Flushing Crapware
It's been a while since I bought a new computer from a retail store. The last three times they were Macs from the utterly pretentious (and kind of creepy) Apple stores, and each time they went to one of my kids. And in no case were they loaded with a bunch of third-party crapware.
Meanwhile, I've had dozens of PCs that were loaded with this junk.
In the rare cases when they were thusly bogged down, I swiftly (but not always easily) removed it. This garbage clogs the desktop, clutters the hard drive, and makes your PC perform like it's running in mud.
Now, Microsoft is offering to remove the vileness for a mere $99 (can't they round up to $100? What are they, Kmart?).
My initial reaction: "It is charging to remove what they are responsible for in the first place?!"
Then I read the full article and the comments below, and was set to thinking. Microsoft may dictate a lot to OEMs, but it doesn't tell them each and every piece of software they can throw on a machine before it goes out the door. One article reader pointed out that he is often asked to get rid of all this software -- and it is worth more than $100 of his time.
If Microsoft can do a good job for that amount of cash and stand behind its work, my hat is fully off to it!
What is your take? Share your thoughts a [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/23/2012 at 1:19 PM