Purge your new PC of crapware
NEW COMPUTERS OFTEN COME WITH A LOT OF UNWANTED SOFTWARE TACKED ON. WE’LL HELP YOU LIGHTEN THE LOAD.
AWESOME! A NEW PC for Christmas! Of course, that means it’s time for the ‘new PC purge’. This is the ritual where a new PC owner has to go through a remove the crapware that came pre-installed, fix some of the more egregious settings in Windows and re-install all their favourite apps hopefully without getting adware or malware in the process.
So here it is: your step-by-step guide to preparing a new PC for actual usability.
STEP 1: REMOVING THE JUNKWARE
The first thing we like to do when we get a new PC is to remove all the ancillary junk that the manufacturer decided to put on it without asking us. We’re talking about the pointless utilities, trial versions of security suites, pre-installed search engines and browser toolbars and other programs that you have no use for.
The easiest way to do this is to use PC Decrapifier. Head to www.pcdecrapifier.com and download the latest free version of the app. It doesn’t need to go through an installation process — just download and run.
PC Decrapifier will then give you a list of all the apps you have installed on your PC. Any in the list that remain checked will be removed by the app, and there is also a percentage listing next to each app showing how many other people removed it from their computers.
There are other apps that can perform similar tasks for you. Some of the top alternatives include:
Slimware SlimCleaner ( slimware.com), formerly known as SlimComputer. Some of the features found in the old SlimComputer have been moved over to a paid version, but the free version of the app can still remove apps (and like PC Decrapifier, gives a user percentage rating for apps), as well as manage startup objects in Windows. SlimCleaner does require an install, however. Should I Remove It? ( www.shouldiremoveit.com) is an app very similar to PC Decrapifier, with a user-based rating system and removal engine for installed software. It does need to be installed.
STEP 2: FIXING THE WINDOWS SETTINGS
Although Windows has gotten better over the years, we still find ourselves needing to go through a routine of readjusting settings and turning off some of the more egregious spying systems every time we deal with a new install.
If you don’t want to install a third-party app, then the main thing you’ll probably want to look for is the ‘Control Panel > System > Notifications & Actions’ tab, as well as the ‘Privacy > General’ tab and ‘Privacy > Feedback and Diagnostics’. We tend to go to these tabs and turn everything off, which deals with roughly 90% of our issues in Windows.
There are still a lot of things that you might find annoying/dangerous about Windows, however. The best way we know to deal with many of them is to use a great little app called O&O ShutUp10
( www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10), which lets you easily see and control many of Windows’ hidden privacy settings without having to dive into registry editing.
It can turn off Cortana and Bing, disable all sharing of information with Microsoft, manage location services and app recommendations and much more. It doesn’t need to be installed — just download and run the app. For fast operation, you can just use its recommended settings. Click on ‘Actions > Apply only recommended settings’.
STEP 3: REINSTALLING YOUR FAVOURITE APPS (WITHOUT GETTING ADWARE OR SPYWARE IN THE PROCESS)
Like most Windows users, you probably have a suite of essential apps that you want installed on every PC. Maybe Dropbox, VLC, Chrome, 7-Zip, Spotify, LibreOffice and AIMP are musthaves for you. Not only is it tedious to have to go to each site and download every app, you also have to be careful about inadvertently installing some of the junkware that comes with many of these apps.
Which brings us to one of our favourite sites on the internet for new installs: ninite.com. Ninite is a fast multi-app installer for common favourites. Not only does it let you perform an unattended install of many of your favourite apps at once, it also automatically unchecks any ‘special offer’ buttons and junkware installers in the process.
To use Ninite, you just head to ninite.com and look at the list of apps. Check the box next to any app that you want installed, then click on the Get Your Ninite button. The site will then send you a personalised installer app. Run it, and Ninite will then go through and download and install all the apps you selected, without requiring any further input from you.
You can keep the app and run it again later, and it will go through your app list and check for updates. If it finds the updates, it will download and install them. Alternatively, after the apps are installed, you can just delete the Ninite executable. If something isn’t covered by Ninite, then there another app we highly recommend for making sure you get the cleanest installs of your apps: Unchecky ( unchecky.com). This is a simple installable resident app that monitors other installers, automatically disabling special offer and junkware check boxes and giving you a warning if you’re about to install a potentially unwanted program. It’s a particular godsend if you have kids or other parties in your house that might be inclined to just click through application install processes without reading them. It makes sure that they can’t just click through a sneaky ‘special offer’ page that will install junkware on your PC.
That should be the meat of it. Your new PC should now have the factory crapware stripped out, Windows configured for security and privacy, and all your favourite free apps installed without the junkware that freeware so often comes with. Now you can start using your new PC for real!