WD Smartware reduces overall PC performance substantially (latest version)

[MrSteve]

Well, after sitting through another long reboot this morning (I can’t accept this; we have thunderstorms in our area and I need to shut my computer down sometimes in less than ten minutes…!), I removed WD Smartware from my PC (Windows XP SP3). My computer literally felt like its performance overall had been cut in half with the software installed; the GUI was “swallowing clicks” like it had never done before (I’d have to click on something on my screen twice to get it to register with the interface); the computer seemed very sluggish; and, of course, shutdowns and restarts were endless, with endless hard-drive accesses and delays both during shutdown and restart. Removing WD Smartware solved _all_ these problems and I feel like I have my computer back now. I’ll just copy some folders to the external HD and be done with it from here on out; I’ve never had a good experience with “backup software,” all of it acts as if the code monkey designed it with only computer backups as the sole and primary purpose for your PC to exist, and I’m sorry, I have other uses for my PC than sitting and staring at it while your program executes your hidden routines. Bye.