What is Bloatware and How to Remove it

Bloatware is a type of software that comes pre-installed on your computer, smartphone or tablet. It takes up space, slows down your computer and can be incredibly annoying.

Different software companies will pay computer manufacturers a fee to preinstall their software on every computer they sell.

A common example is when you buy a computer from Harvey Norman, JBHIFI or the good guys and it comes with a 30 day trial of Norton internet security. This is considered bloatware as you may not actually want to use Norton.

Bloatware can also bee known as potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).

What is Bloatware?

Bloatware is generally classified into one of the following four categories:

• Trialware: Trialware refers to initially free, time-limited software that comes preinstalled on a device. Once the trial expires, the software stays on the device clogging up space and potentially causing security vulnerabilities.
• Utility apps: Also called junkware, utility apps are a type of preinstalled bloatware intended to serve a purpose or solve a problem. It’s often the way manufacturers try to nudge you to use their particular version of a product. Think weather apps, calendar apps, and system cleanups.
• Toolbars: Toolbars are those annoying browser menus that are tricky to get rid of. Often clunky, and packed with random websites, preinstalled toolbars are never as good as their customized counterparts that base their menu items on your browsing habits. And toolbars will often hijack your browser, like the notorious Ask toolbar.
• Adware: Adware is pop up advertising that floods you with spam messages while you browse the internet. Because adware is installed directly on the operating system, the ads follow you around from browser to browser, even after you clear your cookies. Generally not preinstalled by manufacturers (except when it is), adware chokes performance, is extremely annoying, and can leave you vulnerable to security risks.

What Does Bloatware Do?

Bloatware sits silently in the background taking up valuable computer resources, slowing down your computer.

Is Bloatware Dangerous?

Some forms of bloatware such as trial ware, are not dangerous. The software makers will use free trails to bait you into purchasing their full programs or signing up for licenses, such as anti virus.

Other forms of bloatware can be dangerous such as pre-installed toolbars that give you fake google results. Their goal is to get you to click on a malicious link and try to scam you or make money some other way.

How Can I Remove Bloatware From My Computer?

The first step to remove bloatware from your computer is to identify what software is bloatware in the first place. To do this, you have three options:

1. Use your computer Settings and remove the apps manually
2. Download and use a bloatware clean-up tool
3. Use a reputable IT support provider to safely identify and remove the bloatware

Manually removing apps via Settings can be a slow process that is fraught with danger. Removing the wrong app can have serious impact on your computer’s performance, particularly if you remove something that your computer relies on to run.

By comparison, downloading and installing a bloatware clean-up tool can be an effective way to identify what bloatware apps are running in the background and remove them.

Using a good quality bloatware tool is critical, due to the risk of it erroneously removing something important that may negatively impact your computer’s functionality.

Alternatively, using a reputable IT company to investigate and remove bloatware from your computer will ensure nothing is removed that will impact its performance or functionality.

Here at Jim’s IT, we’re highly experienced at helping our customers with all their computer maintenance needs, including bloatware removal, cleaning up unwanted files and updating software, and generally giving your computer the what it needs to stay at peak performance and maximum speeds.

To remove bloatware effectively and safely, without putting your computer’s functionality at risk, let the experts at Jim’s IT do this for you.