Worst software you've ever used?
cnbcwatcher
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Just something I was randomly thinking about yesterday. For me it has to be:
Norton Antivirus/Internet Security
Windows Vista
Microsoft Access
Internet Explorer
McAfee Antivirus
AOL (ended up on it when fixing someone's computer... just awful)
RealPlayer
iTunes for Windows
The software that comes with those LeapPad kids tablet devices (had to set up one for a neighbour's kids last Christmas and it was slow and clunky and like something I would have used on Windows 98)
Windows Live Mail
Magix MP3 Maker 2004 (or whatever the version was)
Nero Burning Rom 6
F-Secure Antivirus (crashed my old XP laptop when I installed it)
Adobe Reader on slow computers (crashes them!)
Microsoft Office 2007/2010 (that bloody ribbon interface... need I say any more?)
I strangely can't think of any bad Mac software I've ever used...
Norton Antivirus/Internet Security
Windows Vista
Microsoft Access
Internet Explorer
McAfee Antivirus
AOL (ended up on it when fixing someone's computer... just awful)
RealPlayer
iTunes for Windows
The software that comes with those LeapPad kids tablet devices (had to set up one for a neighbour's kids last Christmas and it was slow and clunky and like something I would have used on Windows 98)
Windows Live Mail
Magix MP3 Maker 2004 (or whatever the version was)
Nero Burning Rom 6
F-Secure Antivirus (crashed my old XP laptop when I installed it)
Adobe Reader on slow computers (crashes them!)
Microsoft Office 2007/2010 (that bloody ribbon interface... need I say any more?)
I strangely can't think of any bad Mac software I've ever used...
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Windows Vista worst OS
I'm sure someone will!
I've used it and thought it was like Windows 7 with a touch based UI bolted on...so not the worst so would not be on my list!
Norton Internet Security
McAfee Internet Security
Windows Vista
Adobe Reader
Internet Explorer
Windows Mail Live
WinAmp.
PowerDVD.
All need an axe taking to them.
eBay Turbo Lister, unbelievably slow for no good reason. It makes Vista on 512mb of RAM look fast.
I've never had any problems with it
Firefox is going the same way, their major release per month policy is irritating, you just find workarounds for annoyances then they update the sodding thing again (automatically, then you have to wait minutes whilst it checks addon compatibility). It can take up to a minute to launch because it's checking for updates and they're starting to have 'features' like IE when you press escape to stop it loading a page and it does what it likes anyway. It runs like a dog, often freezing for up to ten seconds on Javascript heavy pages (Facebook e.g). My laptop is less than a year old too, it's not like I'm using a 486 DX2 or something.
Windows Media Player is, or was, a joke, I stopped using it at v10. It would choke on a big library and loved to crash out.
Adobe Flash, horrible, bloated, insecure, CPU hogging program that needs to die.
Adobe Reader, bloated beyond belief.
Windows XP. I can't understand why people love this so much. Explorer has some bizarre and stupid limitations, like if you're copying lots of files and it encounters a problem with one, it just stops altogether. And annoying bugs that never got fixed, like the desktop cleanup wizard telling you twice that there are unused icons on the desktop. When you're logging into tens of machines a day, things like that really start to grate. Stopped being good the moment Windows 7 came out, Mac OS Leopard, and probably hundreds of Linux distros.
I've had no bother with iTunes on Windows or Mac either.
RealPlayer - At one point half decent, then they went nuts packing it full of adverts and junk that ran in the background. Popups are very 90s.
RM CC3 - When it breaks, it breaks on a truly epic scale. On the rare occasion its not broken you have to contend with numerous "quirks" and workarounds. All basic computing common sense goes out of the window.
Nero - Ok up to about version 5 then they just started cramming it full of unnecessary bloat.
ISScript - The people that made this are the Hitler of the software world.
Google Toolbar (or any other toolbar) - Lags the browser out and meddles with the settings, whilst having dubious privacy issues. Glorified malware, but at least it usually comes with an uninstaller.
Quicktime - As with most Apple software under Windows, its a half-baked mess that insists on running in the background, tries to steal your file associations and does a really crappy job of playing back anything other than MOV It also has a really crappy non-standard installer that makes deployment a pain in the ass.
HP Printer Software - A printer driver should NOT be a 250MB download. I do NOT want to sit there for half an hour looking at stock photos of office workers grinning at me in contempt while your stupid installer adds half a dozen other packages I didn't ask for. I just want this stupid thing to print damnit.
FlipShare - If anyone from Cisco is reading this, I want you guys to know you are up there alongside the Hitlers of ISScript. You bring nothing but misery and despair to anyone trying to use your software on a managed network. I can't help but think some (or all) of the devs were stoned when they were coding this thing up.
Oh fully agree about that.
Also, there's nothing that annoys me more, than having to sort out a family computer that is full to the brim of various HP, Sony, Olympus, Epson bloatware that came on the installation disc for their camera or printer.
Every company wants their own photo viewing software, that it installs by default.
StarTeam - the only version control system I've used that doesn't seem that clear on what that actually entails. It's like giving the responsibility of your filing to someone with dementia.
Sharepoint - possibly more the fault of the people writing websites that use it, but I just find the way it works totally unintuitive.
Yeah, all stuff use by corporates. You haven't really experienced bad software until you've used the stuff that salespeople dupe middle managers into buying!
There's a reason that version of Windows was called the Mistake Edition
No contest.
Don't like windows media player though.
Wow, there's a blast from the past!
I remember going to Electronics Boutique and ordering this. Even though our PC at the time met the needed requirements, the game still ran slow, painfully slow. I could never get it to work right and I always lost money no matter how much I tried.
Too true...the worst software I've used seems to be business packages... the most expensive and sometimes the most specific to one industry, yet totally wak.
SAP seems to get universal hate everywhere!
iTunes - never got it to run in a stable way, tried 3 times & binned 3 times (on various windows machines) -- must have been insufficient hardware or conflicts with other software
McAfee - creates more problems than it protects .. and it protects poorly
AOL - pathetic waste of time
Agree about the others but why WinAmp? I use it pretty much all day, every day, and it always produces the goods.
Are the newer versions rubbish? I use an old version on a netbook.
Samsung Kies: what exactly is "dire" about it? I found it invaluable to acquire drivers for my phone and to do firmware upgrades. But then I am doing Android development, so I suppose that's why I find it useful.
Steam: what else are you going to use? Ideal for evaluating and purchasing games online, and as a games library that never loses what you own, or your progress. Helps if you have BT Infinity, though