My Acer didn't come with too much 3rd party software, I was quite surprised. I'd be running Trisquel (a Linux distro) right now but I need MS SilverLight to run my labsims. Sad world atm, running an entire OS just to use a plugin.
Besides that it usually turns out to be cheaper, that's another reason why I just buy all the parts and put the computer together myself :P I hate dealing with bloatware >.<
I just got an Asus monitor also, it had 10+ stickers across the bottom of the frame, good thing my wife is an arts and crafts nut and had some kind of glue remove that worked perfectly so it looks as if the stickers were never there.
I hate peeling those off and having the residue left behind...
__________________
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."
My Acer didn't come with too much 3rd party software, I was quite surprised. I'd be running Trisquel (a Linux distro) right now but I need MS SilverLight to run my labsims. Sad world atm, running an entire OS just to use a plugin.
Device(s): Huawei Ascend M860 (Defunct, coworker bricked the phone by her boot).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vehtemas
The amount of CRAP that manufacturers put on a new laptop...
I just got a new Asus from Amazon and I removed most of the gunk and it was still having multiple issues...
So, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate and then installed all the drivers and it works perfectly...
Seriously, STOP putting crap on these machines that Windows handles perfectly fine!!! Freaking ridiculous.
The only way to get NOTHING of Third Party Bloatware and Trial Pot o Crap is to use a RTM/OEM Copy of Windows.
Heh, I wish they would but many people have said it and I can confirm it after talking to a tech from HP, its put on there due to several complicated contracts, promotions, payment, stuff...
However, only thing to watch out for when doing this, even with a Retail CD, is that Firmware and Drivers for lets say, Quick Keys, and other stuff, is a Royal Pain to find and reinstall...much less get it working. Had to find around 10-15 different drivers and apps for a Acer Aspire...so many different 'non-genetic' keys...
They get paid to put that crap on laptops; the more they put on there, the more they make. It sucks, but that is how they work.
Maybe one reason why Macs are so expensive, Apple don't do this. Although just because a computer is expensive, dosen't necessarily mean it's not going to have lots of crapware... ahem Sony Vaio.
I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a Fujitsu PC in HK a few months ago, no crapware, adverts, demos and trials at all, just had the essentials to make it work.
They get paid to put that crap on laptops; the more they put on there, the more they make. It sucks, but that is how they work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikedt
Maybe one reason why Macs are so expensive, Apple don't do this. Although just because a computer is expensive, dosen't necessarily mean it's not going to have lots of crapware... ahem Sony Vaio.
I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a Fujitsu PC in HK a few months ago, no crapware, adverts, demos and trials at all, just had the essentials to make it work.
It's not just that the OEMs make money off of this. It's also a form of subsidizing the true value of the laptop / desktop.
I'm with everyone else - format and reinstall. Finding obscure drivers can be a PITA sometimes, and as I've never actually looked for drivers for ASUS machines I cannot say, but most things are out there.
Finally, as for building your own, it's rather easy with desktops, not nearly so with laptops.
Device(s): Huawei Ascend M860 (Defunct, coworker bricked the phone by her boot).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnlgalt
It's not just that the OEMs make money off of this. It's also a form of subsidizing the true value of the laptop / desktop.
I'm with everyone else - format and reinstall. Finding obscure drivers can be a PITA sometimes, and as I've never actually looked for drivers for ASUS machines I cannot say, but most things are out there.
Finally, as for building your own, it's rather easy with desktops, not nearly so with laptops.
You sir, have essentially placed the Crème de la crème on this
While the hassle for it may look to diminish hopes for newbies, the outcomes are SO worth it.
I hear ASUS are on the level of well placed HURT when searching for drivers...so much scam out there...
As for laptops, I really don't think its possible to 'build your own'. Its not easy, your best bet is to really look up and through for the specs.
Maybe one reason why Macs are so expensive, Apple don't do this. Although just because a computer is expensive, dosen't necessarily mean it's not going to have lots of crapware... ahem Sony Vaio.
I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a Fujitsu PC in HK a few months ago, no crapware, adverts, demos and trials at all, just had the essentials to make it work.
Apple's are expensive because they make a crap ton of profit on them...
a $2,000 Apple laptop has around 500-1,000 in profit on it...
The amount of CRAP that manufacturers put on a new laptop...
I just got a new Asus from Amazon and I removed most of the gunk and it was still having multiple issues...
So, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate and then installed all the drivers and it works perfectly...
Seriously, STOP putting crap on these machines that Windows handles perfectly fine!!! Freaking ridiculous.
Since Linux distros have come so far in the past several years, I've been in the habit of purchasing a spare hard drive and installing Sabayon, Mint or PCLinuxOS on it, then swapping back to the loaded up Windows hard drive/OS and gradually removing the fat.
