Often new PCs come with factory-installed software which the manufacturer was paid to include, but is of dubious value to the purchaser. Most of these programs are included without the user's knowledge, and have no instructions on how to opt-out or remove them. A Microsoft executive mentioned that within the company these applications were dubbed
craplets (a
portmanteau of
crap and
applet). He suggested that the experience of people buying a new
Windows computer can be damaged by poorly designed, uncertified third-party applications installed by vendors. He stated that
the antitrust case against Microsoft prevented the company from stopping the pre-installation of these programs by OEMs.
Walt Mossberg, technology columnist for
The Wall Street Journal, condemned "craplets" in two columns published in April 2007, and suggested several possible strategies for removing them. The bundling of these unwanted applications is often
performed in exchange for financial compensation, paid to the OEM by the application's publisher. At the
2007 Consumer Electronics Show,
Dell defended this practice, stating that it keeps costs down, and implying that systems might cost significantly more to the end user if these programs were not factory-installed. Some system vendors and retailers will offer, for an additional charge, to remove unwanted factory-installed software from a newly purchased computer; retailers, in particular, will tout this service as a "performance improvement." In 2008,
Sony Corporation announced a plan to charge end users US$50 for the service; Sony subsequently decided to drop the charge for this service and offer it for free after many users expressed outrage. Some of these apps may run in the background, consuming battery life, and may also duplicate functionality already provided by the phone itself; for example,
Verizon Wireless has bundled phones with a redundant text messaging app known as "Messages+" (which is set as the default
text messaging program in lieu of the stock messaging app included within the OS), and VZ Navigator (a subscription service redundant to the free
Google Maps service). In addition, apps bundled by OEMs may also include special system-level
permissions that bypass those normally enforced by the operating system.
Android 4.0 attempted to address these issues by allowing users to "disable" apps—which hides them from application menus and prevents them from running. However, this does not remove the software from the device entirely, and they still consume storage unless they are removed via unsupported modifications.
Android 5.0 began to allow carrier apps to be automatically downloaded from
Google Play Store during initial device setup instead; they are installed the same way as user-downloaded apps, and can be uninstalled normally. Although
Apple does not allow operators to customize the
iPhone in this manner, == Legal considerations ==