Ordered my new Dell - will it have bloatware?

OK....so after many months of questions and answers on this board, I finally purchased a laptop from the Dell Outlet....hoping I got a good deal. Anyway...I keep reading about bloatware. I'm not sure how to find it on the computer, or how to get rid of it.

Here is my soon to be new laptop. Does anyone know if it will be loaded with bloatware and if so....how do I get rid of it?

I actually paid $786 (including $50 of taxes) for the laptop after using a coupon....hope I got a good deal.

Thanks,

Cheryl


Order Details
Item Description Unit Price Quantity Total Price

XPS 15 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 1 $919.00
XPS 15
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Label
Processor: Intel Core i5-480M (2.66GHz / upto SC 2.93GHZ, 3M)
9 Cell Primary Battery
Certified Refurbished
DataSafe Online Backup Software
Documentation
Power DVD Software
Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)
15.6 inch FHD (1080p) B+RGLED Display with 2.0 MP webcam
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Dell Support Center 64 Bit 2.0
with TV Tuner
Operating System DVD
Internal Backlit Keyboard - English
Digital Internal TV Tuner TVT20 ATSC
Operating System DVD
Shipping Material
NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M 1GB graphics with Optimus
Wave Systems Software
Software CD
6 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Software
Dell Support 2.0 Software
64BIT Operating System
Software
125V Power Cord
Metalloid Aluminum (WLAN)
No Media Selected
Microsoft Office Starter
Service Software
Facial Recognition Software
Information
90W AC Adapter
Label
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Label
Software
Dell WebCam Central
Image Restore Software
Roxio Software CD

 

Absolutely. It's not as bad as other brands though, HP has tons of it. One thing I liked about HP was in their recovery options, there was an option to restore with only the drivers and none of the bloatware. I don't know if Dell's recovery has that option...I'm sure someone that has run through that process on the XPS 15 can answer that.

 

Doesn't have that much bloatware in my opinion. I couldn't be bothered to start from scratch so just went to control panel and removed everything I didn't want.

One thing I didn't like was the Java auto updater, even in control panel the 'Update' tab is missing so you can't turn off automatic checks. Need to go to registry to remove that.

 

Bloatware is just like any software: Go to the control panel -> Programs -> Uninstall a Program (or Programs and Features) and remove what you want to remove.

How do you know if it is bloatware? Well, you can either google it or if you have any specific questions, you could always ask here. My personal opinion, is that any software that I don't use regularly or don't foresee being useful to me in the future, is bloatware. Additionally, if the functionality of said software already covered just as well (or better in many cases) by Windows? If so, it's bloatware. So, for me, this means I remove all of Intel's Wireless/Networking software (only need the drivers, Window's can handle the rest). I tend to run a fairly tidy operation when it comes to my computer... if only I could say the same about the rest of my life \

*edit: Also, it might be worth pointing out that I have NEVER reinstalled Windows 7 on my laptop since I received it from Dell. With past versions of Windows (particularly pre-Vista), I felt that Windows tends to accumulate junk and slow down over time. Thus far (almost a year to this day), I've never once felt that my computer is slower than it has been in the past. In fact, I think I have this baby running so well, it is probably faster now than it was before

 

I used to do that, but honestly Java has so many security holes so often it's better to let it update automatically.

 

Or just do without. How many Java sites does one come across? I know Java sites exist (Yahoo! Games being the most prolific that comes to mind), but I also think a lot of people update the plugin because they've had it installed since 1997.