According to Ed Bott over at ZDNet, in the US the Microsoft Store are touting a new standard for PC images – the Microsoft Signature.

Anyone who has bought a PC in the last couple of decades will be well used to “crapware” – the rubbish bits of software that manufacturers install, not to make your life easier but to increase their income chances.

ZDNet shows us how clean a PC build can be the Microsoft Signature way

Microsoft Signature not only bans crapware, it has a few extra requirements:

• No trialware
• No unnecessary startup programs
• The desktop must be clear apart from the Recycle Bin
• No unnecessary system tray icons
• Microsoft Security Essentials installed and activated
• Windows Update is configured to install updates automatically
• Windows Live Essentials and Office 2010 Starter Edition installed and activated
• No added mouse/keyboard navigation systems
• All installations are up-to-date, with the latest service packs and updates applied.

In fact, they make sure the PCs are built, well, built the way we build new PCs at HDG for our customers of Computer Support in Whitstable!

I just hope the other manufacturers take note and start putting user experience higher up their priority list.

But then, nobody would be paying me to reset their new PCs when they buy them, so perhaps I should be hoping the opposite…