In my last post, I told you the short history of the bloatware epidemic. Now I’m going to give a quick run-down on the symptoms and cures of bloatware, as well as the names of a few usual suspects.

Symptoms:

• The application is slow to start up: You have something you want to accomplish and the program to do it, unfortunately there’s an unwanted intermission between point A and point B. Usually characterized by a spinning cursor, ‘loading’ bar, or obnoxious splash screen informing you of the names of the software engineers who are making you wait, this common situation is often a sign of software bloat.
• Useless features everywhere: You started using the software in 1996, when everyone else was on AOL, and you’ve loyally updated to each new version. The problem is, you can’t even remember what you originally used the software for, because there’s been countless ‘New Features’ added to it, along with re-designs and overhauls. You’re pretty sure it used to play music, except now there are buttons to surf the web, scan for viruses, buy multiple levels of ‘PRO’ versions and possibly even start your car. This is definitely bloatware.
• Other apps slow down while the bloatware is running: Everyone’s experienced this computer crawl syndrome. You think leaving the bloated software running behind your browser is fine, until your browser starts to slow down, then your email client, and all of a sudden, the bloatware has spread its disease by annexing all of your computer’s memory! This one is easy to diagnose by simply using a ‘resource monitor’ (the Task Manager in Windows), to find the culprit program hogging all your memory,

Cures:

• Adjust options and preferences: Often times software programs will give you the option to turn off a lot of useless features, some of which are running sub-processes that you don’t even know about (a common one is the auto-updater). Doing this can sometimes help speed up the software and it can drastically reduce its drain on your computer’s resources. If you don’t need it, turn it off! If you’re more technically inclined, there’s often additional files for features you don’t need that are installed around your hard drive. These can be deleted, just be sure to check they aren’t necessary for overall functionality.
• Downgrade to an old version: If you read our previous post you’ll know that the software bloat problem is often caused by companies just tacking new features onto old versions. So why not just use those old versions again, especially if they were working just fine for you. Uninstall the version you have now, then go to VersionDownload and find the version you want. The user reviews and change logs can help you decide what one suites you best. Install and be happy again.
• Find an alternative: Sometimes you’re just so fed up that you can’t even look at a software’s logo on you desktop anymore. Or maybe you’re living in oblivion to the fact other people who where once as frustrated as you decided to create their own, open-source alternative, only to have a community of people perfect it. To find these alternatives, you should browse through categories at VersionDownload to see where your title would fall, and then skim the descriptions to find a suitable replacement. (Lifehacker also has a great post on alternative software. All of their suggestions can be downloaded from (VersionDownload).

• I hope this helps you with you bloat issues!

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