I've always wanted an undell utility which would remove all the crap that Dell installs on a new PC. I'm still configuring a new Windows PC I got a few weeks ago; I was trying to kill the stupid InstallShield Update Manager. Clever, those software companies, who use fear of broken PCs to get you to install their background software. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that all these applications try to upsell you from time to time. So given that InstallShield did not ship with any way to uninstall it, I asked The Google. Sure enough, there has been enough consumer backlash on this one to force the InstallShield folks to develop a separate application I need to download just to remove InstallShield!

When will software companies learn carrot vs. stick? Make decent software, provide excellent customer service, and build loyalty through the simplicity and utility of your software, not via tricks to force users to continue using your crappy software.

For more info about initial Windows setup, see my Windows setup page. ¶6:32 AM; digg