How Much of This Needs to Go?

Okay, so I just got my brand new laptop and I was wondering how much of this bloatware really isn't necessary? I don't want my new system clogged up with things I don't need.

Can you guys take a look and help me figure it out? Click the thumbnail, then click again to get maximum size:

 

Just an opinion, unless you need the drive space, I'd leave it alone. I'd use a start up manager and disable whatever you don't need running.

 

If you're willing to do a reformat and clean install, you'll notice an improvement. Vista is a stable OS without all those extra add ons. You can check out the various guide to do a clean install on this forum.

If you're not into doing that, then disabling the start up would be fine as well.
You can try PC Decrapifier to help with some of the programs that are more stubborn to uninstall.

 

Ok... It's a Dell... I'll be brutal. Dell will NOT show up many installed programs there. They integrate a lot of their stuff into windows itself. Most of the dell items you see are never going to be useful and will eat up your RAM like a puppy meeting his first chicken leg. It's hard to explain to you what you should do, because when "features" *cough* bloatware *cough* are built directly into windows itself, it's hard for you to get to remove it. Only surefire way of which I know is a reformat, and you'd need to use a stand-alone Vista disc to reinstall. If you've got 4GB of RAM or so, I wouldn't stress too much however.

 

Yeah, I have 4 GB of RAM...so maybe just leave it as is then?

I really don't want to reformat if its not hugely beneficial. The last time I tried that, things were never quite the same again despite reinstalling--lost things I didn't want to lose (obviously, lol) but were apparently not a part of the re-installation disk or any of the stuff I had. Of course, it was a really old computer anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

This being brand new, I don't want to do anything that will screw it up.

 

Some new laptop softwares have special features that are built in. If you clean install you might lose this feature and is difficult to retrieve. I recommend Revo uninstaller to delete bloats since it will also clear out registry entries. I do highly recommend to burn a backup copy of your system prior to doing anything and also create a restore point. After deleting the bloats make sure you defrag afterwards. Is this an XPS laptop? They usually don't have that many bloats. My m1530 hardly had any bloats unlike... HP!!

 

A reinstall won't harm you much if it is brand new... you can always download what you need from Dell's website or the manufacturer's website (for sound cards and intel chipsets etc). But if you are using 4GB of RAM *AND* you have Vista Home Premium OR Ultimate 64 bit versions, I suggest just leaving it as is. If you have 32 bit because Dell wanted to leech your money by being a *bleep*, then I suggest a reinstall and use a stand-alone disc to install Vista, and get the drivers for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and all that good stuff from the websites. Or just let windows do it. Either way, it'll work nicely for you.

As long as you can make use of all of that 4GB RAM, I don't see much of a problem with bloatware. In the case of my old HP laptop, it was 32bit vista and 3GB of RAM, and 256 of that was carded to my integrated video card. I had between 2.5 and 2.6 GB of RAM to play around with, never figured out where the other 256 MB disappeared to though... But it wasn't bad at all. I did have to reformat it at one point though, and when I cleanly installed it, it would start up with 800MB of RAM in use. When I first got the machine it started up with 1.2GB used. After all my software installations, I could boot with 1.1 (maybe 1.2 sometimes) GB RAM usage no problem, whereas before I'd boot with 1.4 and up, usually to 1.6 GB being used. It's not *that* much, but it adds up when you've got a billion firefox tabs open with windows live messenger, yahoo messenger, 9dragons and winmugen running, trying to reprogram a character or two in winmugen because they are glitchy and need to be fixed. Then was when I begged for my RAM =)

But with 4GB you ought not to have a problem. My new machine in my sig actually boots using about 1.8-2 GB sometimes (blame me going program crazy with the new RAM to play around with + x64 vista) but with the extra RAM to fool around with, I can start games like GTA IV while I got all those previous things running and know I won't be bothered for RAM space. So in the end it's up to you. If you've got the RAM don't study it. If you don't have the RAM, call Dell, curse them, then have fun wiping 32 bit and installing 64 bit ^^

 

The things I noticed that aren't necessary are the Dell Video Chat software, Dell Datasafe (If you aren't going to be using this), the GoToAssist software, and the Live! Cam Avatar Creator software.
Everything else I'd leave because most of it is necessary to the performance and long-life of your computer.

