Windows 8 crapware

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Just in case you had any doubt, new PCs loaded with Windows 8 also come pre-bloated with crapware. For those unfamiliar with the term, crapware refers to the software pre-installed on OEM systems that typically adds nothing useful, but uses up system resources and causes slowness and instability.

OEM system builders like Dell, HP, Acer and so on install the software because they make money from it: third-party software companies pay the OEM builders to install trial versions of their software. Other types of crapware originate with the OEM builder: software that delivers advertising, offers to sell more products, reminds the customer to register their software, tracks usage, and a host of other shady purposes, often presented as helpful.

Some builders offer an option to buy systems without the crapware, but that will cost you extra. A better solution is to use the free software PCDecrapifier.

ITWorld has some details on new Windows 8 crapware they’ve encountered.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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