[wpkg-users] wpkg for crapware removal?

[heiko.helmle at horiba.com]

> So usually for me it takes longer to clean the machines (and still 
> living with 
> the risk that manufacturer changed some Windows settings which I don't 
know 
> about) than re-installing them from scratch; knowing to have a clean 
system 
> then. Using unattended Windows setup and WPKG a machine can be 
automatically 
> deployed within less than 1 hour usually. 

For our (small and diverse) deployment I didn't bother about unattended 
installs (or images). We just buy the machines without the crapware. WPKG 
then removes in a first step (as execute=once) the few packages that are 
not necessarily crapware, but unwanted (java-plugin) - and as execute-once 
because it might be needed later (and reinstalled/updated anyway).

> Cleaning a crapware-system usually 
> takes me longer manual actions and creating/maintaining a very-detailed 
> crapware-remover tool would require me to adapt it continuously.

Right - but there are tools for that readily available - I just don't know 
if those are automatable.
A quick web search brought this example: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

> 
> Jon actually had slightly different requirement. He's willing to 
"blacklist" 
> some known crapware and assure it's removed automatically whenever it's 
> installed on the client (after deployment). At least this was my 
> understanding.
> So here an execute="always" package might help. The package will have to 

> identify every kind of undesired software and remove it silently on 
> every WPKG run.

I'd suggest using a normal package and using "uninstall" checks with a 
logical "not" - so the package commands only fire if the crap is there and 
will re-fire everytime the crap reappears.

Best Regards
        Heiko 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/attachments/20121214/a29375ed/attachment-0002.html>