http://www.yourtechtamer.com/blog/2010/12/does-your-computer-have-alot-of-programs-you-never-use/
It’s almost the New Year (well, 10 days away), and close enough to start thinking about my New Year’s resolutions. Every year, my first resolution (after ‘taking more time for myself’) is to clear off my desk and clean up my computer. I do NOT want to admit how I fare on any of the three categories (miserably, most of the time). I might get my desk clear for a day or two, but it quickly returns to it’s former, cluttered self (I don’t know HOW that happens!?!?!?). I do better some times than others at taking time for myself. The last resolution – cleaning up my computer – rarely gets attacked…or, if it does, half-heartedly.
Why? Well, because its a pain to identify the ‘junk’ on my computer and then uninstall everything. There just never seems to be time in the day to attack this particular issue. I’d rather work on the ‘take more time for myself’ than ‘clean up my computer’ (or my desk, for that matter).
All these reasons for procrastination, or re-prioritization, were rendered moot by an article I happened upon in PC World (one of my very favorite resources for tips and tricks). “How to Remove Crapware and other Unwanted Software from your Computer” offers two great step-by-step sets of instructions (with screenshots) for cleaning up your computer. Honestly, the first approach (going into the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs) is the approach that I avoid because I’m not always sure what I need and don’t need. The second approach recommended in the article really appeals to me. PC Decrapifier is designed to ‘clean’ new computers of all the extra ‘junk’ that comes pre-installed on them – not the stuff that you install, then decide you don’t want.
I’m going to give this program a try (honestly, I haven’t tried it yet – it’s in my New Year’s resolution list!), and see how it works. I never did that when I initially set up my computer, so there may be a bunch of things just clogging the system. We’ll see. Wish me luck, and let me know how you make out on your New Year’s resolutions – particularly the technology ones!!
Happy Holidays, Everyone!!!!
7 Comments
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Thanks, Kathy!!!
Too funny that you bring this up…
I was recently having a chat with another friend about my first computer in 1982 (yes, Virginia: I really am that old!). It had two 5.25 floppy drives (hey, MOST people only had ONE) and an 8086 chip set.
A few years later I was at the vanguard again and purchased my first backup drive: tape drive with a hard drive as well and guess the size –
20MB… right that’s MEGA not GIGA bytes.
Heck, I lose 20MB every day, I’m sure. Just a couple of my photos can equal that.
So your idea of cleaning out the Crapware (what a great word – totally descriptive) should be a great idea. And then defrag, of course.
Thanks for starting this blog, Sandy – you always have great, helpful info here!
Charlie Seymour Jr
http://RepairYourOwnLegendNow.com
LOL!!! Too funny….I can certainly relate to your early adoption of technologies. I too remember those days…and before to the punch-card era. Yes, I’m older than dirt :-). When one minute of computing time equaled your processing allotment for the entire semester. If you ran out of time, you failed. Yup, a big, fat “F”.
Like you, my first computer had twin floppies – and that was considered extravagant. That computer also cost in excess of $5,000. Yup. You read correctly – $5K…and NO internal hard drive. I don’t remember the other details, but I’m sure it was along the lines of yours. I don’t know that the first computer I had with a hard-drive had one any larger than 1MB (again, MEGA-byte, not GIGA). The first laptop that I purchased had a 50MB hard drive and I was sure that there was NO WAY I would ever fill it! Imagine my surprise to find out that the operating system (Windows 95), and the initial ‘crapware’ (not my term, but I agree that it is totally descriptive) filled 50% of the drive, or 25MB. How on earth could anything fill that much space?!?!
Ah….how times have changed. Now, we’re moving beyond discussions of gigabytes to terabytes on home/business computers (not large server farms). Amazing.
Thanks for your insights, Charlie.
Sandy