That way I can get work done on a fast machine with a fast, secure OS (Linux) and when in the mood, work with the other one. I've done that through "Millennium Edition" of Windows all the way through XP, Vista and now Windows 7.
Apple's are expensive because they make a crap ton of profit on them...
a $2,000 Apple laptop has around 500-1,000 in profit on it...
Probably the same with a $2,000 Sony Vaio as well, and you still get a load of crapware and junk, as well as lousy after-sales support. That's why I mentioned them in my first post.
Norton Internet Security™ 2011 30-Day Trial...now here's a good way to cripple a new PC's performance.
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (reduced functionality Word and Excel®)...'reduced functionality' probably meaning there's no spelling checker, or it wont print or save documents.
"Never ceases to amaze me...", indeed.
I think the best way to avoid bundled crapware with a PC, is to buy a machine intended for business and NOT consumer use. Business grade machines sometimes tend to have a significantly higher cost of course, e.g. Lenovo Thinkpads as opposed to the consumer Ideapads.
Since Linux distros have come so far in the past several years, I've been in the habit of purchasing a spare hard drive and installing Sabayon, Mint or PCLinuxOS on it, then swapping back to the loaded up Windows hard drive/OS and gradually removing the fat.
That way I can get work done on a fast machine with a fast, secure OS (Linux) and when in the mood, work with the other one. I've done that through "Millennium Edition" of Windows all the way through XP, Vista and now Windows 7.
This is a pretty damn good idea actually.
However, I have a couple copies of Windows 7 Ultimate, I first try to find a driver disk that I can make a copy of (granted most of them stopped doing this, but Samsung still allows this), if I can't make a copy of it, I will go to the website and download all of the drivers and necessary utilities (the function key utilities).
Then, I install Windows 7 Ultimate, perform the updates, install the drivers, and then proceed to encrypt the drive via true crypt.
In fact my drive is down to 80 minutes left to finishing its encryption.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikedt
Probably the same with a $2,000 Sony Vaio as well, and you still get a load of crapware and junk, as well as lousy after-sales support. That's why I mentioned them in my first post.
Norton Internet Security™ 2011 30-Day Trial...now here's a good way to cripple a new PC's performance.
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (reduced functionality Word and Excel®)...'reduced functionality' probably meaning there's no spelling checker, or it wont print or save documents.
"Never ceases to amaze me...", indeed.
I think the best way to avoid bundled crapware with a PC, is to buy a machine intended for business and NOT consumer use. Business grade machines sometimes tend to have a significantly higher cost of course, e.g. Lenovo Thinkpads as opposed to the consumer Ideapads.
Apple's are expensive because they make a crap ton of profit on them...
a $2,000 Apple laptop has around 500-1,000 in profit on it...
Actually, they make the profit because of the price. Not the other way around.
OEMs are selling computers as cheaply as possible, as noted below in another post I'll reply to, and the only way they can do that is to get subsidized with crapware.
Since Linux distros have come so far in the past several years, I've been in the habit of purchasing a spare hard drive and installing Sabayon, Mint or PCLinuxOS on it, then swapping back to the loaded up Windows hard drive/OS and gradually removing the fat.
That way I can get work done on a fast machine with a fast, secure OS (Linux) and when in the mood, work with the other one. I've done that through "Millennium Edition" of Windows all the way through XP, Vista and now Windows 7.
Nice idea. I'd personally want a Malibal laptop with an eSATA port so that I could use an eSATA enabled / ready external so as to not have ot worry about slower USB performance.
Or, at the very least, a USB 3 drive. But, yeah, modern distros are great - and if you can get in there and compile your own kernel so it loads only what hardware you have installed (plus an additional driver module or two for things like USB Keys and external HDs) you're set with a super fast boot time to boot (pun intended).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikedt
Probably the same with a $2,000 Sony Vaio as well, and you still get a load of crapware and junk, as well as lousy after-sales support. That's why I mentioned them in my first post.
Norton Internet Security™ 2011 30-Day Trial...now here's a good way to cripple a new PC's performance.
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (reduced functionality Word and Excel®)...'reduced functionality' probably meaning there's no spelling checker, or it wont print or save documents.
"Never ceases to amaze me...", indeed.
I think the best way to avoid bundled crapware with a PC, is to buy a machine intended for business and NOT consumer use. Business grade machines sometimes tend to have a significantly higher cost of course, e.g. Lenovo Thinkpads as opposed to the consumer Ideapads.
Yeah, that SONY is overpriced to begin with - but you also get a lot of sweet things. Dual SSDs in RAID 5 standard - size is your only choice, dual 64s, 128s or 256s. You also get double charger / power cords, the dock thing thrown in (which they probably value at $300), fast RAM, and all customized into a very tiny footprint. Without the minimal bloat they are offering the laptop would probably be $500 more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vehtemas
This is a pretty damn good idea actually.
