Most Hated Bloatware

That was in reference to your "Feature Crippling" comment. Though I would tend to agree that 100+MB is overkill for an MP3 player. I never said I don't like iTunes, I simply don't like the memory and CPU power it takes up to execute such simple tasks. I like Apple's software (hell, I own a Mac, that has to count for something) I just don't feel that I should have to sacrifice an eigth of my system memory to listen to a song.
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On my PC, iTunes doesn't use more than 20 megs of memory and usually so little CPU power it doesn't even register in the Task Manager. It does use a tad more CPU power on the iBook, because it's so much slower, but it's not too bad.



The same can be said about any software, which would make this entire thread sort of a moot point...
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Well, my point is that iDVD is not a part of Mac OS X, and is thusly not relevant to the discussion if it's a bloated OS or not. And iLife is not bloated because it uses a lot of hard drive space. Both iDVD and Garageband use a reasonable amount of space, considering what they do. The pre-made loops and themes is basically the whole point of the applications, so using a couple of megabytes of hard drive space isn't really an option for them.
 
You guys are all focusing on software. How about Dell, HP, Compaq, etc, etc? :p
 
Adobe Acrobat, and what the fuck adobe, trying to make acrobat an "ISO standard"???? This is gonna be REAL FUCKING BAD :mad:
Quicktime I wouldn't say is as bloated as Acrobat, but it does install unnecessary stuff on startup, not to mention its a shitty codec.
And here's the funniest one of them all, NORTON, ok we all know their AV sucks, but also they try to make products like "System works" and the like, trying to "speed up" my PC? LOL. Go fuck yourself?
 
protias said:
You guys are all focusing on software. How about Dell, HP, Compaq, etc, etc? :p
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I hear a lot of people complain that when they buy x brand of computer it takes them forever to uninstall all of the useless and unwanted software. Why on earth they don't just wipe the drive right away is beyond me, it would be faster and guaranteed to remove all that junk software.
 
Black Morty Rackham said:
On my PC, iTunes doesn't use more than 20 megs of memory and usually so little CPU power it doesn't even register in the Task Manager. It does use a tad more CPU power on the iBook, because it's so much slower, but it's not too bad.
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You must have one heck of a beast! I'm listening to a song right now on my MacBook (in Win XP) and it's jumping between 3-8% CPU usage and using 40MB of RAM! On a similar note, iDVD is like 60MB, I'm not complaining about that at all :p

Alex T. said:
AOL
Zonealarm
Symantec
Mcafee
RealPlayer
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/agree
 
The only antivirus my company allows me to support to customers is Norton Antivirus and with the latest version, 2007.. not only have they excluded 50% of our customer base by requiring Windows XP or Vista to install, but we have to upgrade about 75% of their system's memory as well just to run the crappy thing. Really sucks, I've pushed NOD32 several times, but they wont budge. :(

In the time it takes for me to just install Norton and update it, I can generally install NOD32, update and run a full system scan (excluding the time it takes to upgrade the customer's computer to Norton specification).
 
Logitech's Setpoint drivers aren't the worst bloatware, but they're the worst I've recently had experience with. 30+MB for something that intercepts and modifies mouse input? Holy F#ck!
 
Dell, bought a new computer from them a couple of months ago and it had the software for 5 ISP's preinstalled, and all the other crap that it had on their a new computer and it takes like 5 minutes to boot up. I feel sorry for the people out there who don't know how to do anything about it.
 
Oline61 said:
Logitech's Setpoint drivers aren't the worst bloatware, but they're the worst I've recently had experience with. 30+MB for something that intercepts and modifies mouse input? Holy F#ck!
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OMG totally dude, I have borrowed my friend's RF wireless mouse thats a "laser" type, that is, you can't see the red light at the bottom. Its got a lot of buttons, but I can't use half of them, because I really am afraid to install the software. And yes, it will take up 50 fucking megs just to use a few buttons on my mouse :rolleyes: I don't care about "profiles" or any other happy shit they try to offer us, cause I don't use them, I don't know anyone who uses them, and they're most likely for noobs.
 
norton (worse than most viruses)
quicktime
realplayer
nero
acrobat reader
hp network printer drivers/utilities (terrible stuff, there's like 99393994949 processes running when you install this shit)
logitech g15 keyboard lcd utils
 
MooCow said:
Quicktime I wouldn't say is as bloated as Acrobat, but it does install unnecessary stuff on startup, not to mention its a shitty codec.
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A) Quicktime is not a codec. Quicktime is not a codec. Quicktime is not a codec. Repeat that until you learn.
B) H.264, arguably the new "Quicktime standard codec," is great.


