Windows 7: How Slow Can You Go?

[Night Hawk]

Windows 7: How Slow Can You Go?

According to a PC Pro report, third-party crudware made the slowest PCs take more than twice as long to boot up as the fastest ones.

Harry McCracken, Technologizer
Oct 31, 2009 10:00 am




Yesterday, I wrote about the fact that Microsoft is now stripping crudware off Windows 7 PCs and selling them with its own lower-impact software suite. Here’s evidence of why that makes sense: British computer magazine PC Pro has published “The Crapware Con,” an ambitious report on the third-party software that PC manufacturers pile on top of Windows.
Thanks to such apps, the slowest PCs took more than twice as long to boot up as the fastest ones, and PC Pro is skeptical of the quality of much of the software that PC makers add. (Me too: I’ve lost track of how many Windows machines I’ve used with proprietary Wi-Fi utilities that don’t seem to do anything except make it harder to connect to a network.)

More at: Windows 7: How Slow Can You Go? - PC World

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Think that was all of it? had to do some tracking down to the original article seen on this.

The Crapware Con

Posted on 29 Oct 2009 at 14:38

Mike Jennings reveals how PC makers hobble your laptop with preinstalled software

You wouldn’t buy a new car that took five minutes to get out of first gear or a new hard disk that was already half-full of files – but plenty of people are unwittingly buying a laptop that’s been hobbled before it’s even left the factory.
That’s because crapware – the common term for “free” software that’s piled on to new PCs – can have a catastrophic effect on boot times, performance and hard disk space.




To find out which PC companies are the worst offenders, we put nine machines from the major manufacturers through a battery of tests designed to highlight where they’re being run ragged by unwanted software.

More seen at: The Crapware Con | Analysis | Features | PC Pro

 

[Uber Philf]

Fantastic reading material, lucky im running retail, no crapware for me

 

[Night Hawk]

Same here! For many this wouldn't even pose any problem since they build their own cases rather then buying anything premade.

But for those who lack experience or don't have the time for a custom desktop or simply buy a new laptop with a preinstalled OS they on the other hand get stuck with the Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony, whatever "prewares" or what we know as "Crapwares"!

 

[starwolf1336]

Same reasons i build my own machines. I know EXACTLY what is on it. I hate trying to fix someone else's machine and cant figure out what something is.

 

[SIW2]

If I rememeber correctly - Ed Boot did an article on his blog about the effort to remove the junk from oem pc,s.

I am surprised PCDecrapfier and RevoUninstaller don't get mentioned there. Handy for uninstalling unaskedforware.

 

[Night Hawk]

When Vista was still on here even on a vhd I found that loaded right up faster then the laptop a friend bought for his better half with the preinstall there on a Toshiba model. It was evident that there were some "other" startups present since hardly anything was ever installed to it!

The one thing not seen in either of those however is the fact that "bloatware" as it was previously labeled was seen for years on older ME, 2000, XP machines as well as on Vista and now 7 models! Various companies have always stuffed their own brand of "extras" you don't want on premade systems.

 

[joel406]

About 3 months ago I was in the market for a new laptop. After the usual rounds through the internet i started shopping localy. I found a Toshiba A305-S6905 at best buy with everything I wanted in a laptop with a great proce to boot. I already knew as soon as I got it out of the box the first boot would be to my Vista disk and a full format and install were a given. It was pre installed Vista HP x86. I re did it with Vista Ultimate x64.

The really funny part of the whole thing was as I was trying to purchase it the Bestbuy sales man was trying to upsell me on the same exact machine optimised by (get this) THE GEEKSQUAD!!??!!

I fought so hard to "not" flat out laugh in his face!

And they wanted an extra $40 for this "service".

Crapware installed by craptechs. Yeah thats what I want.

Damn good thing they had a factory sealed unit on hand otherwise I would have walked straight out.

 

[Lucretius]

HP: HavePhun removing the crapware

I am going to rid my notebook of the remaining "helpful" HP "tools" that came preloaded on it.

Nice find.

 

[Zidane24]

When Vista was still on here even on a vhd I found that loaded right up faster then the laptop a friend bought for his better half with the preinstall there on a Toshiba model. It was evident that there were some "other" startups present since hardly anything was ever installed to it!

The one thing not seen in either of those however is the fact that "bloatware" as it was previously labeled was seen for years on older ME, 2000, XP machines as well as on Vista and now 7 models! Various companies have always stuffed their own brand of "extras" you don't want on premade systems.

As sad as it is to say it...without that crapware, most laptops would be much more expensive than what they are...

It is a vicious cycle with un-knowledgeable members being left out in the cold.

 

[Dinesh]

The biggest crapware supplier is Dell. Buy a Dell PC with Windows 7 and you will get atleast 15 crap items which makes the performance go haywire.

 

[bobkn]

About 3 months ago I was in the market for a new laptop. After the usual rounds through the internet i started shopping localy. I found a Toshiba A305-S6905 at best buy with everything I wanted in a laptop with a great proce to boot. I already knew as soon as I got it out of the box the first boot would be to my Vista disk and a full format and install were a given. It was pre installed Vista HP x86. I re did it with Vista Ultimate x64.

The really funny part of the whole thing was as I was trying to purchase it the Bestbuy sales man was trying to upsell me on the same exact machine optimised by (get this) THE GEEKSQUAD!!??!!

I fought so hard to "not" flat out laugh in his face!

And they wanted an extera $40 for this "service".

Crapware installed by craptechs. Yeah thats what I want.

