Avoid Bloatware
This guide is all about removing unwanted programs and services, helping free up resources, and potentially providing a noticeable speed boost. But what can you do to stop the flow of bloatware and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) from appearing on your PC in the first place? One solution is to purchase a Premium license for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware ( www.malwarebytes.org). While the free version can detect and remove PUPs, as well as malware, the Premium version provides real-time protection that blocks them in the first place, often without affecting the rest of the program installation.
If that’s too rich for your blood, then Unchecky ( www.unchecky.com) is a small program that sits in the background and can detect a wide (if not fully comprehensive) array of adware-infested program installers. It then alerts you to tweak the program installer to deselect any adware options, ensuring you don’t accidentally click “Install” before reviewing what else is attempting to get on to your PC. Unchecky isn’t 100 percent infallible, but it’s a useful extra layer of protection all the same.
Bloatware often makes a return on many PCs when you reinstall using the manufacturer’s recovery image. If you’ve just spent ages meticulously removing this from your system, now’s the time to create your own customized recovery image, so when you next reinstall Windows, you don’t get all that unwanted software back. Once you’ve set up your PC as you want it, press Win-X to open the Quick Access menu, then select “Control Panel.” When it opens, click “Save backup copies of your files with File History,” and choose “System Image Backup” to create a complete image of your hard drive. You can restore this via a Windows recovery drive, or via the Advanced Start-up menu (hold Shift as you click “Start > Power > Restart” to access it).