleese tell us what the hell "bloatware" is??

 

[Wobwill]

Hi,

Bloatware - large amounts of code / apps that that take up cpu and ram time as well as disk space entirely needlessly.

This is not an area that I know much about - but from what I've read vista could be said to suffer from bloatware i.e. loads and loads of 'features' that are not needed, add no real value to the computing experience and in the worst case scenario cause conflicts on the machine that result in BSOD. I believe (but please don't quote me on this) that XP also suffers from this phenomenon. From the reading I have done it appears to be an accusation levelled at Microsoft operating systems regularly and is one of the reasons to transfer to any Linux flavour of your choice (I've chosen Ubuntu on and old laptop).

I have heard of people who have delved into XP and removed large portions of code that they don't want with significant reductions in disk space and (I believe) conflict issues.

As I've said this is not an area that I know much about - that's the reason that I'm posting on a web forum about it!

Will.

 

[evilfantasy]

Software that has lots of features and requires considerable disk space and RAM. Normally pre-installed on new computers. They are usually not any good unless you buy the subscription.

Here is a nice list of examples. A few are free, but that doesn't help. People don't want their computer loaded with junk before they even turn it on.
QuickBooks Trial
NetZero Installers
Earthlink Setup Files
Corel Photo Album 6
Tiscali Internet
Wanadoo Europe Installer
Get High Speed Internet!
Internet Service Offers Launcher
Dell Search Assistant
Norton Ghost 10.0
Norton Symantec Live Update
MS Plus Photo Story 2LE
MS Plus Digital Media Installer
McAffee
Norton Internet Security
Google Desktop
Google Toolbar
AOL US
AOL UK
MusicMatch Jukebox
MusicMatch Music Services
Wild Tangent Games (Dell/HP Game Console)
Norton AntiVirus 2005
Norton Security Center
Norton AntiSpam
PC-cillin Internet Security 12
Corel Snapfire Plus SE
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
Vongo
Office 2003 Trial Assistant
Norton Protection Center
HP Rhapsody
ESPN Motion
Dell URL Assistant
Orange Internet
Digital Content Portal
Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Norton Internet Security
muvee autoProducer 5.0
AOL Install
Run Registry Entries
Desktop Icons
Startup Menu Items
Reset IE Home and Search Pages
Corel WordPerfect
Roxio RecordNow
Sonic DLA
Sonic Update Manager
Sonic RecordNow Audio
Sonic RecordNow Copy
Roxio MyDVD LE
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Quicken 2006
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Microsoft Office Activation Assistant 2007
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 14
Roxio Express Labeler

 

[LookinAround]

Also includes useless software (i.e. you don't need it or want it) that can end up on your computer when you buy a new device with an install CD. e.g. Ever notice how EVERY MANUFACTURER wants to somehow get their photo management application onto your computer (and a desktop icon and and a quick start icon and....)

Be carefull when they give you a choice of install options and the largest disk space user is always the one the manufacturer marks (Recommended) cause it always has the extra junk they want there for themselves.