Sony charges $50 to remove crapware from your new PC

What's the first think you do when you get a new computer? You spend time trying to figure out how much of the junk preloaded by the manufacturer is worth keeping and how much you can throw away. Every now and again you'll get something useful like an antivirus program or software for managing your display settings. But just as often, you get demos of applications you have no plans to pay for.

Sony is offering some customer a chance to remove all of that promotional software (often referred to as crapware). But here's the dirty little secret - Sony and other computer makers are including that software for a reason. They get kickbacks from software companies. So Sony will charge you an extra $50 to remove the software. You have to select "Fresh Start" while you're configuring your PC to do this.

Currently, the only Sony model with the Fresh Start option is the TZ2000 line of laptops. And in order to qualify, you have to upgrade from Windwos Vista Home Premium to Windows Vista Business, which will tack $100 to your price. So really, Sony is charging users who want a crapware free system as much as $150. Classy.

Of course, you can also just buy your new PC preloaded with applications you don't need and use the free PC Decrapifier to remove all the unnecessary bloat.

Update: Sony has dropped the $50 fee.

[via Engadget]

Tags: bloat, commercial, crapware, decrapifier, fresh-start, sony