I find things working "properly" to be much better than workarounds. Also, I use no other SD sites, so I have no shortcuts to them and am not interested in testing to find out just how quick "real quick" is.

Generally I just pop over to GalCiv2. (By replacing whatever is in forums.~~~.com) That brings me directly to where I need to be, and switching to the GalCiv2 site has worked every time for me. As for how long it takes, I suppose that depends on your computer and connection. Generally only a few seconds for me.

But yes, I'd prefer it working properly as well.

 

The OEM disk is not an install disk but a restore disk. You can certainly use it to restore the original OEM image but that of course leaves you with all the crap that you wanted to eliminate in the first place.

That's definitely a better option but that assumes you have a separate install media for the OS which most folks would have to purchase separately.

I did actually use this but there were a number of items on the machine that weren't on the listed apps. The other point in my case was that HP embeds a bios/driver auto update mechanism that is threaded throughout the system. The only way to get rid of that was surgical extraction from the registry and deletion of a multitude of startup items.

As far as why anyone would want to buy one it's most likely that they just don't know any better or are afraid of going to someone like ibuypower or newegg to build their own. In my case I was just being lazy as the last time I had purchased an OEM machine was before 95 was even out and all you needed to do was take your hard drive from the old machine and put it in the new one and you had everything just as you had on the old machine. You might have to change a video or other driver but things were far simpler. Anyway next machine I buy will definitely *not* be from an major OEM.

In the new update (the latest version of the postbox, in particular), the default behavior of the enter key seems now to insert a paragraph tag, rather than a line break. You can still do a line break via shift-enter, though.

Shift-enter. Thanks.

Testing paragraph tag

Testing shift-enter
Testing paragraph tag

Testing shift-enter
Testing shift-enter
Testing paragraph tag

Testing 2 shift-enter's

[edit] Nice. Seems to work fine. Thanks again. [/edit]

 

And i already thought it was because i updated to firefox 3.

I thought it was FF also, b/c the site is broken in Opera now and I'm having to use my second-choice browser.

But, really, I'm still hoping to hear whether anyone thinks that the Times story I linked might indicate a real market shift in the bloatware problem or if it is just a momentary thing. I know there are some serious followers of the IT biz around here...

At the moment, I'm thinking it's a momentary thing, but that may (hopefully) change.

 

I think if they do get rid of the current form of bloatware something will replace it. If profit margins are as slim as suggested in the story, then PC manufacturers will be forced to think of another way to stay in the green. Whatever it is they come up with will most likely not be in the best interest of the consumer.

Last OEM machine I bought was a 400Mhz Celeron, in the days when a PII 450Mhz was top of the line. It was a mistake I have avoided repeating since

That's why I'd never, ever buy an OEM rig again... you get what they decide is best for you, and most often it isn't. And is often the case with lower end OEM's, they have little or no room for expansion or upgrade, meaning that if you want/need to do more than it can, you need to buy another, more expensive machine with more bloat to gunk it up.

Nope, that's not for me. I'll stick with building my own, with a bit of help/advice from my trusted local PC guy. That way I know exactly what I'm getting, that its upgradable if/when needed and has no damned bloatware/trial versions, etc.

I agree I do both.. I by "premade" systems ... my new one being a dell Studio laptop and I also have my hubby make pcs from scratch.

I do NOT like pre loaded OS's. So after I got my dell studio lappy I took my own windows OS disc and reformatted the hard drive.

I choose MYSELF what OS and what PROGRAMS I want on any of my systems.
=
I learned ways back when I first started messing with comps on how to format and partition drives and how to install OS's. Hubby knows quite a bit and taught me well.

It gives me a piece of mind knowing what exactly is on my systems ..

I wouldn't pay anyone to reformat or partition my drives or install an OS *sadly I learned Windows*..

Though I am glad that there are companies like Best Buy and Comp Usa that do have that service.


My thoughts.

Anne

What a totally cool name. Decrapifier...I love it.

I'm with the people who build their own systems - OEM stuff just isn't worth it anymore. My current system is self built, and I've even built the system that belongs to my parents. No extra junk, just what they want.

Please, I consider the OEM vs custom box question settled and I haven't noticed anyone here trying to praise OEM boxes. I just found the idea that a major OEM would put itself in conflict with bloatware vendors by offering "cleaner" machines interesting, and hopefully the beginning of a trend.

Even if most folks around here are not going to suffer directly from bloatware, many of us are the kinds of folks who get asked to help out with PC problems in our home lives. The death of bloatware would make those little favors much easier in many cases.

When I brought my XP I got ton of bloatware games. 5 year later When I got the vista I got the same bloatware. EVEN The same games and this is 5 years later. Tell me I don't want to play demo I see it and I uninstall it.

 

These scams is target to the people who don't know computers or how it function it.