PC Decrapifier

[Lemur]

One of the most time-consuming, irritating things I have to do as the family & neighborhood geek is stripping the weird, messed-up junk that gets shipped with commercially built PCs. I just stumbled across The PC Decrapifier, an I'm wondering if anyone here has ever used it? It's freeware, which is a good thing, but does it work?

If anybody has any experience with this app, please post. I'm afraid it's too good to be true.

[Adrian II]

If anybody has any experience with this app, please post. I'm afraid it's too good to be true.

This one might, just might, be the magic bullet I've been looking for since, oh... since I started wiping everything tagged 'Norton' from every new computer I bought. Norton Utilities in particular is a disaster. Search and destroy!

The PC World review which they quote is rather positive. Gonna look into this.

Thanks.

[Husar]

It's one of those bloatware things people install by the dozens to keep their PC "clean". And then wonder why it still isn't faster when they have three dozen bloatware/virus/whatever scanners running in the background.
When they mess up, reinstall their Windows, let them loose all their data and tell them it will not happen again if they're careful and watch what they install, that'll teach them.

Also good for you Adrian, Norton is one of those bloatwares as well, I hope you don't use zone alarm now, it was so weird when my friend had to close it down before playing some game because somehow the game could never start as long as the firewall ran.
Seriously, there are so many alternatives, why would anyone keep such bloatware?
rant over

[Quirinus]

Stupid question here.... what exactly is 'bloatware'?

[Adrian II]

Stupid question here.... what exactly is 'bloatware'?

Let me explain this by example.

Like the Lemur here, I run a bunch of 'family and neighbourhood' computers. We mail and surf, we play games, we download from sites, USB sticks and CD-roms, we do everything that's out there.

I have managed to keep them virus-free for six years by three simple devices:

1. Avira AntiVir Personal (freeware)
2. Eusing Registry Cleaner (freeware)
3. The Human Brain (shareware) that says, i.a., "when in doubt, do not open attachment"

In short, everything else is bloatware: it bloats your computer, eats into its memory, slows down performance and causes game CTD's and other malfunctions.

Now, a lot of this bloatware is either hidden or interwoven with essential software. Producers do this in order to prevent your from wiping it. What we are looking for is a freeware program that disentangles this mess, marks everything useless or harmful with a and destroys it at your command. That includes unnecessary services (that run during other programs), code bloat (unnecessary code produced by inefficient software) and redundant or false registry entries (which slow down your performance).

P.S. FYI I am a complete moron when it comes to computers, I hardly handle MS-DOS and it took me a year to understand what 'updating your drivers' meant. So if I can manage to keep computers clean and fast this way, every other imbecile can.

[caravel]

it was so weird when my friend had to close it down before playing some game because somehow the game could never start as long as the firewall ran.

Probably the game was trying to access the LAN and the firewall blocked it from doing so. I have had this problem a few times with even the windows firewall (not that I use the windows firewall these days but if it came down to a choice between that and buying a crapware product such as Norton, then the windows firewall wins hands down).

Personal firewalls fit the bloatware category IMHO. You're better off running a firewall such as the SPI firewalls found on most NAT routers. Personal firewalls tend to be based on "scareware" marketing principles in that the average user will buy one of these products and then clamour over the fact that it blocked ten trillion "threats" while he/she was online. These so called "threats", as most of us here know, are nothing but normal internet traffic, but this type of firewall software likes to make a big show to justify it's being on your computer in the first place and gives the impression to the user that every hacker on the planet is trying to infiltrate his/her windows box.

[Adrian II]

These so called "threats", as most of us here know, are nothing but normal internet traffic, but this type of firewall software likes to make a big show to justify it's being on your computer in the first place and gives the impression to the user that every hacker on the planet is trying to infiltrate his/her windows box.

[Lemur]

It's one of those bloatware things people install by the dozens to keep their PC "clean". And then wonder why it still isn't faster when they have three dozen bloatware/virus/whatever scanners running in the background.

Just to clarify -- you have personal experience with this app, or you're surmising from principle?

[seireikhaan]

Hmm... I've got no experience with this specific item. However, I have used Ccleaner with pretty solid success and have found it has helped keep my relatively ancient computer running at decent speed(as well as saving a bit of hd space as well).

[Caius]

I managed to had clean the pc from all the crap out there...with IE and all. I had clean my pc, looks like i was wrong.

[Drisos]

3. The Human Brain (shareware) that says, i.a., "when in doubt, do not open attachment"

I have this program too! Works amazingly well! It malfunctions sometimes though, when I get home in the middle of the night after a heavy thursday evening.

Not going to crappy sites, not opening attachments to crappy mails, etc etc, those help a lot.

I'm on AVG + Spybot:S&D, and have CCleaner for cleaning up once in a while.

[Adrian II]

I have this program too! Works amazingly well! It malfunctions sometimes though, when I get home in the middle of the night after a heavy thursday evening.

Not going to crappy sites, not opening attachments to crappy mails, etc etc, those help a lot.

I'm on AVG + Spybot:S&D, and have CCleaner for cleaning up once in a while.

Yeah, it's a pity that its use is limited and some can't afford the license. Usually, that's how the leaks in your security start.

[Adrian II]

I apologise for the doublepost, but it's been a while since the last one and there is a new development.

Oh well, not a spectacular one. But today being a good day for experiments at the Adrianses, I decided to give this thing a try. So I installed and ran the Decrapifier on a 10 month old Acer with Vista Home Premium -- and I was quite disappointed.

First off, I got a message saying it couldn't find any crap on my computer that was worth wiping. I suppose that by their standards I have sufficiently decrapped the thing myself over the past 10 months.

However, after I had closed the program and rebooted (ever the cautious amateur) it appeared that it had inadvertently wiped my usual start page and replaced it by the MSN start page.

Something I hadn't asked for.
Cleaning personal preferences or caches isn't even in the list of options of the Decrapifier.
Yet it had managed to do this.
Without my consent.

And in computerland, my friends, that is a definite no-no.

[Lemur]

Well, that answers that. Thanks for playing.