About to remove possible bloatware from my Vaio NR.

I have carefully gone through all the contents in "Start" in search of bloatware. What do you say, can I safely remove all this?

Here is the list:

ADOBE ACROBAT 8 PROFESSIONAL
ADOBE LIVECYCLE DESIGNER 8.0
ADOBE READER 8
VAIO START UP ASSISTANT (ads for Norton, Office, Quickwork, Napster, Register Vaio Online)
ADOBE CONNECT
AOL FREE SERVICES
AOL INTERNET SERVICES
AOL VIDEO
CRACKLE SCREEN SAVER
NAPSTER
NORTON 360
QUICK BOOKS
ROXIO
SONY LOCATIONFREE PLAYER
ADOBE ACROBAT SPEED LAUNCHER
ADOBE ACROBAT SYNCHRONIZER
AOL DDI
VAIO ENTERTAINMENT CENTER (ads for Location Free, Napster, Sony Reader, Sony Mylo, Vaio Movie Story)
VAIO MEDIA
VAIO PC WIRELESS LAN WIZARD
VAIO PRODUCTIVITY CENTER (ads for Adobe Acrobat Connect, Adobe Acrobat 8, Office Trial)
VAIO SECURITY CENTER (ads for Norton, Webroot (Webroot AntiSpyware is already installed, but not Webroot AntiVirus), Physical Security, Special Offers, Sentry Parental Controls)


There are a few other items I am not so sure about:

COREL PAINT SHOP PRO PHOTO X2 (seems to be installed, and does not have a payment ad. Might be helpful for retouching pictures)
MICROSOFT OFFICE (ads with request for Product Key code. I am not sure what functions Microsoft Office has, and perhaps I will need to buy it.)
MICROSOFT WORKS (seems to be installed and working)
VAIO VIDEO & PHOTO SUITE (seems essential, except for the Vaio Movie Story ad)
SONIC STAGE MASTERING STUDIO (seems to be installed. Perhaps good for music CD-burning?)

 

Not a single answer?

I thought this was a very big issue with most new laptop owners. How to distinguish and select and get rid of crapware.

I thought my thread would start off a lively discussion, with more examples of bloatware added to my list. And suggestions about what better not to throw away.

 

Ultimately it's upto you. Keep what you want, remove everything else.
I'd recommend keeping the bold items, VAIO items because they're unique to your laptop... could be useful.

 

Personally, I'd reformat and do a clean install with that much junk installed. But, if you're not quite comfortable doing that, I think Prasad007's advice is good. I'd start by deleting AOL, Napster and Norton.

 

Thanks!

Here is a short film about removing bloatware yourself. That way you have more control over what to keep and what not to keep, than if you reinstall or use PC Decrapifier.

 

I started deleting manually yesterday, but it was a slow process. Difficult to decide what to keep. Some things can prove usefull, and other things I just don't fully understand what they do.

The Norton file takes much space, but if I throw it away there is no virus protection in the computor.

What kind of program do I need for creating and visually designing a webpage? (I have never made one before.) Is Microsoft Office, and Works, the tools to use?

 

I always get rid of all the norton stuff
For antivirus I get avast, its free doesn't slow down your system

GB

 

Thanks. I will try AVAST.

I can't see why the CNET film above so quickly and without discrimination tells you to throw away COREL PAINT SHOP. COREL is great fun!! Marvelous for changing pictures in every conceivable way. I am glad I didn't throw it away in haste.

Then again, I guess it's all about personal interest.

 

I have removed some very large files, but don't notice any difference in the HD space from before. It still states about 204 GB of free space.

Do I need to clean the HD in some way to release the space, after removing the bloatware?

I looked at Control Panel/ Performance Information & Tools/ Open Disk Cleanup. And at Computor/ Local Disk (C: )/ Properties/ Disk Cleanup.
But not sure this is the way to go, afraid I will remove something important.

 

Ive heard of this really good Tweaking thread somewhere on the site... hmmm. oh ya see below my sig block and enjoy. Its also good for regaining valuable space.

 

Thanks.

Eeh... is there some easier way to clean the HD? A single procedure on a regular basis, when you transfer large amounts of collected music and movie files to disks and want to restore HD space?

 

Already there are tons of threads regarding vaio bloatware removal. Search before starting a thread.

 

My thread is unique, in that I made an ambitious list of all the bloatware I could detect. I couldn't find that in the other threads. And I asked others to add to the list.

Any attempt to define the problem should be encouraged. If it is written here or in another thread matters not so much. Many threads is inevitable in a forum like this, and you are free to skip if you don't want to read.

 

Before I started removing bloatware, the Local Disk (C: ) listed about 206 GB free space.

After having uninstalled some large bloatware, it listed 204 GB.

And now it lists 203 GB of free space!

I have not downloaded any files.

How can that be?

 

system restore copies can take up alot of space as well as windows update temp files. That could be the cause of your disappearing space.

 

What is ADOBE READER 8 good for? It takes up a lot of memory. And it is an ad, not usable unless you subscribe. If you would need it, you might as well download the file at that time?

 

What is ADOBE READER 8 good for? It takes up a lot of memory. And it is an ad, not usable unless you subscribe. If you would need it, you might as well download the file at that time?


What happens to Corel Paint Shop after the days countdown? Completely disappear or be downgraded?

 

Where is your list then? Remove all the trialware. It's is not such a big task to figure out the sony installed bloatware.

 

If you have read the first post in this thread you may have noticed there is a list there.

Not if you're new in this game, like me. It took me several hours to go through that list of files to understand how they worked and if I would need them.

 

I have looked at many bloatware threads, and most lists recommend that you remove Microsoft Office and Works.

What do you replace these with? Which is/are good? I basically need something for writing manuscripts, and for handling small-business applications.