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Overblown Software

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Overblown Software

I was setting up my new laptop earlier this week and noticed that it had the ubiquitous Adobe Reader 8 on it. I made a mental note to get rid of it in favour of the much lighter Foxit PDF reader. Unfortunately, before I had done this I had opened a pdf document and before I knew it down had come the updates (which I had not wanted or needed). This morning on checking my usage it had blown away quite a few MB so I wasn't best pleased.  I promptly uninstalled it (84 MB) and installed Foxit which is only about 6.57 MB and does exactly the same job - good enough for me, although I have plenty of hard drive space.
Now I know that it is entirely my own fault but it got me thinking - why don't the software developers/companies realise that there are lots of folk out there who don't want overblown software which is never happy unless it is updating?
Does anyone agree or have any other examples of useless use of space?
11 REPLIES 11
paulh
Rising Star
Posts: 1,283
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Overblown Software

Um, I think there's a package called "Vista" which is pretty much a waste of space ... apart from that I really dislike RealPlayer and QuickTime because they're just so invasive ... XP went behind my back and installed .NET Framework 2 SP1 which is the best part of 200MB ... Adobe is 145MB on my system and I can't find the option to stop it dialing home.
Auto updating software is helpful in some ways, but I tend to agree with you Poppy, which is why I'm finding myself spending  more and more time with Linux, where I'm the one in complete control of what I install and when.
Paul
ps Trouble with Foxit is that the free version doesn't integrate with the browser, which is where I mostly look at PDFs.
Not applicable

Re: Overblown Software

Got to agree about Real Player - I would absolutely love to find an alternative but I listen to Radio 4 'Listen Again' sometimes and am unsure what else will work with this. Am therefore open to suggestions.
As for Vista, I have no real complaints about this but having taking receipt of another version of it this week I have already uninstalled several of the 'extras', notably McAfee ISS and, of course, Adobe. The Google sidebar and bits and pieces will go next. Don't need two and for me, simplicity is the key.
paulh
Rising Star
Posts: 1,283
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Overblown Software

Try "RealAlternative" -- which is what I use.  FileHippo.com is a good source of alternative free (sometimes open source) software for windows
lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Overblown Software

Quote from: paulh
Adobe is 145MB on my system and I can't find the option to stop it dialing home.

Install a software firewall and then block Adobe (and anything else you don't want to phone homeSmiley
Regards .....
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Overblown Software

99% of software seems to be bloataware now. I used to like Paintshop pro it was small loaded fast and did most of the things I wanted then it grew and grew.
No one now program's assembler which we used to have to do if they did windows would still fit on a floppy drive and run. I have seen fully working version of XP which runs on 32 meg ram and takes less than 100 meg of disk space and it works I have seen it used it.
So why all the other rubbish a lot is language files and other stuff you dont need. Why not have a basic O/S with nothing extra like notepad, paint and other bits and bops and let the user add them if needed. You used to be able to do that with Win98 on install it never worked and put it on anyway half the time.
The biggest other thing must be Office mega bytes just to type a letter wordstar ran on a floppy disk of 350k for gods sake as did dbase, and lotus 123
Not applicable

Re: Overblown Software

Have tried the link above for Real Alternative and it does work with Radio 4. Also, it very obligingly uninstalled Real Player so happily, a lighter applications and no more popups.
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Overblown Software

samuria, i haven't looked to see if abiword is available for windows, but if all you want to do is write a few documents, it's a nice, lightweight word processor.
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Overblown Software

if you dont like the bloated Adobe try http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ its also free and works
Denzil
Grafter
Posts: 1,733
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Overblown Software

Quote from: poppy
Have tried the link above for Real Alternative and it does work with Radio 4. Also, it very obligingly uninstalled Real Player so happily, a lighter applications and no more popups.

In a similar vein, try <a href="http://www.free-codecs.com/download/quicktime_alternative.htm">Quicktime Alternative</a>. Plays QT stuff, is much smaller and doesn't try to take over your life.
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Overblown Software

or give you a copy of safari even when it is bug ridden Crazy
Not applicable

Re: Overblown Software

Funny - when I tried RealAlternative with Radio 4 Listen Again it actually came up as the BBCi player radio. I therefore  tried without RA and it reported that it required the plugin from RealPlayer. I therefore put RealAlternative back on and it is playing OK, still as the i player. As long as it is working I am happy but can't understand why the BBC just don't make the plugin available as a separate download (instead of the whole thing) if we are now going to use iplayer.