 

Update your Java runtime environment, the version you have installed contains multiple security vulnerabilities.

 

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate the help. Good to know about the Java runtime environment. Thanks for the link!

 

After seeing what you have installed with the image you posted, you can keep your system as it is. My Dell has the same stuff installed, and I haven't had any problems what-so-ever with them.

 

You should keep it as it is as already mentioned. Just keep it simple and your laptop will work fine.
Those programs you have installed wont really take up much space so it's rather unnecessary to delete some of them.

 

Nothing can be more true than this statement.

cheers ...

 

I did a clean Vista install on my new Studio XPS 16 because it was lagging at times and the CPU usage never went below 15-20% even when idle. Since I reinstalled Vista the computer has run much more efficiently with no more lagging.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Then again, sometimes it is a good learning experience installing everything from scratch.

If anything, I'd advise regular backups of whatever you think is important. Documents, photos, etc...

 

No warranty or liability for anything I recommend! Don't remove it if you use it.

Remove:
Acrobat.com
Adobe AIR
Adobe reader 9 - Replace with Foxit Reader
Adobe Flash Player Active X - Remove and install the one for other browsers
Internet Explorer - Replace with Firefox 3.5 or Google Chrome 3
[ALL] Dell Software
GoToAssist
Java 64bit (unless you use 64bit)
Live Cam Avatar Creator
Microsoft Default manager
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Visual C++
[ALL] Microsoft Sync Framework
PowerDVD
[ALL] Windows Live

 

I beg to differ.

I'd keep Adobe AIR, Visual C++ redistributable, Silverlight, Internet Explorer.

They may not be necessary now, but when you run into a website that uses ActiveX, it is a pain to have to reinstall all that. Same line of thinking for Silverlight.

Many programs use the C++ redistributable. Same line of thinking for Adobe AIR

 

Remove Adobe reader 9 and Acrobat.com.
Replace the reader with 'Foxit Reader', it's much faster and easier on system resources.

I'd recommend you remove all Dell DataSafe apps.
Make your own backup image of the OS, store it on a USB for example and that's it.
Dell dock can go in my opinion along with Dell Getting started guide and Dell support center.
Dell video chat can be removed (unless you plan to chat with people without using Skype, WLM or Yahoo messenger, all of which support video chat options).
GoToAssist is likely ripe for removal.
PowerDVD DX possibly ... I use VLC player instead.
Roxio creator ... never really knew what's it for exactly even on my own laptop. I removed it since I never saw the need in using it.
Trend Micro Internet security ...
I'd personally replace that with NOD32 Eset Smart Security (v4) as far as paying software goes.
Or ... use Avira free edition in combination with Windows Firewall.

That should be about it.
Apart from the Antivirus software, possibly Intel Matrix storage facility and Touchpad drivers, I don't think anything else should be required starting up with the OS.
At least, that's how I have set up my own OS, and just activate the rest of the programs as needed (messengers are also prevented from auto starting).

That would be my recommendation.
Pick and choose the programs you would actually use from that though as I do not know what your preferences are, although do clean up the start up thoroughly and don't have anything apart from the basic essentials going up with the OS as I mentioned earlier).

 

Also, don't remove ALL the Dell software, keep the Dell Touchpad, Bluetooth Driver, QuickSet and Webcam software. If you don't use the Dock thats at the top of your windows desktop, get rid of Dell Dock. Keep FastAccess so you can use your webcam to log on to Windows.

TBH, there's not a lot of "bloat" on that list besides Windows Live Essentials, (which may be useful for a number of people) and unlike an earlier poster, I've never noticed "embedded bloatware" stuck into the OS permanently on both of my Dell systems. (to be fair, my Latitude was clean from the factory) Also, you can use your Vista recovery disk and your Drivers and software disk to perform a clean install of Windows if you want.