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Desktops: "Junk" Free new desktops?
"Junk" Free new desktops?
by chaslosh - 4/9/07 9:43 AMI've had Dell's for years and have been generally happy, but after 3 or 4 years it gets verrrrrrry slooooooow. Knowledeable friends tell me it's because the computer came with so much junk - trial softwares, ads, etc - that load everytime I start my computer and slow everything down. I've contacted both Dell and Gateway and asked them if they offer a "clean" computer option - I'd even be willing to pay a couple of bucks for this - and they both say NO, not available. I don't get it, Dell wants over $6K for the H2C and won't even provide the minimal of personalization effort to offer a clean computer. How much do they actually make from these trial software offers from RealNetworks and the rest? It can't be much. Very dissapointing as I'll have to spend about $2K more for a Overdrive or Falcon, who do ship clean units. The Dell salesguy actually suggested that I erase a new H2C's hardrive and reload the OS from disk to avoid these nagging and unwelcome things. Some hutspah. Just venting.
Or ...
by R. Proffitt
- 4/9/07 10:03 AM
In reply to: "Junk" Free new desktops? by chaslosh
We fill the drives up or addon new toys over the years. I disagree that it's what the machine comes with.
There was a member that insisted the makers do a "clean install" for him but was unwilling to pay for the service. Not much can be offered that member.
I find the machines as offered to not suffer so much and in less than 15 minutes I can uninstall what I don't want. Why would I pay more to have someone do this for me?
Bob
run the "decrapifier" on your dell
by ramarc - 4/10/07 8:20 AM In reply to: "Junk" Free new desktops? by chasloshhttp://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/
as for the bundled software, dell does make quite a bit from it. at 50,000 units a month, an extra $2 profit per unit is good money for almost zero effort.
also, you could get a business desktop instead of one intended for "home" users. business units typically have far less crap installed.
Let's make a deal...
by Willy - 4/10/07 9:34 AM In reply to: "Junk" Free new desktops? by chasloshMany OEM's that provide thier "bundled s/w" already have made prior agreements or deals to get that s/w either as a trial or basic service for the system in order to have as an offering at certain $$$ value. You of course have the option of either using and becoming an end user, thus pay or buy the s/w and/or service and thus continue it use. Otherwise, you can de-install as well and just be rid of it. This is all an effort to get you to spend more but again the effort is lost if not ever there. But again, you may like what you have and continue its use. All-in-all most can be de-installed and be done with it. However, most users pretty much find that out within the 1st yr. of operation or less if any is kept. If you used your system for 3-4 yrs. and now find it sluggist you may have other issues/problems, but again you need to review what you want to keep in the old s/w or services. Then, do the typical housekeeping of the system wares and see what needs to be cleaned out and there you have to make decisions on what does this in s/w. like registry cleaners, past old/new pgms. never used, defrag, and pssibility your old data that can be saved offline like to CDs or ext. HDs. to lessen their storage needs. On top of all this using AV pgms. malware checkers. plus active firewall, etc. makes sense now ever done just to verify none is present. In this regard all pgms. used must be updated for best eff4ect. If all of this doesn't seem to make things better and YES sometimes restarting from scratch makes sense. You get to reload from a clean starting point redo the above suggestions and get a better handle on things from the git.
tada -----Willy 
Thanks, but...
by chaslosh - 4/10/07 2:27 PM In reply to: Let's make a deal... by WillyI'm no techie. I admit to being totally freaked by the notion of erasing the hard drive of my brand new machine and trying to reload the OS and MS Office software. I guess I could hire someone to do it. But I've also been told that these trial software garbage comes on the "restore" disks that Dell distributes with their units (as opposed to a brand new Windows Vista disk from Microsoft)as well, and if this is true then you don't get rid of it. With my current/old Dell I continue to get ads from RealNetworks asking me to buy their upgraded package, and I don't know how to get rid of it. I guess I'm just annoyed by Dell and Gateway who don't offer a clean install with their high end units that cost over $6k, without a monitor. At least Alienware promises a clean install and their not tooooo much more than the equivalent Dell. But Falcon, Voodoo, and Overdrive comparable units costs over $2k more than the same equiped Dell. Thanks all for the advise.
Not that bad, IMO
by linkit - 4/10/07 2:57 PM In reply to: Thanks, but... by chasloshYou may consider a few programs that Dell installs to be junk or clutter. I understand, but I don't think it's as bad as you portray it.
To me, this is like complaining about finding a few cigarette butts on an otherwise pristine beach. You could hire a cleaning service to remove them, but why not just dispose of them yourself, save some money, and enjoy the beach?
I do see a disconnect between your complaint and the fact that you are considering high-end gaming systems. If you want to maintain a gaming system and actually play games, you will have to be more of a "techie" than just knowing how to disable or uninstall two or three "junk" programs that Dell includes.
As for RealPlayer and similar programs, go into its Preferences and remove the 'X' next to the automatic procedures you don't want. An alternative is to go to the Add/Remove Programs control panel to completely remove whatever programs you don't want.
Wall Street Journal 0n the subject
by chaslosh - 4/12/07 7:05 AM In reply to: Not that bad, IMO by linkitInteresting article on todays and last weeks Wall Street Journal on this subject by Walt Mossberg. You can't view the entire written article unless you're a subscriber, but he has a couple of interesting short videos on the subject of crap-filled new computers that anyone can view - see link below. He seems to agree with my point that expecting normal computer buyers to be able or advised to wipe their hard drive and reinstall windows (assuming you get a full version disk which most like Dell, etc do NOT) is dangerous. He also confirms that many of the "restore" disks have this junk on them, so you accomplish nothing. I think this practice is going to become a big issue for computer sellers as folks find out that their spanking new Vista computer takes 5 minutes to start up, largely because of advertising and trial software on their startup menu.
