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- 6:07 AM
- Posts
- 6,679
- Location
- The Lone Star State of Texas
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
Dell Bloatware Test Results
There have been questions regarding what affect the bloatware Dell installs has on a system. Having one myself, I decided to test it because I did not know what services were dependent on each other. Here are my findings.
MY SCENARIO - I have driver updates through Windows update turned off. I manually manage my Intel drivers using the Intel Driver and Support Assist Tool available from Intel. I manage my bios and Dell specific drivers through Dell Command Update.
ACTION - I uninstalled all Dell apps, except Dell Command Update. Since I also keep my system backed up in case I have to recover, in bios I turned off Watchdog Timer, Auto OS recovery, Support Assist Auto Recovery, and Bios Connect. I then removed Dell Watchdog Timer Driver.
RESULTS
The installed Dell Command Update continued to work correctly. (I discovered that Dell also issues a standalone version of Command Update so one can use it without installation if desired. You just download the package and select extract the contents rather than choosing to install.)
Without Support Assist installed, when I went to Dell and entered my service tag, the “Let Dell Automatically Install Drivers for you” feature did not work. However, I was still given a list of drivers applicable for my service tag that can be manually downloaded.
After a restart, with 32gb of ram installed ram usage dropped dramatically from 24% to 16%. At idle, CPU runs at 1%.
Startup was noticeably faster.
Dell f12 hardware diagnostics continued to work correctly.
WARNING- Always backup your system before making changes.
There have been questions regarding what affect the bloatware Dell installs has on a system. Having one myself, I decided to test it because I did not know what services were dependent on each other. Here are my findings.
MY SCENARIO - I have driver updates through Windows update turned off. I manually manage my Intel drivers using the Intel Driver and Support Assist Tool available from Intel. I manage my bios and Dell specific drivers through Dell Command Update.
ACTION - I uninstalled all Dell apps, except Dell Command Update. Since I also keep my system backed up in case I have to recover, in bios I turned off Watchdog Timer, Auto OS recovery, Support Assist Auto Recovery, and Bios Connect. I then removed Dell Watchdog Timer Driver.
RESULTS
The installed Dell Command Update continued to work correctly. (I discovered that Dell also issues a standalone version of Command Update so one can use it without installation if desired. You just download the package and select extract the contents rather than choosing to install.)
Without Support Assist installed, when I went to Dell and entered my service tag, the “Let Dell Automatically Install Drivers for you” feature did not work. However, I was still given a list of drivers applicable for my service tag that can be manually downloaded.
After a restart, with 32gb of ram installed ram usage dropped dramatically from 24% to 16%. At idle, CPU runs at 1%.
Startup was noticeably faster.
Dell f12 hardware diagnostics continued to work correctly.
WARNING- Always backup your system before making changes.
My Computers
System One System Two
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Dell Optiplex 7080
- CPU
- i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
- Motherboard
- DELL 0J37VM
- Memory
- 32 gb
- Graphics Card(s)
- none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
- Sound Card
- Integrated Realtek
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Benq 27
- Screen Resolution
- 2560x1440
- Hard Drives
- 1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
- PSU
- 500w
- Case
- MT
- Cooling
- Dell Premium
- Keyboard
- Logitech wired
- Mouse
- Logitech wireless
- Internet Speed
- so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
- Browser
- Firefox
- Antivirus
- Defender+MWB Premium
-
- Operating System
- Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Dell Optiplex 9020
- CPU
- i7-4770
- Memory
- 24 gb
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Benq 27
- Screen Resolution
- 2560x1440
- Hard Drives
- 256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
- PSU
- 500w
- Case
- MT
- Cooling
- Dell factory
- Mouse
- Logitech wireless
- Keyboard
- Logitech wired
- Internet Speed
- still not telling
- Browser
- Firefox
- Antivirus
- Defender+MWB Premium