As far as crapware, it can be difficult to determine what to do. If you build a computer from scratch as I do, you don’t encounter it. Only when you buy from a one-stop vendor like Dell does this come into play. And you can’t just blanket uninstall all their stuff. As an example, they might contract with a manufacturer to make a DVD drive or graphics card that requires a specially modified driver. Or at least, they say that. I only encountered one situation where I absolutely had to use the vendor’s version of a driver. Still, test all your gear after deleting the vendor-supplied drivers.

In order to market that they somehow create unique value, the marketing people want those extra programs added to a pre-assembled computer. For most people it doesn’t matter. For digital audio content producers, it sure does.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.