Comments on: Dell De-Crapifier Follow-up

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 01:03:09 +0000

This is the BEST tool EVER. I tried doing a clean install from CD on an Inspiron E1705 and ended up with no Sonic Record Now, missing bluetooth, etc. So I reinstalled from the restore partition and immediately ran Decrapifier. Couldn’t be better! Maybe I will start recommending Dell again - maybe.

By: Art Rotman

Art Rotman — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:30:58 +0000

Read about your Dell De-Crapifier in current edition of PC World. Does your software work with other manufacturers? I have a Toshiba Satelite.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:40:10 +0000

Hi Trent,

It only uninstalls the programs listed here:
http://www.yorkspace.com/dell-de-crapifier/

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:25:00 +0000

So does this get rid of all third party software on a dell? (just asking since I have a B130 coming in a day or two)

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:22:37 +0000

Brilliant!

Just used it on the Dell E510 I bought. It worked great, except was not able to fully remove McAffee. I was able to dump it manually, though, and then put on AVG instead.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:02:43 +0000

In Response to John:

To answer your questions:

1. As you can see from the top of the file all commented lines begin with a semicolon “;” simply place that at the beginning of the line. As stated, you could alternatively delete the line.

2. To create the executable, it’s easiest to do with SciTE. Open the file and select “Compile” from the “Tools” menu. An exe will be generate in the same folder as the .au3 file. You can verify by looking at the time/date of the file.

3. Follow steps 1 and 2. Then the De-Crapifier will leave McAffee untouched.

By: John

John — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:39:01 +0000

For non-techies;

I also have program that I do not want to uninstall.

1. What do you mean by the term “comment out this line” in your above reply below: (what characters do I type and where to comment out?)

“All you would need to do is open up the au3 file and comment out (or
remove) this line near the very end of the file.
UninstallMcAffee()”

2. Oncw we download AutoIT, what do we have to do to run/create an executable?

3. For those of us (many) who paid for McAffee and are keeping it. What do we need to do in MCAffee to let your .exe run?

By: Red

Red — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 05:32:09 +0000

I actually work for Dell, and we should have this on our resource CD. You would be surprised at how the trial software behaves after it expires, and some just refuse to uninstall, prompting a call to us! For those of you putting down Dell support, you have to remember that they rush us through training and only tell us (briefly) on how to add and remove the software. We are BY FAR no experts on any of the software Dell installs, and the majority of the “real techs” they have, would not touch that software with a ten foot pole, but some wise people in management actually think this is good business, and Dell gets paid ALOT OF MONEY to install it.
But, by far the biggest misconception by the Dell buying public is that we should know how to fix it, but never dream of calling Mc affee when their internet security software kills the internet all together!
As for comments of preinstalled spy ware in Dell systems, that is TOTALY false! Dell has a BIG beef with spy ware, and anyone could sue them if they actually did install some.

By: Narg

Narg — Wed, 31 May 2006 21:09:58 +0000

There is a much easier and better way…

Always, Always get the $10 Windows Re-Installation CD with your Dell.

Before you power-up, throw that disc in and re-install Windows. Be sure to delete all the extra partitions that you won’t need (which will also give you more hard drive space = bonus!)

Next, visit the Microsoft update page to get all the latest security updates and other stuff. Add extras from here if you wish (i.e. Media Player 10, .NET, Windows Defender, etc etc.)

Then, install the Dell Resource CD that came with your Dell and get all the hardware drivers installed that it locates (they need to make this disc and program easier, it’s not bad, but not straight foward either.)

Last, visit both Dell and Hardware sites to get the latest and greatest drivers. No matter what shape your Dell is in, you’ll need to do this. De-crapified or not. Dell never ships with the latest and greatest drivers. Other PC makers don’t either so it’s not a Dell problem in general.

After that you’ll have a clean fresh PC with no crapware that’s 100% ready for action! Much better than fighting the crap, when you can just expunge it 100% from the start.

By: Greg from PA

Greg from PA — Sat, 27 May 2006 04:19:36 +0000

I set the GUI Style to WS_VSROLL, and the window does not scroll.

I tried using buttons, and set events on them with msgbox’s and that doesn’t work.

Please help.