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/1_0029.html?mod=1_0028%3Fmod%3D1_0028
So you have choices.
by R. Proffitt - 4/12/07 8:05 AM
In reply to: Wall Street Journal 0n the subject by chaslosh
Pay for a clean install, learn how or select your own OS.
Seems clear that to go cheaper the makers have to do this. If you feel it's worth the costs of a clean OS install then it can be done.
Bob
Not necessarily Dell's fault...
by romligina - 4/13/07 5:54 PM In reply to: Thanks, but... by chasloshYou have stated that AFTER 3 or 4 years of use, your computer is getting sluggish. I can only take that to mean that it wasn't as slow in the beginning when it was new. Therefore, the programs that Dell installed are apparently not the problem, since they were there from the beginning. All computers get slow after awhile if they aren't maintained on a regular basis. Every program that you install, even if only for a short period, every picture you view from your email, every web page that you visit, etc., all leave small traces of themselves on your computer. If you don't clean these out on a regular basis, they begin to slow your computer down. Essentially, you need to understand that every time you click on an icon, that sends a series of commands to your computer. The computer then begins a search for the criteria your click demanded, whether that be to open a program, view a web page or whatever. When the computer searches, the more "junk" you have on your computer, the longer the search is going to take because of all the sifting out the system has to do. That's why defragging is so important. When you defrag your system, you bring all the pertinent files together in one area, instead of the computer having to search all over for bits and pieces of the files, they are all easily accessible from one point. Thus, the search is speeded up. Same with junk files. The computer searches your whole system to find all the files linked to your original "click". If you have tons of junk files, that's just that much more searching that the system has to do before it completes it's task.
I think with a "clean install" with the recovery disc, the main point is that you now know what things you don't want on the computer. Therefore, you can do the install, and then immediately remove the programs that you do not want to keep. That way, you can start fresh, AND without all the bundled software that the makers think you should try. The uninstalls are easily done through the control panel with Add/Remove Programs. Once you have removed all the programs you want off of there, then do a defragmentation of the drive, so as to pull all the files together where they belong. This should make a big difference in how the computer runs. Also, be sure to check your startup programs so that no "reminders" or "update" checkers are running when you load Windows. These are very sneaky, and can be real resource hogs. If you need to know how, let me know, and I'd be glad to walk you through it. Good Luck!
Dell's Junk
by jchastn - 4/14/07 9:45 PM In reply to: Not necessarily Dell's fault... by romliginaI bought a kick ass top of the line computer from Dell last year, and it was loaded with a bunch of crap that was conflicting with Photoshop, and some of the other imaging software that I use. I called Dell, and for 20 bucks they sent me 2 restore discs. One has XP on it, and the other has device drivers on it. I was able to just have a clean install of Windows and put only that software that I need to use.
Try MSCONFIG
by knight38 - 4/13/07 5:43 PM In reply to: "Junk" Free new desktops? by chasloshTry this: Select "Run" in the "Start" menu, and type msconfig in the space, and hit Enter. Select the "Startup" tab, and you will see a list of all the little programs that start automatically every time you boot your computer. By unchecking the ones you don't want or need to be running, you will free up your computer's resources. You might want to put the mouse cursor on the last little boundary line at the top of the list and move it to the right, so you can see more of the location list for the programs; that way, you can usually tell what they are. Don't forget to click on the "Apply" button at the bottome before clicking on "OK". See if this helps.
You need not a tech expert
by vibrantjun - 4/13/07 6:12 PM In reply to: "Junk" Free new desktops? by chasloshGuess what? I can give some few tips to get your dell run fast again and perhaps save your $'s.
1. Go to Control panel then add/remove programs. Look for programs you don't need and remove them.
2. Explore "My Computer" and right click on C drive, left click properties and disk cleanup. it will free some unnecessary files.
3. After that, left click tools then defrag. It will arrange all your files and will give priority to your favorite program.
4. Well, ask me more if you need me. Enjoy!
A sluggish computer...
by ust1268 - 4/13/07 6:21 PM In reply to: You need not a tech expert by vibrantjunmany times means you have spyware on your computer. Have you scanned for spyware lately? There are some good free programs out there - use at least 2, maybe 3, to make sure you get it all! And scan regularly.
Slow after many years
by msgale - 4/13/07 8:24 PM In reply to: A sluggish computer... by ust1268"I've had Dell's for years and have been generally happy, but after 3 or 4 years it gets verrrrrrry slooooooow. Knowledeable friends tell me it's because the computer came with so much junk - trial softwares, ads, etc" This statement is illogical. If the "junk" were a problem, why would it take three to four years for the problemsto araise? I the "junk" were the problem, then the problems would start on day zero. I have no idea what your problem is since you posted no useful information about it.
calm down
by taylorshaylor - 4/14/07 12:29 AM In reply to: Slow after many years by msgaleI think the last comment is a bit harsh. I see no reason why that couldn't be the problem. I have a dell, and phoned them and asked them to send the OS, which they did. I did a wipe and reinstalled. You have no idea how much better it runs now. I agree that more stuff could have accumulated, but the crap dell puts on there definately slows it down. I suggest getting the cd's (you'll also need the driver disks) off dell and enlisting the help of a friend to wipe and reinstall. Its not all that difficult, just time consuming. this will also get rid of any junk thats built up since then
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