crapware

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Old Dutch krappender. Old French crappe Middle French crapebor. Middle English crappe English crap Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Germanic *samþuz /*samftuz Proto-Germanic *-jaz Proto-West Germanic *-ī Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) Old English sōfte Middle English softe English soft Proto-Germanic *warō Proto-West Germanic *waru Old English waru Middle English ware English -ware English softwarebf. English -ware English crapware From crap + -ware.

1. Software that is useless or of poor quality.

   “Can it download and execute dangerous code, including viruses and really buggy crapware? No problem.”

   “MS [Microsoft] “crapware,” as some call it, is widely disparaged as inelegant and buggy.”

2. Unwanted software that comes pre-installed with personal computers or mobile devices.

   “We suspect that its extra pound of heft is made up entirely of crapware—the Vaio ships with a ludicrous number of useless preinstalled applications. We understand the economic necessities of subsidizing inexpensive PCs with third-party crapware, but there's no excuse for whoring out a notebook of this price.”

   “Big-name system vendors typically install software on their consumer PCs at the factory. These "extras" go by many names: bundleware, begware, bloatware, and my favorite, crapware. That's because a lot of it is just that: useless crap. […] A few vendors, like Sony and Dell, offer some options to avoid crapware, but usually just for small businesses. Boutique manufacturers, like Velocity Micro, do a better job of providing a clean system.”