You must have one heck of a beast! I'm listening to a song right now on my MacBook (in Win XP) and it's jumping between 3-8% CPU usage and using 40MB of RAM! On a similar note, iDVD is like 60MB, I'm not complaining about that at all :p
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I've got a 2.59GHz Core 2 Duo running XP. On my iBook, it's about 5% CPU (less than VLC uses playing the same song).
 
bubbles said:
Adobe Acrobat reader (Alternative: Foxit Reader)
Macromedia Flash (Alternative: disable in firefox)
Quicktime
RealPlayer (Alternative: Real Alternative)
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There is a quicktime alternative too.

Anything Dell installs on its machines.
 
Just realized I missed a page on discussing the quicktime alternative. I have that installed and I'm able to view apples movie trailers and watch their movie files. I use Media Player Classic though, Ive had problems watching them with WMP11.
 
Because the codecs natively installed by QuickTime are coded to *not* work with WMP, for one thing. Also, WMP just freakin' hates anything not really supplied by Microsoft, so it requires hack jobs on the codecs to make them function properly with WMP.

Anyone that uses Media Player Classic (MPC) for 5 minutes automagically knows it's better and typically will choose it for their media player after that 5 minute test. VLC is quite nice, for what it is, but I prefer MPC for all the stuff it can do. On a feature by feature basis, I personally think MPC stomps VLC down... but that's just me.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Anyone that uses Media Player Classic (MPC) for 5 minutes automagically knows it's better and typically will choose it for their media player after that 5 minute test. VLC is quite nice, for what it is, but I prefer MPC for all the stuff it can do. On a feature by feature basis, I personally think MPC stomps VLC down... but that's just me.
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!I always thought MPC was a bit crummy. Reminds me of the old Windows Media Player, which I didn't like at all. Well, it's old WMP + way too many settings for its own good. There's a reason some settings shouldn't have a GUI, you know? :) I don't care for software coded with backwards compatibility with the last millenium in mind. A DX7 compatibility mode just seems superfluous, if you ask me. Then again, VLC really isn't much better in this regard. :p
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Guess you haven't used QuickTime Alternative then. :)

One of the absolute worst offenders in terms of being bloatware and just generally god damned fucking annoying is Adobe Acrobat. The damned thing is a pig for hard drive space, requires a significant chunk of RAM to start up, is slow, and worst of all is this:

If an update is available, it requires a reboot after the installation. That might not seem like much, but because Adobe is so ass backwards for their updates - they are NOT retro-inclusive, meaning a new update does not contain all the previous updates - it's a god damned nightmare. There are alternatives to Acrobat that can create PDF files just like it can and print them, edit them, etc, and they require 10-20x less space and a lot less on the resources side to function normally.


</rant_off> :)
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This man, speaketh the truth. Administering Adobe Acrobat in a large domain setup is a total PTIA. We have resorted to disabling the damn updates all together.

I guess it really is an individual idea about what exactly qualifies as "bloatware". I guess to sum it up, my pics would be:

Adobe Acrobat
Mcafee AV
Avast AV
Microsoft Money (puts tons of ads on the desktop)
Nero 7
Adobe Photoshop Elements
A lot of Symantec's software
Free "photo album + editing" software you get with some printers
 
Again I don't understand why they are trying to make Acrobat an industry standard now... that is such fucking bad news. Check the front page news :(

Adobe_updater000.exe :rolleyes:

Or something like Adobe_cleanup yeah! Cleaning things up by leaving a huge exe lingering around!
 
i like a lot of the listed softwares, full version of course. Bloated...hmm well havinga large HD is fine...i really dont like the bare look of alternatives though. I guess it depends on perspective
 
Its more than just HD space. In fact thats the least of my concerns. Its CPU usage and how much RAM its using, and how much we think its worth.
 
plasma said:
Norton is really bad, and 2006 internet security is the worst. These benchmarks show it creating an almost 60&#37; increase in system delay:eek:

http://www.thepcspy.com/articles/other/what_slows_windows_down/3
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Wait, what? Just having stuff like Photoshop installed, increases the time it takes to boot? Even when you don't actually run it?

Is it just the registry entries slowing things down, or what? It doesn't make sense. I hate to sound like a snide Mac user, but stuff like that never slows Mac OS X down, unless you tell it to run at start-up.



I'm not the least bit surprised about Norton, though. That shit slows anything to a crawl.
 
All of you that said symantec/norton, are you talking about the regular version or the corporate edition also? The corporate edition always seemed pretty slim for what it did.
 
GotNoRice said:
All of you that said symantec/norton, are you talking about the regular version or the corporate edition also? The corporate edition always seemed pretty slim for what it did.
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Its a common confusion since its Symantec Norton Anti-Virus/Whatever. I run the Symantec Anti-Virus (not norton) and its using 17mb ram. And it doesn't take a full 3 hours, and a special utility to remove it if I choose to, unlike its Norton branded brother.
 
Black Morty Rackham said:
Wait, what? Just having stuff like Photoshop installed, increases the time it takes to boot? Even when you don't actually run it?

