Windows 10: Microsoft Announces New Windows 10 Build Ahead of RTM

To state the obvious, the crudware is there because the PC makers are paid to include it.

The makers also went to the "restore" partition because MS requires them to include a means of re-installing the OS. I guess the hidden partition was the cheapest way, as well as the worst possible way (as it's gone if the HD fails).

I like your idea, but it might be nicer if the makers provided write-protected USB flash drives as well. (Which most people would lose in a day or two, but what the heck.)

When I bought a cheap laptop (Compaq) in 2008, Best Buy offered a $50 service to get rid of most of the crudware. I didn't sign up for it, as I felt competent to do it myself. Turns out that they did it for every laptop as it came in, so I got the service for free. (Mildly amusing. I had all the time in the world at that time: I was unemployed, and I was mostly housebound due to a broken ankle. Which was why I wanted the laptop; too hard to keep the leg elevated at my desk.)

 

I'm with Gary on that.