Sony charges fifty bucks for a crapware-free system

Update [3/21/08 1:40PM EST]: Sony's Jon Piazza tells us, "Sony has decided to remove the $50 charge. Fresh Start will be free of charge."

Holy crap(ware), Batman! If you've ever gotten a new laptop or desktop, only to turn it on and had time to make a sandwich while it slowly boots up, you know that PC makers can shovel a lot of bloated software onto their systems. From trial versions to advertising links to proprietary media players, these apps can make a brand-new laptop run like one that's several years old.

Sony is among the most egregious of the offenders, sometimes sticking entire DRM-encrypted movies (Sony ones, of course) on your hard drive, which require $10 or so to unlock.

Some vendors are now seeing the light and offering a bloatware-free option in their online configurators, but the eagle-eyed gang at Engadget this morning discovered that Sony's version of this, called the "Fresh Start" option, costs an extra $50.

We tried configuring an ultraportable Vaio TZ2200 and found the following:

Fresh Start (removal of specific VAIO? applications, trial software and games) [add $49.99]
Opt for a Fresh Start? and your VAIO PC will undergo a system optimization service where specific VAIO applications, trial software and games are removed from your unit prior to shipment. Fresh Start safely scrubs your PC to free up valuable hard drive space and conserve memory and processing power while maximizing overall system performance right from the start.

Back when we reviewed Sony's popular TZ150 ultraportable, we noted, "Sony doesn't help matters by including tons of bloatware (including preloaded versions of the first two Spider-Man movies, which take up 3GB of hard drive space, but cost $9.99 each to unlock). Start times, in particular, were interminable, until we cleaned out the start-up folder."

If you don't want to shell out fifty bucks for a bloatware-free system, we did an Insider Secrets video last year called, "Rid your PC of crapware," which takes you step-by-step through the process of cleaning out all this junk. Or, send us $50 and we'll come over and do it for you.

[dkriss]

"scrubs your system"

The message says they remove the software. For $50 they should never install it in the first place. There will be leftover files and registry entries. It is very rare to find an uninstall that removes everything.

[fleurya]

Don't install it at all!

you would hope they would just not install it at all, but I guess that's a lot to
hope for from a company that's blatantly ripping you off anyway.

[fleurya]

Extortion??

This kkind of sounds like those situations in the old movies where a guy walks
around to neighborhood stores soliciting "mod protection", which only meant
that you pay them to not rob/trash/blow up your store.

Honestly, all the crapware is bad enough, but making people pay you to take off
the crapware your yourself put on on is just insane!! How do companies get
away with this?? I just can't believe the stuff Sony pulls and they're still in
business. I'll never buy anything from them again.

[edythemighty]

A necessary charge....

Sony is charging fifty bucks because all that crap they install helps lower the prices on the computers. Until they find a better way to make money (which will likely be adding the price to the computer itself without telling you) those $50 multiplied by hundreds of home users who don't know any better is gonna be business as usual for Sony

[Scott Gardener]

Yep, Sony is part of the New World Order...

And, just after reading about the PS3's forthcoming support of Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 and DTS Master Audio, as a free upgrade...

The same guys who gave us the PS3 and PSP, both of which upgrade themselves for free, so that you wake up the next morning with a better product that does more, but they're also the people responsible for that rootkit fiasco, making me worry about what else might get snuck into those aforementioned upgrades. If you're going out of your way to inspire paranoia on my part, do you really want to sell me a habit-forming, Magic: the Gathering-like card game, coupled with a "Playstation Eye"?

First, they'll destroy HD-DVD. Then, they'll take over the world...

[spcampbell]

Can I get a fresh start?

so can I take my sony vaio SZ670N and get a "Fresh Start" on my laptop? When I ordered the disks for an additional $30 (they don't seem to come with most systems these days), instead of an OS, I got a Sony Vaio System Restore that puts everything -- Spiderman and all -- back onto my computer. Never again will I pay the premium for a Vaio.

[Composer_1777]

DUH!!!! The companies pay to put their crapware in

Of course its gonna cost you extra.... Companies pay to put their software on the PCs so that you are more likely to use it.

So duh, sony has to charge to get rid of all that because they won't get their money from adware companies or companies like symantec.

It's like T.V you pay for premium channels with no commercial... this is a no-brainer, WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[kingrah1]

I got it free!

when i bought my dell inspiron 1501 notebook last summer, all of the additional crap software was optional, the boxes for them were prechecked, all i had to do was uncheck them.

[Penguinisto]

Hah! it cost me nothing, and never has!

The absolute first thing I do with a new laptop that arrives without an Apple logo on it? Flush the HDD and install Linux.

No crapware, no trials, no demos, and I can even tune the kernel for even more performance beyond that if I like. As a bonus, I don't even have to do a stupid product activation. :)

/P