Is it just the registry entries slowing things down, or what? It doesn't make sense
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I'm not positive, but I would assume it has to do with the registry entries. I've heard that Norton creates something like 10,000+ registry entries:eek:
 
bubbles said:
What are you most hated bloatwares? and the alternatives?

I dont use alot of software so these are the only ones I have to deal with often:

Adobe Acrobat reader (Alternative: Foxit Reader)
Macromedia Flash (Alternative: disable in firefox)
Quicktime
RealPlayer (Alternative: Real Alternative)
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i use foxit instead of acrobat.
i have a firefox extension block flash.
i use vlc for .mov
i dont have anything for playing real files.
i use norton, and it does slow down my system, but it was free and i prefer it over other free ones iv tried.

EDIT: oh and manufacturer oem versions of windows that ship with new pc. they come bloated as standard.
 
MichaelJB said:
i have a firefox extension block flash.
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I'm just offering a tip here, so don't chew me a new one, but the [H]ardForum rules specifically prohibit discussion about ad blocking in any possible manner. Most people will say that's got nothing to do with that admission above, but since one of the primary advertisers at [H]ardOCP and the [H]ardForum is Newegg and Newegg uses Flash-based banner ads... well... I hope you can see where this might lead.

I'm taking it to extremes, but I'm just making folks aware of the possible consequences of such a seemingly simple admission taken for granted. It could come back to bite you in the ass, unfortunately.

Just my $.02...
 
Joves said:
Also McAffe AV is way bloated and, intrusive.
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Yeah, very much so. I liked the old version, circa summer 2006 and before. When they did a huge overhaul update, suddenly I kept getting popups at everything. It tells me when Internet explorer changes its main window placement, which it does EVERY TIME I maximize or move my original window. That gets old. It also tells on itself, notifying me that it has put a scheduled scan in the startup folder. It tries to tell me that it may be unwanted or possibly dangerous. It's pretty ridiculous.

The worst part about the new McAfee, however, is the utter inability to turn it off, much less exit the program! On the old version, I just had to right click the tray icon and tell it to disable. Now, I have to open the main window (which takes 15 seconds-ish), go to some obscure tab, and THEN tell it to turn off. I usually have to do it twice to get it to work! If I were to desire to shut it down, then I would have to go into the task manager and kill each McAfee process individually. There is no "Exit" option or anything that I have come across, and I have tried. Ick.

Other bloatware:
iTunes/Quick Time (I love iTunes, but it installs shortcuts and extra programs like iPod updater and Apple Software Updater, etc... that could all be used as an internal feature within iTunes instead of multiple extraneous executables)

Norton (also pretty bad about being a control freak/impossible to kill)

Acrobat (because of constant updates)

RealPlayer, Musicmatch Jukebox, or ANY other stupid media player that needs a startup screen to load all its stupid memory-hogging .dlls. If it can't cleanly start the program without a startup screen, then it's a useless media player to me.​
 
plasma said:
I'm not positive, but I would assume it has to do with the registry entries. I've heard that Norton creates something like 10,000+ registry entries:eek:
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Something Photoshop really shouldn't need to do.



I'm just offering a tip here, so don't chew me a new one, but the [H]ardForum rules specifically prohibit discussion about ad blocking in any possible manner. Most people will say that's got nothing to do with that admission above, but since one of the primary advertisers at [H]ardOCP and the [H]ardForum is Newegg and Newegg uses Flash-based banner ads... well... I hope you can see where this might lead.
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I'm not sure the rules say that you're not allowed to use the forums unless you can see flash. I don't think browsing the [H] in Lynx would be a rules violation, even if it does mean you can't see any adverts. :)
 
Right, but people that might use Lynx aren't going around almost preaching the fact that they're running a browser that blocks Flash applets/ads/etc, now do they? That's why rule #23 is written and worded the specific way that is is:

"(23) Any discussion of AD BLOCKING software or instruction for using ad blocking regarding this forum or any other discussion in general of attempting to block advertisement will result in a no questions asked permanent ban on your account. This is not done lightly, rather deliberately to deny access to those who choose to utilize this forum, but not support our sponsors. It takes money to finance the cost of bandwidth, especially a forum of this size and if you don't care enough to support us through our advertisers, then we don't need your business. This will be the only warning with no discussion."

Saying you run Lynx isn't discussion of ad blocking; saying you run Firefox with a plugin that blocks Flash applets/ads/etc is.
 
I believe Adobe Photoshop installs startup items for small exe's setting up your corrected gamma settings. There is that gamma loader executable that probably sets the right brightness/contrast/color tone/etc to your display settings. I wouldn't mind this being put in place for a dedicated graphics machine though, if it does what I think its intended to do.

KevySaysBeNice said:
All anti-virus and related software
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No, not all.
 
If you have a dedicated graphics machine, you probably have dedicated calibration hardware as well, and don't need the Adobe gamma thing. When I installed the software for our MonacoOPTIX thing at my last job, it specifically told me that it was disabling the Adobe thing, since it'd fuck things up. :p
 
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