Sony charges $50 to remove crapware from your new PC

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial

Sony charges $50 to remove crapware from your new PC

by Brad Linder Mar 21st 2008

What's the first think you do when you get a new computer? You spend time trying to figure out how much of the junk preloaded by the manufacturer is worth keeping and how much you can throw away. Every now and again you'll get something useful like an antivirus program or software for managing your display settings. But just as often, you get demos of applications you have no plans to pay for.

Sony is offering some customer a chance to remove all of that promotional software (often referred to as crapware). But here's the dirty little secret - Sony and other computer makers are including that software for a reason. They get kickbacks from software companies. So Sony will charge you an extra $50 to remove the software. You have to select "Fresh Start" while you're configuring your PC to do this.

Currently, the only Sony model with the Fresh Start option is the TZ2000 line of laptops. And in order to qualify, you have to upgrade from Windwos Vista Home Premium to Windows Vista Business, which will tack $100 to your price. So really, Sony is charging users who want a crapware free system as much as $150. Classy.

Of course, you can also just buy your new PC preloaded with applications you don't need and use the free PC Decrapifier to remove all the unnecessary bloat.

Update: Sony has dropped the $50 fee.

[via Engadget]

Tags: bloat, crapware, decrapifier, fresh-start, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maikel said 3:08PM on 3-21-2008

Sony trademarked "Fresh Start"? That just pisses me off!

Conda said 3:33PM on 3-21-2008

I wonder if they can, I think one of the car dealerships here in Salt Lake City, Utah has that trademarked

Todd said 3:18PM on 3-21-2008

I have always wondered when this day would come, and which company would be the first to finally cross the line and enter into outright "extortion" of consumers. Very bad precedent.

I urge you all to quit being so complacent and get angry about the path we are headed down here. It's these little quite baby steps that we all tolerate. Then next thing you know, Shell brand gasoline ONLY works with GM cars...and you'll be like Whoa, when did this happen?

chrisaroz said 3:33PM on 3-21-2008

People need to realize that the "crapware" that comes on your computer is what makes computers so cheap. Those companies pay a premium to have that pre-installed. If you don't want all that stuff, someone has to pay the difference in price, and that someone is you, picky/lazy person who doesn't know how to use uninstall.

Bob said 4:11PM on 3-21-2008

Uh, "so cheap" meaning a savings of $50? This was just poor execution on the part of Sony. By the way, here's a list of all that crapware. Not sure about the rest of you, but the time it would take me is worth more than $50:

http://www.techconsumer.com/2008/03/21/sony-charges-50-extra-to-sell-you-laptop-with-no-crapware/

Banquo said 4:31PM on 3-21-2008

Sony has dropped the $50 charge after receiving tons of complaints about it. Starting tomorrow it will be a free service.

berliner77 said 11:12PM on 3-22-2008

Straight after this sony offer price for tz2000 laptops started to fall. i've manually scanned, there is a £500+ gap now between some online laptop sellers: http://smart-parts.net/blog/?p=266

Samuel said 7:41AM on 3-25-2008

DBS = Don't Buy SONY

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