I recently visited my family, not seeing them often, for dinner. After the event, we went back to their home and my brother took me to his computer stating "My computer is slow and always has pop-ups! Can you help fix it?"

This is not a hard problem to fix, and doesn't require you to buy a new computer (under most circumstances, anyways).

Simply, on his Windows8 PC, I went to the menu and search bar to type "Add or Remove Programs"]" in which I had clicked. Seeing the dozens of unnecessary programs that were installed, I was very surprised. Anywhere from "SaveMoney" to "FreeCoupons" or even "189382njafn" (probably to confuse people?) I also saw "PCSpeed" and "SpeedOptimizer2.0"
Naturally, as anyone else would question, I asked "Did you download these?"
"No, I've never even heard of them."

After a series of questions about installing games, software, or other programs, we came to the conclusion he had been installing programs using "Recommended Settings" thinking it would be faster and make things run better since they were "Recommended."

I cannot stress enough that "Recommended Settings" are not recommended to the user, but to whoever made or holds development access.

Never EVER download a program without looking at the installations first!
I'm not telling you to read every single word in the terms of service, but at least make sure to uncheck the recommended box.


What you can do to fix this problem is do as said in the beginning.. Search for "Add or Remove Programs" and right-click > uninstall to everything you don't know about. DO SOME RESEARCH IF YOU NEED TO to find out what things are. Some things are important to your computer and shouldn't be removed!
A few things I didn't delete were mostly owned by Microsoft or HP.

Hopefully most of you already know of the above, but I'd really like for you ALL to know these "tricks that aren't actually tricks."  

Always read the fine print when you install stuff. A lot of "free" programs are free because they are packaged with crap like that unless you specifically opt out of it.

Always install custom, always read and take a good look at the check boxes.  

"Graal will also be downloaded with this program"  

Have a good antivirus and malware detector and deleter handy.  

Posted by 5hift

Have a good antivirus and malware detector and deleter handy.

That sounds much easier than it actually is.
Luckily, my computer warns me when something being downloaded is a virus (or malware, both). Some people who have older computers that didn't come with this software aren't fortunate enough to know exactly what should be downloaded for this task.
I would never go online and search for virus-protection for the exact reason it probably gives you one.  

This post is annoying to read  

Posted by Kendama

This post is annoying to read

Hahaha, because I colored and bolded like, everything?  

Posted by Dusty

Always read the fine print when you install stuff. A lot of "free" programs are free because they are packaged with crap like that unless you specifically opt out of it.

Always install custom, always read and take a good look at the check boxes.

This.  

I would also like to add that even while uninstalling toolbars or "coupon" applications, they sometimes trick you into downloading something else, not only while installing.

I was removing some things he did not need, and was asked "Would you like to remove all content from this program?", which, if you're like me, always press "No" without reading the details first can be a pain. Make sure to remove all content.
There was also one where a pop-up opened while uninstalling and asked to download something else (I can't remember what it exactly was), but even while uninstalling they were setting advertisements.

It's ridiculous, to me, that people (like my brother) would download these things without even knowing it. Please please pleeeaseee read before installing anything.  

Posted by Fysez

That sounds much easier than it actually is.
Luckily, my computer warns me when something being downloaded is a virus (or malware, both). Some people who have older computers that didn't come with this software aren't fortunate enough to know exactly what should be downloaded for this task.
I would never go online and search for virus-protection for the exact reason it probably gives you one.

Well when it comes down to it, it really isn't all that hard to maintain a good computer.

Watch your back and don't let people whack off on your computer.  

Posted by Fysez

That sounds much easier than it actually is.
Luckily, my computer warns me when something being downloaded is a virus (or malware, both). Some people who have older computers that didn't come with this software aren't fortunate enough to know exactly what should be downloaded for this task.
I would never go online and search for virus-protection for the exact reason it probably gives you one.

Or, you know, you can just:

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/  

Click the link to get a free virus! Absolutely Free.
Click here for your free virus today!  

Posted by Fysez

Make sure to remove all content

Revo Uninstaller <3