Many readers here have limited experience and limited knowledge. I believe responses from the more knowledgeable people should avoid strong, unfounded biases. There's no place for doing that with a beginner level audience, they (like you) may not have the time, interest, or ability to reach their own conclusions. I don't make it a point to find issues to quibble about, but it does seem you don't like it when people don't share your opinions. I try to present balanced views, keeping in mind that some people may know nothing more than what they've read in this forum. MS Internet Explorer is reported to be the most widely used browser in governmental and business use. They take that responsibility seriously, because an awful lot of essential stuff relies on it. To suggest that some grandma somewhere should worry about using the latest update to play tic-tac-toe is simply silly. And no, I don't have to have the last word.

OP, I detect a bit of concern (or maybe even paranoia) about programs on your PC. The Android world is no haven of safety in that regard. An app is a program, it's different word for the same thing. There have been many outcries about some Droid apps that access and transmit back to the developers' home base information that's wholly irrelevant to the app's function. Your location (determined by the GPS function or cell tower location for phones) as an example, your browsing history or data from your address book are others. Don't think that sticking to apps from big name companies is any solace, because Google (the "owner" and developer of the Android system) is as guilty as anyone. The best protection is to be judicious about what you install, and delete what you find unncessary. Your words - remnants, tentacles- suggest a concern (whether for the PC or Droid worlds) that I'd suggest you just learn to live with these things and move on. They exist, they can't be avoided, and so long as you have a good anti-virus program on your PC, you can be reasonably confident that their presence will be of no real consequence. I know some will disagree, but I think having concern about things you can't really change is a waste of time.

I have currently 4 tablets, one that is strictly an ereader, I got each of us one, very inexpensive. My husband loves it and uses his daily, I really don't use that one anymore but it will be his backup. I got the first pandigital novel 7 inch tablet which was a great tablet but it is outdated as far as the version of android on it goes, that one I passed down to a family member. I also have a 7 inch Sylvania that was also inexpensive which I used a lot and still do on occasion, that one will not be updated either but is fine for my husband to use to read the kindle books on and play solitaire and check email or Google something which is about the extent of his use. The one I use daily is my Vizio Vtab 1008 tablet it is still being updated and it will get the latest version of android ics in the near future, Vizio mentioned that recently when showing the new 10 inch tablet they are releasing soon. I love my tech toys but I don't spend a lot of money on them. The Vizio is the most expensive one and I got it as a refurbished unit for a very good price, luckily it was perfect. The laptop is a gift I got for my husband, I rarely use it, I do the updates on it. I do have an Acer netbook that I did use quite a bit, and still do when I travel, I prefer the keyboard. For daily use my desktop is custom made has 2 hard drives one with Linux one with windows. I use Mepis Linux pretty much exclusively for daily use. I do have a couple of other towers but they are backup. Luckily my husband supports my addict.... Um I mean hobbies lol. He has been urging me to get the nexus already! I am resisting so far. I guess it is my one vice. It could be worse lol

The generic method of deleting apps on android is go to the settings, then apps, all apps tab, scroll down to find the app name, select it then in the options select uninstall, ok, done. Installing the pay version on most will not affect the free version. Edit to say in some devices you can fully remove an app by going to it in the full list of apps from home screen and hold long press, the option to uninstall will appear. Now if you just long press on the icon showing up on a home screen that will only give you the ability to move it around or slide it to the top edge to remove the icon only. This post was edited by ravencajun on Sat, Dec 7, 13 at 16:54