However, I have a couple copies of Windows 7 Ultimate, I first try to find a driver disk that I can make a copy of (granted most of them stopped doing this, but Samsung still allows this), if I can't make a copy of it, I will go to the website and download all of the drivers and necessary utilities (the function key utilities).
Then, I install Windows 7 Ultimate, perform the updates, install the drivers, and then proceed to encrypt the drive via true crypt.
In fact my drive is down to 80 minutes left to finishing its encryption.
I wish there was an option that I could pay an extra $50 and have all the excess crap come NOT installed...
Problem is that it would be more like $500 as opposed to $50
________________
I'd love to be able to afford the $8000+ Laptop I configured at Malibal - all my way all desktop replacement. Still, though, very little bloat on it b/c I won't let it come with bloat.
I picked up a Vaio SA not too long ago, the bloat wasn't so bad. Takes just a few minutes to hunt down and delete the unnecessary things.
Also, Sony has an option to do a "fresh start" for nothing but the catch is you need Win 7 Pro which adds $50. I think it will also delete any good software that comes with the computer...like the Adobe bundle they have been giving, but you can get those back from Sony anyways so in that sense the only cost is your time.
wipe and reload EVERY time for me too. lucky for me my school gave me win7 ultimate w/ unlimited license use
DAMN! Ultimate with unlimited licenses!?
We get Professional and get one key per semester and have to request any extras that we need. That's awesome though. 'Unlimited' is one of my favorite words.
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We get Professional and get one key per semester and have to request any extras that we need. That's awesome though. 'Unlimited' is one of my favorite words.
I have 4 license keys for Ultimate myself.
One is currently in use on this laptop I am typing on and the other 3 are not in use, just waiting for me to build a PC or work on them...
Wowza! That's quite nice. I have one xp key, and two 7 Pro keys. But, we're doing a lot of virtualization this semester, so I'll have to request some new keys.
I have a Technet license - it includes 10 licenses of All the different flavors, (including differentiating the K/N flavors too) plus an unlimited activation of Windows 7 Enterprise.
Same thing with Vista, XP, Server 2008 r2, Server 2008, Server 2003,.....
office 2010, 2007, 2003, XP, ....
Publishers, Vision, Project and Project Server....
There's is so much on that thing for a single $250 payment every year - it pays for itself the first time you DL and install Win 7 on a machine. I originally bought it so that I got 10 new licenses instead of 5, and I claimed all of them before they changed their policy....
I have a Technet license - it includes 10 licenses of All the different flavors, (including differentiating the K/N flavors too) plus an unlimited activation of Windows 7 Enterprise.
Same thing with Vista, XP, Server 2008 r2, Server 2008, Server 2003,.....
office 2010, 2007, 2003, XP, ....
Publishers, Vision, Project and Project Server....
There's is so much on that thing for a single $250 payment every year - it pays for itself the first time you DL and install Win 7 on a machine. I originally bought it so that I got 10 new licenses instead of 5, and I claimed all of them before they changed their policy....
I miss technet access, but with one laptop there isn't really any benefit or reason to look into obtaining one...
The biggest thing I hate about having multiple licenses? Having to reinstall them... The online installation no longer works so you have to do the telephone one which is very picky on how you say stuff.
*Edit*
I have been thinking of trying to find a friend who wants to go in half/half or a couple who want to go in half/half/half and just share the licenses.
With my Technet licenses, I've yet to call M$ for anything. Everything goes on through without a hitch. I recently installed the same copy of W7 using the same key 4 times in a week - when the system died, on a spare drive, then on one of the replacement 1TB drives, then on another spare drive and finally on the replacement SSD - every time I got my nice little
I forgot to mention WHS, too, which is a major plus since I'm in the process of setting on up at the home to help prevent future meltdowns that destroy 10 years worth of pictures, downloads, and data.
The last time I actually had to call M$ was when I was setting up a lab at school, using a VLK disc of Vista that was purchased specifically for the room. We had 12 iMacs running Tiger, and I went around and installed rEFIt and activated Boot Camp on the machines, then installed Vista on all 25. After the 4th install, I go declined - called them up and they were like "Well, it was a little suspicious since you were sending us back to back activations within minutes of each other - we'll authorize them now."
I really like Driver Genius for when I format and re-install my OS. You can backup all those pesky drivers for the shortcut keys and things like that to an external and then reload the OS and toss 'em all back in.
I really like Driver Genius for when I format and re-install my OS. You can backup all those pesky drivers for the shortcut keys and things like that to an external and then reload the OS and toss 'em all back in.
