14 DAY TRIAL // The days when new computers came with various antivirus solutions, apps, or games pre-installed aren’t entirely gone, as some manufacturers and retails continue selling such devices despite the public backlash towards this strategy.
No matter if it’s a security solution or apps developed by the computer maker, bloatware has always been one of the biggest annoyances, especially when customers pay for the products that eventually get cluttered with unwanted apps.
It’s not a secret that the more skilled of us used to clean-install Windows on new computers just to get rid of these software applications, as sometimes starting from scratch is actually a lot easier than manually removing every one of them.
On Windows 10, bloatware has represented one of the most discussed topics ever since the company shipped the first version in July 2015. Games like Candy Crush Saga ended up being offered to users no matter if it was a fresh install or an upgrade from a previous Windows version.
While Microsoft does allow users to remove these unwanted apps, they occasionally return with system updates, once again requesting a manual removal. Furthermore, there are complaints that some of these titles, including here the said Candy Crush Saga game, is automatically reinstalled from the Microsoft Store when the rest of the apps are updated.
Without a doubt, this isn’t exactly the behavior that people expect in Windows 10, especially because many believe that paying for the operating system should in turn provide them with a bloatware-free experience.
Users have constantly expressed their feelings regarding Windows 10 bloatware, though no significant change has happened on Microsoft’s side till now. A Feedback Hub discussion where users request Microsoft to stop pre-installing unwanted apps has more than 1,500 votes and keeps growing.
“Definitely agree. I was even quite surprised to see it on the Professional versions of Windows, but I guess LTSB is the only version to get a truly clean install. It shouldn't be this way especially since I have paid for said operating system. I am really surprised to see this on the Professional version,” one user explains in the Feedback Hub.
“No one wants these. Guaranteed. This is one of those places where "the customer is always right" is true: we, the customer body, all think this is ridiculous and you should stop. You cannot seriously call this a professional operating system and install games for us to all gawk at in the start menu. It's insanity,” another one adds.
“It’s insanity”
Probably the best approach is for Microsoft to offer these apps as optional to users who install or update to Windows 10. Undoubtedly, there are users out there who enjoy playing Candy Crush Saga or Microsoft Software Collection, and if it weren’t for Microsoft to pre-installed these titles on their computers with Windows 10, they would’ve never discovered them.
Giving people more options and control over what they run on their computers should be a priority not only for Microsoft, but for every software and hardware company out there. Of course, paying for a product doesn’t give customers full control over it, but I think this is more of a matter of showing respect to people that agree to support your efforts by actually spending money on software and devices.
If there’s anything good in this thing is that the pre-installed apps in Windows 10 aren’t the typical bloatware products because they have zero impact on your system performance. They do receive updates from the Microsoft Store, which means some bandwidth is necessary to install the latest versions, but other than that, no harm is done.
What do you think? Is bloatware such a big problem on Windows 10? If you think it is, make sure you let us know in the box below and check out the link to the Feedback Hub to make yourselves heard.