Last Updated on November 3, 2025 by Dave Farquhar
Microsoft is willing to install a clean copy of Windows in its retail stores on any PC for a flat fee of $99. (Windows license not included, of course.) They’ll also optionally include Microsoft’s Windows Live Essentials programs, the ad-supported starter editions of Word and Excel, Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus, and Zune media player software.
There’s no question a bloatware-infested PC straight off the shelf will benefit from this, and a $300 PC receiving this treatment will almost certainly run better than an unmodified $400 PC running in its factory configuration.. For that matter, it might run better than an unmodified $600 PC.
But you could also just reinstall Windows yourself. And if you’d rather not take the time to reinstall Windows yourself, you could run PC Decrapifier and clean out your ghost device drivers, and probably get most of the benefit in about as much time as it would take to disconnect your PC and haul it out to your car.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.
Wipe your drive and install Linux. My preference is Ubuntu but there are many good versions.
Personally, I think the best thing to do is just get rid of computers entirely and humanity should go back to using abaci. No more bloated software. Of course the Egyptians and the Greeks will argue over whose abaci are better and which is the better way to use them, just like Mac and Windows fanatics argue.