Damn good thing they had a factory sealed unit on hand otherwise I would have walked straight out.

That was more or less the reverse of the experience I had last year, with a (cheap) HP/Compaq laptop purchased at Best Buy.

They wanted $50 to scrub the crapware that came straight from HP. At least at that time, the software companies were paying the manufacturers to install the crapware. I don't believe that Best Buy was being bribed to add stuff.

For that price, I was prepared to remove it myself.

Turns out they'd already done it, so I got the service for free. I don't know what they actually did, but I didn't need to do very much additional cleanup. (Probably got rid of some time-limited commercial antivirus software, for example. I don't recall what sort was present.)

A clean install of Windows 7 has, I hope, made the machine as much mine as it can be.

 

[Zidane24]

About 3 months ago I was in the market for a new laptop. After the usual rounds through the internet i started shopping localy. I found a Toshiba A305-S6905 at best buy with everything I wanted in a laptop with a great proce to boot. I already knew as soon as I got it out of the box the first boot would be to my Vista disk and a full format and install were a given. It was pre installed Vista HP x86. I re did it with Vista Ultimate x64.

The really funny part of the whole thing was as I was trying to purchase it the Bestbuy sales man was trying to upsell me on the same exact machine optimised by (get this) THE GEEKSQUAD!!??!!

I fought so hard to "not" flat out laugh in his face!

And they wanted an extera $40 for this "service".

Crapware installed by craptechs. Yeah thats what I want.

Damn good thing they had a factory sealed unit on hand otherwise I would have walked straight out.

That was more or less the reverse of the experience I had last year, with a (cheap) HP/Compaq laptop purchased at Best Buy.

They wanted $50 to scrub the crapware that came straight from HP. At least at that time, the software companies were paying the manufacturers to install the crapware. I don't believe that Best Buy was being bribed to add stuff.

For that price, I was prepared to remove it myself.

Turns out they'd already done it, so I got the service for free. I don't know what they actually did, but I didn't need to do very much additional cleanup. (Probably got rid of some time-limited commercial antivirus software, for example. I don't recall what sort was present.)

A clean install of Windows 7 has, I hope, made the machine as much mine as it can be.

It is sad they wanted to be paid to remove crap on a laptop that you never asked for...

When you bought the laptop...you bought the laptop itself, the OS, and the license for the OS...not all of the manufacture's offers so they might squeeze a few more bucks out of you...

 

[Lucretius]

The biggest crapware supplier is Dell. Buy a Dell PC with Windows 7 and you will get atleast 15 crap items which makes the performance go haywire.

I actually think you're correct :huh:. I remember my cousin's awesome (at the time) desktop PC and the crapware that bound it like chains.

 

[Bill]

I always reformat... that's the best thing you can do..

 

[Night Hawk]

As sad as it is to say it...without that crapware, most laptops would be much more expensive than what they are...

It is a vicious cycle with un-knowledgeable members being left out in the cold.

You also have to look at the software options seen when ordering direct from one of the manufacturers as to what extras they will be charging for! hhmmm..... That can bring the price up.

As for Dell or ordering a custom gaming laptop while the support stinks they decided to offer the choice of OS shortly after Vista came out. Custom laptops is simply where you already specify things but "pay through the nose"! when you see the price tags like those at Alienware.
(gee only some $4,000-$5,000 or close!)

G ....eek Squad?! No thanks! I'll pass!

 

[Zidane24]

As sad as it is to say it...without that crapware, most laptops would be much more expensive than what they are...

It is a vicious cycle with un-knowledgeable members being left out in the cold.

You also have to look at the software options seen when ordering direct from one of the manufacturers as to what extras they will be charging for! hhmmm..... That can bring the price up.

As for Dell or ordering a custom gaming laptop while the support stinks they decided to offer the choice of OS shortly after Vista came out. Custom laptops is simply where you already specify things but "pay through the nose"! when you see the price tags like those at Alienware.
(gee only some $4,000-$5,000 or close!)

G ....eek Squad?! No thanks! I'll pass!

Funny this is the fact that an IBUYPOWER laptop (like mine) has the same power as a $5000 alienware at about 1/5 of the price...

Besides an anime wallpaper and a MMO that gets installed...no crapware from IBUYPOWER

 

[Night Hawk]

That's due to ordering the laptop the way you want it from a 3rd source not a regular brand name. If you went into a Best Buy, Target, Walmart, or an office supply store like Staples you get what comes with the laptop at one of those places as if you walked into an HP or other dealer.

Pricewise? You know that the typical price range starts off for well under $1,000 when buying one instock at one of those places. The same would be seen with any desktop models as well. But you pay far less for the prepackaging then you would at some custom order vendors(Alienware and some others of course).

Another to remember about retail chains is that companies actually pay for shelf space to have their products on display. The typical unwary consumer then gets duped into buying the crapware as part of the deal.

 

[ExNavy11]

Nice postings. You know, the cell phones are getting that way too. I just got my first pocket pc (ATT Tilt 2 running Win Mobile 6.5). And man, is that thing bloated and bogged down, EXCEPT, on with the phones they make it difficult for you to get rid of the bloatware. In nearly all cases, you cant just uninstall programs pre-loaded on there. You have to Flash to another ROM.

Its such a shame that companies are handicapping the experience of consumers right off from the start. I custom built my PC partly so I didnt have to deal with the third parties.
Ive flashed to a user created ROM for my phone, that has not only made it look nicer, its speed it up and made it smooth and fast. It should have been that way out of the box imo.