Crapware

[MRC01]

Crapware on Windows boxes is perhaps the best justification for the existence of the “Apple Tax”.

First thing to do with any new computer is wipe the toy operating system that it comes with and install Linux.
No bloatware, no crapware, no malware, it won't gradually pollute your disk with garbage, more secure and more reliable, higher performance,

 

[LightninBoy]

I built a PC once with an ASUS motherboard. During the software install/driver update process, I carefully selected only the components needed trying to avoid the garbage software that comes with these. There was a selection name "DLLs" which indicates it contains required core libraries. I didn't expand it to see everything inside, I just selected it assuming/trusting it contained only DLLs.

Wouldn't you know it, fuckin Mcafree was buried in that "DLLs" selection. So it installed with the motherboard drivers. I spent the next hour figuring out how to remove that shit.

 

[JSmith]

Last I checked, the Windows AV is pretty effective, too.

It is actually rated in testing as one of the best as well... in 2023 though traditional viruses are not much of a concern. It's more malware, spyware, rootkits, browser hijacking, ransomware etc. You'll find something like Malwarebytes will find things that AV's often won't and worth running on occasion in addition to Windows Defender.


JSmith

 

[dedobot]

It is actually rated in testing as one of the best as well... in 2023 though traditional viruses are not much of a concern. It's more malware, spyware, rootkits, browser hijacking, ransomware etc. You'll find something like Malwarebytes will find things that AV's often won't and worth running on occasion in addition to Windows Defender.


JSmith

The crypto ransom viruses still very dangerous if SMB 1.x is enabled. It's often enabled like easy workaround for "something compatibility" with old soft/hardware.

 

[Ron Texas]

My conclusion is Nahamic must be some kind of spyware. Why else would they pay to have a mediocre audio enhancer placed on so many pc's and then make it hard to uninstall? I don't even recall any advertising in the app offering a paid version.

 

[anmpr1]

I bought a laptop, Lenovo brand. I uninstalled McAfee AV.

My older Lenovo laptop came with McAfee and Win 10. Against my better judgement, I upgraded to 11. The machine never ran right after that--very slow. I was able to deselect all GUI 'performance enhancements', and that helped with the speed issue. I was going to go back to 10, but the time for that had expired. They give you a month, I think. Thanks for that, MS.

In order to help the machine (I thought), I did a reset and new install, but inadvertently checked the 'keep my files' option. Once done, the machine ran better, but I noticed that McAfee was still an active process. However McAfee was not showing as an installed app, as I had previously deleted it. Evidently the company 'hides' their footprint, but like Freddie K., it never really dies.

I downloaded the official McAfee file uninstaller from their Website, and it showed that it was uninstalling all the McAfee stuff. However, once done, I still have a couple of McAfee folders that are somehow protected, and cannot be removed by a simple 'delete' command. And the process still shows in Task Manager. They really don't want you to remove their garbage.

I only use this machine to control my Tone Studio software. It's not connected to the Net. I'm going to totally reset it, which should (I hope) wipe everything clean.

I have such a low opinion of Lenovo, but they all add the garbage, so I can't single them out. On the other hand, I have always held MS is contempt, and I didn't think it would be possible for me to dislike a company even more than I dislike MS. But McAfee tops them. Together, MS and McAfee should share a special place in Hell.

If Tone Studio worked in Linux, I'd attempt that.

 

[bloodshoteyed]

besides a fresh install on every machine i got, i also prefer to debloat Win using Titus's tool

 

[fpitas]

My conclusion is Nahamic must be some kind of spyware. Why else would they pay to have a mediocre audio enhancer placed on so many pc's and then make it hard to uninstall? I don't even recall any advertising in the app offering a paid version.

Why that's just paranoia. BTW can you point your camera a little better? We can't see what's going on in the room.

 

[Philbo King]

My standard procedure for new PCs full of crapware:
- Format the C: drive
- Fresh install of the desired OS. (That's been Linux lately)

You can't just try to starve the beast, you have to slay it...

 

[Ron Texas]

Why that's just paranoia. BTW can you point your camera a little better? We can't see what's going on in the room.

This Nahimic crap appears to only come on gaming machines although it is delivered by the driver update utility which comes with MSI motherboards. My guess is it phones home with telemetry related to gaming.

@Philbo King If you can live with Linux that's fine. However, LInux has only a 2% share of the desktop market. I guess it's because the Microsoft/Apple cartel has conspired to keep it that way. They probably paid off Adobe to not make native Linux versions of their software. LOL.

