codyg1985’s Think Tank

Have you bought a new digital camera or printer recently? Have you noticed how much stuff you have to install to get it to work? As the sizes of hard drives have risen, so has the footprint that digital camera or printer software leaves on your hard drive. Printer and digital camera software has gotten so bloated that it boggles the mind.

Most people just want to install the all-in-one printer so that they can print from Word or scan an image. Most people want to just plugin the digital camera and download the pictures off of it. No fuss, no hassle, right? These software packages do so much more than what is intended. Not only do they hog hard drive space (some packages install upwards of 300 MB of software), but these programs also hog precious memory as they start when Windows starts.

If you are not a techno geek, then chances are that you don’t know how to plugin your new digital camera and then insert the CD and manually install the device. So, you pop in the CD as the instructions say, and press the huge install button (or whatever pops up upon inserting the CD) to begin the software and device installation. The program does as you wish and installs the device. It also installs the tools and accessories needed to get the best out of the device, as they would like to say. On older computers, the install process alone can take a long time.

And don’t even think about trying to uninstall this software, unless you have a book to read. Forget the book: for my mom’s Canon digital camera, each component, about 10 or so, were each displayed on the Add/Remove Programs list. And yes, each had to be removed one at a time. Talk about pulling teeth, one at a time.

But wait, would the software companies be kind enough to provide a way to easily install the device only? Of course not! I guess that option comes if you do it manually through Windows and Device Manager, but that process can be confusing and could result in errors. Windows provides you with a plethora of different drivers for each possible brand and revision of this device, and then warns you that the drivers are not signed. Pick the wrong driver, and you have to uninstall the device and start again. You see, this process is too long and confusing for most, so most just go forth and install the entire kit and kabootle.

I admit, a lot of these programs actually are useful and do allow you to get the most out of the device you are using, especially when it comes to an all-in-one printer. However, to save on hard drive space, there should be an option to just install the driver only.