Been away from Windows for some years but just bought a new HP 340S G7 for a non-computer-savvy friend requiring it for studies (statistics course so unfortunately a Windows-based Excel is required for some special plug-ins and other Windows-applications).
Nice computer for that price and with additional 8GB of RAM (total 16 GB) and an i7 it’s pretty quick as well. Memory upgrade was a nightmare though – that laptop body required many of the iPhone-repair tools and HP’s crazy sticker rubber feet just didn’t got back 100% right.
But… All. This. Cr*p.
Starting the computer up and installing the school’s EDU Office 365 seemed like an easy task, but… HP’s take on Windows 10 is simply terrible! Sooooo much crap was installed. Hardest to remove was McAfee that had loaded up with AV, VPN and a Password Manager – all requiring separate reboots.
Second was all the crap Microsoft loaded onto the Start-menu; Mail, Microsoft 365 preview (for ALL Nordic + English languages so it needed to be uninstalled 5 times!), Solitair, Spotify, Groove Music, Films & TV, Play, Adobe Free Trials etc, etc.
Granted, with the exception of McAfee and Microsoft 365 they were all easy and quick to uninstall.
If my friend didn’t need the computer today, I would have gone through the hoops and downloaded a Windows ISO and nuked the machine from orbit and reinstalled everything. However, I am unsure of the Microsoft crap – would it have still been there?