 

[JeffS7444]

I lost interest in Windows Hello when I read Microsoft’s privacy policy, which stated they’d use biometric data to identify you if you visited Windows stores (back when they existed), and I figured that they’d be happy to sell the data to 3rd parties for the right price. Apple claims that such biometric data never leaves their devices, at least not while they remain so super-profitable that they can afford to leave a few million $ sitting on their table.

I performed a clean W10 Pro install onto my Lenovo Thinkcentre using generic Microsoft installer. IIRC, some Lenovo software may have nevertheless gotten auto-installed via Windows updates, but I was in no mood to hack the Windows registry in order to block it. I periodically check to see what software is currently installed, and what processes are running, but to date have not found anything alarming.

Also have AdguardHome acting as ad-blocker and DNS server. The later because my router doesn’t allow me to switch off IPv6 networking except by turning off DNS altogether. Discovered lots of web advertisements use IPv6 to evade casual attempts at blocking.

 

[Spocko]

Buy a Mac and never look back.

Or if you need that "windows" look and feel, run some version of Linux where you have complete control.
I'm too lazy and have converted to mostly Mac too.
The biggest bloatware criminal has got to be the Chrome browser, ugh talk about resource hog for no reason.

 

[Spocko]

This Nahimic crap appears to only come on gaming machines although it is delivered by the driver update utility which comes with MSI motherboards. My guess is it phones home with telemetry related to gaming.

@Philbo King If you can live with Linux that's fine. However, LInux has only a 2% share of the desktop market. I guess it's because the Microsoft/Apple cartel has conspired to keep it that way. They probably paid off Adobe to not make native Linux versions of their software. LOL.

With the power and affordability of today's RAM/CPU/GPUs, you can brute force the speed without native versions of most productivity software (other than highly specialized software like video editing, etc.)

 

[Ron Texas]

With the power and affordability of today's RAM/CPU/GPUs, you can brute force the speed without native versions of most productivity software (other than highly specialized software like video editing, etc.)

Well Mabey. Every time someone mentions Linux I say but what about Adobe? Then the Linux crowd says no problem. It's like the reality that Linux has not gotten past 2% of the desktop market does not exist. Is Photoshop highly specialized?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Well Mabey. Every time someone mentions Linux I say but what about Adobe? Then the Linux crowd says no problem. It's like the reality that Linux has not gotten past 2% of the desktop market does not exist. Is Photoshop highly specialized?

I wonder about that 2%. I know quite a few people who use Linux at well more than 2%. It isn't 20%, but 2% is a little hard to swallow.

In any case, plenty of issues with linux, and plenty of benefits. There are linux alternatives to Photoshop that are quite usable. I'm thinking if you are a pro maybe you just need the standard thing in photoshop. I have issues with all the main computer and phone OS's. So there are tradeoffs with all. I much prefer linux and it isn't nearly so much effort as it once was. In many ways it is less effort. I have to keep something else for a few edge cases. Mainly it seems like freedom.

 

[Doodski]

Is Photoshop highly specialized?

For Linux I used GIMP extensively for making fakies, editing photos and creating GIFs. I used GIMP on both Windows and Linux boxes and it performed with stability and generally it was tricky to find stuff and that's what reviewers have stated as well. GIMP is techy stuff to operate. Photoshop is easier for finding stuff.

 

[Spocko]

Well Mabey. Every time someone mentions Linux I say but what about Adobe? Then the Linux crowd says no problem. It's like the reality that Linux has not gotten past 2% of the desktop market does not exist. Is Photoshop highly specialized?

Sadly, professionals that consider "time is money" will not run Photoshop unless it's native, putting up with crapware as the necessary evil for productivity gains.

 

[Spocko]

For Linux I used GIMP extensively for making fakies, editing photos and creating GIFs. I used GIMP on both Windows and Linux boxes and it performed with stability and generally it was tricky to find stuff and that's what reviewers have stated as well. GIMP is techy stuff to operate. Photoshop is easier for finding stuff.

I prefer GIMP too and on the Mac I use Pixelmator Pro.

 

[Doodski]

Pixelmator Pro

I googled it and it appears very nice to look at. Is it more a arts painting tool or a photo manipulation tool?

 

[Spocko]

I googled it and it appears very nice to look at. Is it more a arts painting tool or a photo manipulation tool?

photo manipulation! I use it to strip out backgrounds, etc.