The Bloatware thread

**Autobahn** · 07-09-2012, 09:12 AM

So from my CPU thread I learnt about bloatware, which I had no idea about before.

I would be interested in what everyone thinks is bloatware. I've read that the main culprits are the below:
Nero Burning Rom
iTunes
Adobe Photoshop
Norton
Adobe Reader (though i've only seen this on one site - can anyone confirm this?)
Solitaire

Any other additions? Any recommendations to what would be a better replacement?

**Kapoutman** · 07-09-2012, 03:13 PM

Adobe Reader is ok if you disable the constant update reminder. Photoshop is heavy on resources but it's normal for what it does. iTunes depends on what you use it for. If it's just as a music player, it's unnecessarily hard on your resources, but if you use it to manage your library, download music, etc, then it's ok. Nero has a shitload of stuff you don't need that gets installed with it, but it won't eat up CPU or RAM.

McAfee is also kind of ridiculously heavy for something so mainstream.

**#BROKEN Hasney** · 07-09-2012, 05:17 PM

Download IMGBURN and see how you like it to Nero. Nero's fine, but IMGBURN does things a whole lot better.

If you want to stick with Nero though, just make sure it's not starting up with your PC. That would be a waste. If you press Windows key+R and then type "msconfig" (without quotes) into the run box and hit enter, you can see all the crap that starts up when your PC does and remove the ones you don't use often. You may see a big difference in performance.

**Kane Knight** · 07-10-2012, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapoutman

Adobe Reader is ok if you disable the constant update reminder. Photoshop is heavy on resources but it's normal for what it does. iTunes depends on what you use it for. If it's just as a music player, it's unnecessarily hard on your resources, but if you use it to manage your library, download music, etc, then it's ok. Nero has a shitload of stuff you don't need that gets installed with it, but it won't eat up CPU or RAM.

McAfee is also kind of ridiculously heavy for something so mainstream.

I thought McAfee had improved greatly over the last few years. Granted, I'm operating on hearsay, since I get Norton for free.

**Kapoutman** · 07-10-2012, 02:17 PM

I have worked with McAfee in a work environment for 5 years. I had to administrate it. It slowed down the machines so much that we switched to Sophos and the general computer speed has greatly improved. Even our network is less clogged. McAfee sometimes starts full computer scans because of one new file you downloaded that has an extension it does not recognize. It takes 50% of the CPU. It drags everything down.

07-09-2012, 03:13 PM	#2
Kapoutman Hockey Superstar Posts: 11,381	Adobe Reader is ok if you disable the constant update reminder. Photoshop is heavy on resources but it's normal for what it does. iTunes depends on what you use it for. If it's just as a music player, it's unnecessarily hard on your resources, but if you use it to manage your library, download music, etc, then it's ok. Nero has a shitload of stuff you don't need that gets installed with it, but it won't eat up CPU or RAM. McAfee is also kind of ridiculously heavy for something so mainstream.

07-09-2012, 05:17 PM	#3
#BROKEN Hasney BAY BAY Posts: 36,524	Download IMGBURN and see how you like it to Nero. Nero's fine, but IMGBURN does things a whole lot better. If you want to stick with Nero though, just make sure it's not starting up with your PC. That would be a waste. If you press Windows key+R and then type "msconfig" (without quotes) into the run box and hit enter, you can see all the crap that starts up when your PC does and remove the ones you don't use often. You may see a big difference in performance.

07-10-2012, 02:17 PM	#5
Kapoutman Hockey Superstar Posts: 11,381	I have worked with McAfee in a work environment for 5 years. I had to administrate it. It slowed down the machines so much that we switched to Sophos and the general computer speed has greatly improved. Even our network is less clogged. McAfee sometimes starts full computer scans because of one new file you downloaded that has an extension it does not recognize. It takes 50% of the CPU. It drags everything down.