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I noticed yesterday at a client’s workshop that the PC now had Mcafee Anti Virus installed. As I had already installed the Microsoft Anti-Virus [Security Essentials], I made a mental note to contact them later to remove it.
It is now called ‘foistware’ or ‘cruft’. The software that you are landed with when you get a new PC or when you download the compulsory update for any ADOBE product. The probable reason for ADOBE adding an anti-virus product to the download, is the vast number of security holes in the ADOBE software products.
The reason why you have to have the ADOBE product in South Africa, is because SARS [South African Revenue Service] uses it on their web site to fill in forms. It is called ‘eFiling’. It works well and corrects you if you make a mistake. It also tells you can’t do that! When you try and correct a mistake from year old returns.
Back to the client’s PC, it is now a three year plus old PC. It has had a variety of additional software installed on it. Most of it unnecessary and wasteful of system resources. A lot of the icons that used to be shown in the ‘Tray’ are now well hidden in the ‘hidden icons’ area. These indicate all the ‘extra’ programs that get loaded at start-up and are ‘consuming’ system resources. Most are pretty and useless. They are all ‘slowing’ the PC down.
I also noticed when I plugged my memory stick in, that the Lexmark Printing utility sprung into action. This is because the new Lexmark printer that was installed recently has ‘grabbed’ the hook into the USB ‘plugged in device’…So that no longer functions as Windows 7 wished…
It is time for a ‘spring clean’. A removal with ‘extreme prejudice’.
This is a document from 2013. Has anything changed? I think not…