Today I got to unpack and set up my new toy. After over five years of existing with the same old 1.1GHz P3, I finally got my brand new Dell XPS 400 -- Pentium D Dual Core 3GHz Processor 930, 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, 256MB nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX, and other toys -- Sweet! I plugged in two 19-inch LCD monitors that I had ready, fired it up, and promptly got deluged with the Dell advertising crapware.
I had to read the startup configuration screen very closely to make sure I was not agreeing to AOL Broadband or NetZero dial-up. I wanted to use my existing ISP. Not to worry, I still had to view the AOL Broadband ad anyway since I chose to intentionally bypass the install.
Overall, not too bad, but lots more than past computers. I especially dislike anything AOL. I killed it off and uninstalled it as fast as I could. In typical AOL fashion, they left an install link on the Start menu along with an install package directory that I had to delete manually.
Update: I also pulled some stuff out of the registry at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
What do I end up with on my new desktop?
- Windows stuff (Recycle Bin, IE, Media Center, Windows Media Player)
- Dell Documentation and Support; Games, Music, and Photos
- Crap: AOL Free 6 Months, Internet Service Offers, NetZero - First Month Free!
Start Menu Crap:
- MSN (twice)
- America Online 9.0 (and subfolder)
- Install Netscape Internet Service
- NetZero - First Month Free!
- InstallShield Update Service (it only updates itself and Corel Photo Album 6)
- RealPlayer
- WordPerfect Office 12
Background Process Crap:
- AOL connectivity service (System level! Why would this ever need to be running in the background on every new PC?)
IE Shortcut Crap:
- Real (3 links)
- Dell (4 links)
- MSN
Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs Crap
- America Online
- AOL Coach Version 1.0
- AOL Connectivity Services
- EarthLink Setup Files
- ESPNMotion
- Dell Get High Speed Internet!
- Dell Internet Service Offers Launcher
- NetZeroInstallers
- RealPlayer
- WordPerfect Office 12
I uninstalled all this since I never wanted it, will never use it, and feel much better with it gone. Interestingly, Dell is shipping old versions of Sun Java (1.4.2_03 vice the current 1.5.0_06-b05) and Adobe Acrobat Reader (6.0.2 vice 7.0.8). No Flash or Shockwave included either. Who knows what else I will find strange about this new machine.