Today, I found a new application on my computer – KDE Connect SMS. It didn’t used to be there and I never installed it. Nor do I want it. What mystified me is how it arrived on my system.
I found it suspicious that KDE Connect SMS appeared to have added itself to my computer. I only noticed its presence when I entered the term “text” in the application search. I normally do this to find the text editor, which I use a lot. KDE Connect SMS never came up in the past.
I was going to delete KDE Connect SMS by finding it in the Linux Mint Software Manager and then clicking on uninstall. I could not do this. According to the Software Manager, the installation is not there.
Next, I searched KDE and found the source of the problem. I recently installed a video editor by KDE. Now I discover instead of adding one application, the download added five. That bugs me off. I got rid of the lot.
Would you believe it? I found the video editor in the Software Manager and it was easy to remove. However, it didn’t take any of the other crap with it. I had to delete the excess baggage that was sneaked onto my computer one by one.
- KDE Connect
- KDE Connect Indicator
- KDE Connect Settings
And, of course, KDE Connect SMS.
I found it was possible to do this by right-clicking on them in the applications menu and then selecting uninstall.
The worst thing about this is, had I not been in the habit of opening the text editor in the way that I do, I may have never realised any of these stowaway programs were there.
The KDE video editor isn’t that good by the way. I prefer OpenShot. I find it has a better interface and is easier to use.