How does that work for you? I have never tried those driver finders, mainly because of one such program that screwed up my computer 4 years ago (got a KILLER virus/trojan infection).
I found a bat file on pcworld or some pc type publication that does drive backup and restore. I haven't actually tried it, but I did use it to back up to a disk.
Think it worked. Looked like it work. :|
How does that work for you? I have never tried those driver finders, mainly because of one such program that screwed up my computer 4 years ago (got a KILLER virus/trojan infection).
Its as simple as a GUI that says Backup Drivers and you pick a location and it copies them all there lol
It also searches like 20+ sites and auto downloads drivers as well. I haven't had any problems with it so far.
Driver Max is another one, although they do get pesky trying to make you pay for it.
@9-5 - I'd be interested in that bat file - I'm old enough to have written my own bat files in the past, and I'd love to see how they went about it for modern OSs....
Driver Max is another one, although they do get pesky trying to make you pay for it.
@9-5 - I'd be interested in that bat file - I'm old enough to have written my own bat files in the past, and I'd love to see how they went about it for modern OSs....
I'll look for it, I'm sure I kept a copy somewhere ...
Looking at it, it doesn't look like it actually can restore anything, but still pretty cool. I'm all for bat files.
Code:
echo off
echo This driver backup batch file was developed by Lincoln Spector
echo for PC World. It will back up the folders containing your
echo hardware drivers to a folder called driverback inside My Documents.
pause
%homedrive%
cd "%homepath%\my documents"
md driverback
cd driverback
xcopy %windir%\help /y
xcopy %windir%\inf /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system32 /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system32\drivers /r /y
cd ..
attrib -h driverback
echo The folders are backed up. You should now copy the contents of the
echo driverback folder to a CD.
pause
cls
Here's the code from the bat file. Faster doing a copy/paste than an actual upload
Last edited by 9to5cynic; September 5th, 2011 at 12:00 AM.
Reason: hiding the code, should look nicer.
And improve upon it by having it figure out what the current OS is and if it is Vista+ then have it use RoboCopy instead of Xcopy....
I wonder, though, since it is only copying those files, what about drivers that don't actually get copied to those files (I'm sure there are some whack hardware out there that do that on purpose....)
I have plenty of it. The installation files, the .INF files used to store info for the drivers, along with other sundry files, are all there. But it's only picking from the windows subtree.
I'll check it out and maybe compare it with Driver Max and see if there is a difference or not...
Seriously.
Last time I went shopping for crap, it came with a laptop.
*Zing!*
I hate crapware. Luckily the only laptop I have now is a Mac that comes with little crapware, and my Windows computer is a custom build PC so I don't have to deal with that.
There is also Clonezilla for imaging. I've used that in the past (well, I was going to, but then I realized I didn't have a hard drive big enough to match my current on :O )
Of course, you could always venture the path of dd
I have a Technet license - it includes 10 licenses of All the different flavors, (including differentiating the K/N flavors too) plus an unlimited activation of Windows 7 Enterprise.
Same thing with Vista, XP, Server 2008 r2, Server 2008, Server 2003,.....
office 2010, 2007, 2003, XP, ....
Publishers, Vision, Project and Project Server....
There's is so much on that thing for a single $250 payment every year - it pays for itself the first time you DL and install Win 7 on a machine. I originally bought it so that I got 10 new licenses instead of 5, and I claimed all of them before they changed their policy....
Yeah technet is great, especially for the self trainer. If / When my career picks up again after this damned recession - I will definitely be looking to re-invest.
I've got a quick question for you technet guys... is that 10 licenses for each version of each OS? (Ie, ten for Pro, home, Vista and it's variants...) or Ten total plus the Unlimited Enterprise...?
Do they renew each year? I'm seriously considering this.
It used to be 10 - last year they changed it to 5.
So, a new user has 5 licenses of Windows 7 Ultimate / Ultimate K (32 bit and 64 bit use same key), 5 licenses for Windows 7 Ultimate N / NK, 5 licenses of Windows 7 Professional / Professional K, 5 licenses for Windows 7 Professional N / NK, etc.
Same with Office - 5 licenses of Office 2010 Professional Plus, 5 licenses for Office 2010 standard, 5 licenses for Access 2010, Outlook 2010, Word 2010, Visio 2010, Publisher 2010, ....
And yes, it renews every year. The lowest membership has stipulations that you cannot be using the software for any real world (read: business) practices, but other than that it's all live.
There is so much that you get for ~$350 (and they usually offer discounts of up to $100 off / 25% off as well) that no matter how many years you buy it, it is almost always going to be costing you 10-20 time sless than actually buying the software at retail prices.
Last edited by johnlgalt; September 9th, 2011 at 11:06 PM.
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Never ceases to amaze me...
