Jackie just got a new laptop, and you bet nuking it and reloading it with a clean copy of Windows was the first thing that I did. The desktop was packed with all sorts of useless utilities, helper bars for slow people who can't figure out the start menu and all manner of rubbish.
The computer definitely boots more quickly and feels more responsive.
Lenovo's built in restore partition lets you reinstall without any of the crap that comes by default. I used that when I got this laptop to reinstall vista business...I'm not sure if it's still an option, but it may be an easier solution than having to download/burn/reinstall.
Great advice, would be interesting to see some sort of comparisson also on which laptops are the best and which are the worst in this regard. In my experience it doesn't get any worse than Sony when it comes to preloaded nonsense.
One technical comment -- your Amazon links have IP addresses in them.
I've been waiting for something like this. Thank you so much for putting it all together. I'll be following this to reinstall my new ASUS G73JH that I recently picked up.
Good clear procedures, recommend for anybody getting a new commercial system, regardless of maker. Just too frikken sad that we have to do this to mainstream computers.
Interestingly enough, many of these issues are side-skirted by getting a business class notebook.
Also, if you recommend installing Avira or Avast, then also suggest anything you have to do to disable the built in antivirus software Windows 7 comes with...
In step 3/5, you probably also don't want to update "hardware drivers" that you've already installed from your hardware vendor.
Comments
The computer definitely boots more quickly and feels more responsive.
One technical comment -- your Amazon links have IP addresses in them.
Also, if you recommend installing Avira or Avast, then also suggest anything you have to do to disable the built in antivirus software Windows 7 comes with...
In step 3/5, you probably also don't want to update "hardware drivers" that you've already installed from your hardware vendor.