What A PC Simply Does Not Need Anymore
The most valuable & expensive part of your computer set up is in fact, you, yourself – the human operator. For the most part, modern PC’s should be very fast. Don’t be fooled into believing that you need additional software or expensive tools to perform tasks or to speed it up. If a PC isn’t running fast enough we typically identify underlying problems. It could be a totally unnecessary bloated inefficient poorly written third party installed code, or a service or process that shouldn’t exist in the first place consuming resources.
Windows already has a PDF viewer, allowing you to view PDFs without installing Adobe Reader. Don’t be fooled by your bank or utility bill provider suggesting that you need Adobe Reader. It’s cobblers. Microsoft Edge (the replacement for Internet Explorer) reads PDF files natively. Even if you use third party browser installs like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, those browsers also have integrated PDF readers. But then we don’t need to install additional bloat that includes things like third party browsers either.
Windows already has powerful backup. It has its own backup & restore feature. File History works in a convenient way to start backing up your local files without the hassle of installing, or worse, paying money for any third party backup utility & Windows built in OneDrive allows you to back up documents to the cloud completely free. Windows can even create a complete image of your entire operating system, which you can restore from in the future.
These are notorious security risks. Uninstall every trace of them now to assess their requirement. Microsoft Edge can play flash videos & it is updated (included) automatically. Flash within it can also be optionally switched off. If you needed Java for something, you’d have to trust whoever said that you did. You’d also have to keep it’s vulnerabilities patched by relying on being force fed updates from the third party vendors ‘reliable’ source. It could come with a heavy payload like an ASK toolbar if you didn’t watch it.
Antivirus or Security Suites
Fear Uncertainty & Doubt (FUD) is widely recognised as a tactic used to promote the sale or implementation of security products & measures. While there certainly are many true security threats & breaches, it is possible to find third party products suggesting purely artificial problems or give false positive identification of threats. Windows includes an antivirus program known as Windows Defender, so all Windows 10 users already have an antivirus program on their computers. Windows no longer requires users to download & install an antivirus after setting their computer up. You don’t have to install an antivirus Program from any third party vendor, but if you do you have to rely on the third party vendor to give you its own support. Trial, out of date, obsolete or unactivated third party security programs are useless. Expensive Internet security suites include anti-phishing, cookie deletion, & other security features. None of these features are actually necessary. Your browser already includes built in phishing protection & can automatically delete cookies when you close it. You don’t need to install a cluttered, bloated security suite to protect your system. Additional security features like Windows own SmartScreen filtering already scans all applications for their trustworthiness before running them anyway.
A third party Encryption tool
Microsoft's easy-to-use, proprietary encryption program- BitLocker is already built into Windows. It can encrypt your entire drive as well as help protect against unauthorized changes to your system such as firmware-level malware.
Office is now free with Windows (just like Google Docs is within Google drive), you can log in to Office.com & view & edit all of your Word, Excel & Powerpoint files within OneDrive. Office Mobile Apps are also free in the Windows Store or the stores on any device including iOS & Android devices. You don’t need to install MegaBytes of bloated Open Office or alternative third party code.
Windows already has a photo viewer which has it’s own built in photo editing & correction cabability. Photo editors themselves can be one of the most bloated pieces of software you can install. Avoid unnecessary third party photo editors like the plague. Unless you need comprehensive video editing or professional photoshop tools (& have the knowledge to use or fully learn them) you can get by with Windows own built in apps or cloud based back up tools already inbuilt like OneDrive or Google Photo apps.
You don’t need any third party tool. The Disk Management application included with Windows can shrink & enlarge existing partitions, create new ones, & format them. Storage Spaces on Windows can even combine partitions on several drives into one big, logical partition.
Windows has integrated support for burning data to discs, erasing rewritable discs, & even burning ISO image files directly to disc. Third party disc-burning suites are not necessary. You can burn CDs from within Windows Media Player.
Cleaning apps are generally snake oil scams, especially the ones that want you to spend money. To delete temporary files & generally free up storage space on your computer, you use the built in Disk Cleanup tool included with Windows. CCleaner is an industry leading third party tool for accessing areas (including the registry) to clean quickly & since it is free you can skip all the paid PC cleaning applications (including CCleaners paid version too).
Windows includes a startup manager. Windows Task Manager. This allows you to view & stop applications from running upon start up with your computer, robbing it’s valuable resources. It provides an easy way to control start up items. CCleaner also has a startup manager built into it for convenience too.
Windows includes an ability to show your desktop taskbar across multiple monitors. Extending your taskbar to more monior screens no longer requires third party tools.
Process Explorer shows information, including a hierarchical tree view that displays processes in relation to each other. This is particularly useful for monitoring application resources like third party programs themselves that might generate lots of processes & consume resources due to their poorly written third party coding. It’s easy to view an application’s processes at a glance, so no point depending on a third party process explorer for this particular feature as it will consume even more resources in itself.
An ISO or IMG File Mounting Utility
To mount ISO or IMG files to access them as virtual discs, you do not need to install a third party tool. Windows File Explorer includes integrated disc image mounting tools.
Windows includes HyperV, which allows you to create & use virtual machines without installing a third party virtual machine solution like VirtualBox or VMware.
Convertible PCs have an adaptable form factor & can be used as a tablet with their inbuilt touch screen, a laptop with an attached keyboard or simply connected to a conventional external monitor, (or multiple monitors if using a docking station) a keyboard & or mouse as required, so even that bulky, power consuming, noisy hardware base unit of old is no longer needed either.
