Not always: business PCs tend to be cleaner, and some OEMs are better than others. What interests me here is not so much the specific problems, but Microsoft’s big problem: that buying a new Windows PC is so often a terrible user experience. However, the MSE install failed, probably thanks to a broken transfer application used to migrate files and settings from an old PC, and it took him hours of work to identify the problem and complete the install. I then headed to the Internet to download what I – not surprisingly given my affiliation – consider the best free antimalware solution, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). With excellent free antimalware solutions on the market, there’s no reason for any consumer to pay for antimalware, so I promptly uninstalled it (which of course was a multistep process that took over 20 minutes and yielded several errors). What he is describing, remember, is his company’s core product, following its mutilation by one of the companies Microsoft calls “partners”.Īs my cleaning was drawing to a close, I noticed that the antimalware the OEM had put on the PC had a 1-year license, after which she’d have to pay to continue service. Making matters worse, several of the craplets failed to uninstall successfully, either throwing error messages or leaving behind stray fragments that forced me to hunt them down and execute precision strikes. Even the OEM’s warranty and help files were full-blown installations. I say frustrating because of the time it took and because even otherwise simple applications were implemented as monstrosities with complex and lengthy uninstall procedures. My mom recently purchased a new PC, so as a result, I spent a frustrating hour removing the piles of crapware the OEM had loaded onto it (now I would recommend getting a Microsoft Signature PC, which are crapware-free). His account of troubleshooting a new PC purchased by a member of his family is both amusing and depressing, though I admire his honesty: Mark Russinovich works for Microsoft and has deep knowledge of Windows internals he created the original Sysinternals tools which are invaluable for troubleshooting.

Microsoft sysinternals