worst bloat ware

[EvanAdams]

But the question is what is the worst piece of bloatware that you have to use. That piece of lame, buggy, resource sucking software that sits on your computer over your own objections?

For me it is the software / drivers for my multi-function HP3300 printer. They bomb every time I try to reboot. And my startup is more than 15sec longer with them installed.

edit: removed exchange reff. incorrect

 

[Schadenfroh]

what is the worst piece of bloatware that you have to use

Mcafee's security suite, with all options installed and running is probably as bad as I have seen (had to service a computer once with it on there).

But on my system, I have no bloat. I just put RockBox on my ipod, free of itunes now.

 

[sindows]

My printer drivers/software.....they take forever to install and take up a lot of ram...

 

[loup garou]

Just about any HP full driver package, Acrobat, every McAfee product I've set eyes on and Symantec's consumer products.

I wouldn't call Exchange bloatware...it depends on what features you're using and how many users. I definitely wouldn't call it lame, buggy or resource sucking either. I don't get why you'd say it would be "for many" as well; most people probably don't even know what Exchange is.

 

[gorcorps]

HP drivers & software... it all works fine and I use my scanner part JUST enough to have it all running on boot.

 

[EvanAdams]

Yea I guess Exchange is more of a thing that is a thorn in the sides of many people.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: EvanAdams
For many it is MS Exchange. But the question is what is the worst piece of bloatware that you have to use. That piece of lame, buggy, resource sucking software that sits on your computer over your own objections?

Exchange is a server. People don't run it on their desktop computers. Normally. Are you saying you run Exchange on your desktop system?

 

[EvanAdams]

no no thats not what I mean. More of how it deals with e-mail and such. I've never used it but from the linux people I talk to they speak of Exchange like some sort of demon thing.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: EvanAdams
no no thats not what I mean. More of how it deals with e-mail and such. I've never used it but from the linux people I talk to they speak of Exchange like some sort of demon thing.

I used to work in an I.T. department headed by one of those type of Linux people. He tried for several years to pry our Exchange server loose from our branch office, because until it went away, he could not do away with the rest of our Microsoft software and eventually Windows itself. The rest of his grand plans were so ridiculous it's embarrassing to discuss it here

Anyway, the employees at my office loved their Exchange server. It worked fine for me as the IT guy too, much to the chagrin of our Linux zealot-in-chief. I suspect most end users who have an Exchange server available find it quite useful and worthwhile.

 

[duragezic]

The Logitech Setpoint app with its 2 or 3 processes that use 15 mb of memory seems like a lot for what it does. It's good that that usage is almost nothing for modern systems, but when Miranda IM + uTorrent use less than that, it starts to seem a bit high for such a tool.

At least Creative sound cards don't need some ridiculous package anymore. I remember quite a few years ago installing the Creative stuff after a format would cause the boot time to go way up, every time!

Thanks to programs like Media Player Classic + ffdshow + RA and QT alternative, Miranda IM, Foxit, etc I am pretty much free of bloated programs. Those Mcafee and Symantec suites are very bloated, and on several occasions have caused problems on friends' laptops. When they ask me to look at them to fix such and such, I see those damn control centers and tell them I'm getting that garbage off. As soon as that is done, it's all good. If they want a software firewall, antivirus or otherwise, I'll set them up with something good that won't use so much memory and CPU.

And yeah, HP printer software and some others are almost always bad. Something was screwy with the HP printer/scanner combo in this lab at school, so when they asked me to look at it, I figured I'd just reinstall the drivers. Yes sir you can reinstall them, just download this 250MB suite (they needed some minor thing the 40mb drivers-only didn't have)!

 

[darianandre]

the network monitor for my linksys wusb54gc wireless network adapter. Not only does it mess with the windows xp login, not allowing the xp user selection screen to be shown or allowing multiple user accounts to be logged in at once; it also has a memory leak that can take up to 128M of memory within 6 hours. Now, you can install the drivers for the adapter and not use the network monitor, but the monitor actually seems to work well and without it I lose my connection very often.

 

[BladeVenom]

Windows.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

svchost.exe

Don't have any crapware running on mine, and I like it that way.

- M4H

 

[aCynic2]

Lotus Notes on my work machine. That thing is the biggest POS I've ever seen. The docs are confusing, poorly structured, the servers have a problem at least 5x/week (mind you, we run dozens of servers), the date/time stamp inside the e-mail reflects current time rather than send or receive time, etc.

 

[irishScott]

HP Drivers for my PSC 1610 Takes about 30 sec to load at boot-up, but I need them for the scanner (which I use constantly).

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'd take notes over exchange any day.

 

[mundane]

Realplayer and Acrobat used to be terrible in these concerns.

 

[KMFJD]

Adobe Acrobat FTL

 

[Tegeril]

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise is the most unobtrusive, least bloaty, major Antivirus program I know of. I do feel really really bad for people running the consumer edition of the software

That said, I agree with Setpoint. So bloaty.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: KMFJD
Adobe Acrobat FTL

Bingo, basically every new version adds 5 times the bloat and causes the app to take another 10 seconds to open.

 

[Smilin]

Definately Acrobat.

There are other bad ones out there but I seem to be able to avoid them.

 

[KeithTalent]

Yep, I agree with Acrobat. I absolutely loathe the program but I have to use it on a daily basis :roll:

My PC always feels all sluggish and dirty after opening that program.

KT

 

[Smilin]

Vista UAC and Firewall are always catching that sucker trying something when you aren't looking too.

There is some awesome acrobat alternative out there somewhere I used to use. It's been a while tho. Does anyone remember what it's called and if they've added browser plug-ins?

 

[Lemon law]

I chucked adobe long ago---foxit is lean and works great if all you have to do is read PDF files.

 

[MikeyLSU]

quicktime for me, only because they make you install itunes also(or at least used to)