I don't agree in general - I like the trad sitcom "sort of live" approach, as in Cheers and early Red Dwarf, but it is definitely used as you say far too often. The fecking Flintstones used a laugh track - an animated show.

But search YouTube for "Big Bang Theory without Laugh Track" and you'll see a dew examples of how shit most of the humour actually is

I absolutely agree. You can find some parts of the show with the laugh track removed on YouTube, and it's amazing to realise how unfunny the jokes really are.