Buying a new PC? It’s full of craplets

Walt Mossberg has an article that sums up the out of the box experience for a lot of new PCs out there, it sucks – they’re filled with a ton of “value added” software, offers and trials that the companies get paid to include, over the years I think Sony has consistently been the worst. I usually reformat the drive and just spend a day putting back all the drivers, it’s just easier, but not many people can or know how to. It’s bad for Microsoft because people blame them for a lot of what the 3rd party apps screw up.

When you buy a gleaming, new personal computer, the first thing you want to do is to try out its cool new features and make it your own. You want to savor how quickly it starts up and runs, and arrange the desktop icons to suit your tastes and habits.

But as I rediscovered recently, often what you’re forced to do instead is to spend hours as a digital maintenance man wading through annoying and confusing chores.

I have set up many computers over the years, so I wasn’t shocked that the out-of-box experience was less than ideal. Still, I was struck by just how irritating it was to get going with the new Sony Vaio SZ laptop I bought about 10 days ago. It was the first new Windows machine I’d bought in a few years, because I had been waiting for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system. I was amazed that the initial experience is still a big hassle.

and here comes the best part–

The problem is a lack of respect for the consumer. The manufacturers don’t act as if the computer belongs to you. They act as if it is a billboard for restricted trial versions of software and ads for Web sites and services that they can sell to third-party companies who want you to buy these products.

Dell, or Toshiba or someone else could just come along and say they don’t do this and make it a compelling feature to look for when getting a new PC.

Personal Technology from The Wall Street Journal – [via] Link.

More:
Here are some ways to get rid if the craplets – Link.