Unwanted application suggestions

  • QuickTime is Apple’s video player, a current program on macOS, but the company hasn’t supported the Windows version since 2016, and TrendMicro sent out an urgent call to remove it. If you need a replacement for QuickTime, use VLC.

  • CCleaner, once a trusted Windows app for cleaning junk, but its reputation went downhill after it was acquired by Avast. It became better again but is largely useless, as better tools and ways exist.

  • Garbage like MyCleanPC or PC Optimizer Pro for cleaning your PC. These products range from useless to harmful.

  • uTorrent was once considered the gold standard of torrenting software. Now a heap of ads, and in 2015, the app was found to bundle in cryptocurrency mining software without letting users know, wasting your system resources in the background to make money for the company. As in, a botnet of sorts. Try qBittorrent.

  • Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported as of January 2021. It is blocked in all modern browsers, but if your machine still holds a local copy of Flash, remove it.

  • A similar runtime plugin, Adobe Shockwave Player, was discontinued in 2019. Remove.

  • Once common, Java is another media runtime to remove, both components: Java on the desktop, and the Java plugin for browsers (which is notorious for having security problems). Very few websites use it nowadays.

  • Silverlight is a web framework, similar to Adobe Flash, that once enabled rich media content in your browser. Years ago, these plugins were necessary on a lot of websites. But now they’re deprecated and no longer useful.

  • Google chrome extensions: Hola, The New NX, FindMeFreebies, Hover Zoom, All Antivirus Extensions, Any Unfamiliar Extensions.

  • Toolbars like the Bing Bar, Google Toolbar, Ask Toolbar, Yahoo! Toolbar, or the Babylon Toolbar.

  • Coupon Printer

  • Manufacturer Bloatware. Anything from the manufacturer is probably not necessary, but it’s always good to double-check.

  • Microsoft Bloatware, for example Store apps. Candy Crush Saga? Really???

  • WinRAR. 7-Zip is a free and simple tool that covers most people’s needs.

Tools