New laptop – bloatware to remove

My old laptop was old when I got it, and I just realised that was four years ago. I tried to breathe a little more life into it by putting Linux on it… with some success, but I’ve got some stuff I need Windows for, and that crawls along these days.

So I bought a new cheap laptop, for web and email use (definitely not an attempt at a desktop replacement)… a Lenovo B41-30.

Vital stats: A$299 (which seems to be an okay price; apparently it’s $100 off) from Centrecom. 14 inch screen. Celeron N3050, 1.6 GHz, 2 cores. 500 Gb hard drive. Intel graphics. Windows 10 (x64).

Only 2 Gb RAM, but I’ve paid A$35 for a 4 Gb stick – why wouldn’t you? Unfortunately it only likes alike sticks in the two slots, so the original 2Gb had to come out. Perhaps I might put another 4 in there to make it 8. You can always do with more RAM, right?

Anyway, after setting it up, here’s the bloatware I’ve removed:

  • BT Locker – locks your computer if your phone is too far way, using Bluetooth I assume
  • Cyberlink Power2Go – for ripping CDs and DVDs… not actually very useful on a laptop with no optical disc player.
  • PowerDVD – DVD/media player – ditto.
  • McAfee LiveSafe
  • AppExplorer – recommends apps to install – all I want on this thing is the basics. I certainly don’t want it being clogged up with extra apps.
  • Lenovo Solution Center
  • Lenovo ReachIt
  • Lenovo ShareIt

That’s all for now. It’s running at an acceptable speed.

2 thoughts on “New laptop – bloatware to remove”

  1. Nick the Geek

    I have this nagging suspicion that my wife’s Android phone also has a lot of bloatware. Amazon? Kies? Flipboard magazine? Samsung apps? Weather widgits? S Memo/Voice/Suggest? I suggest they’re not necessary.

    Telling apart core from non-core apps is harder than telling Tony Abbott’s core/non-core promises apart.

  2. daniel Post author

    Yeah, apart from laptops, some phone manufacturers and network resellers are notorious for bloatware. That’s one of the reasons I’ve liked my (now almost 3-year-old) Google Nexus 5. My previous and my kids’ current HTCs haven’t been too bad in the bloatware department.

    Note the new iOS feature which will let you remove unwanted Apple bloatware.

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