Beware the Restore Disk....

**smiTTTen** · 02-19-2011, 12:22 AM

Evening Squires and Squirrels,

I am just working through rebuilding a new laptop that I purchased this week. Before I blew it away I wanted to see where it was at in terms of resource load once booted up using the shipped install. The amount of pointless trial apps and stoolware was no better or worse than other machines.

Once everything was loaded up Windows was into 1.5GB of my RAM. I like to use RAM as a gauge even though there are many other variables.

Performance Monitor after booting into default Factory load of Win Home Premium.

Once I did the format and reload with Win 7 Ultimate the figure dropped down to around 900MB. If go through my strip-down process I will likely drop that number again to 500MB-600MB like I have on a couple of other boxes.

The moral of the story: If you are looking to solve a problem (S4 related or not) or optimize your system through an OS reload - DON'T USE THE MANUFACTURER'S RESTORE/RECOVER DISK. It's a school boy tip but it might save someone a few hours banging their head against a brick wall.

**Waterfree** · 02-19-2011, 05:10 AM

Amen to that! Fresh clean install, with no extra mediacenter, free 60 day trials and other S¤#" with it:P To bad you do not get a clean win 7 dvd with the pc when you buy it...

**rhombus_77** · 02-19-2011, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by Waterfree

Amen to that! Fresh clean install, with no extra mediacenter, free 60 day trials and other S¤#" with it:P To bad you do not get a clean win 7 dvd with the pc when you buy it...

Agreed. I always recommend this program to my friends: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

They think I am joking.

**Waterfree** · 02-19-2011, 07:06 AM

Lol, think its better to do it manualy, but not all of us are geeks and into computers

**rhombus_77** · 02-19-2011, 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by Waterfree

Lol, think its better to do it manualy, but not all of us are geeks and into computers

For sure, but like you said, not everyone is into computers. Give them a program with a name like PC Decrapifier and they are usually more than happy to run it!

**Waterfree** · 02-19-2011, 07:19 AM

Maybe i start recomend it, does it crash your registry like all the other so called "cleaning" programs do?

**rhombus_77** · 02-19-2011, 07:33 AM

Nope. It is basically works just like Add/Remove Programs, except instead of having to manually install individual programs, it removes all bloatware/crapware programs sequentially at once. It is kind of like a batch file. It does leave dll files and the like, like Add/Remove Programs does.

Just out of curiosity, have you had any problems with the "cleaning" program CCleaner? I have used it quite successfully for a few years, although I really don't have a reason to use it other than being anal. Would you recommend against it?

**Patch** · 02-19-2011, 07:53 AM

If you're worried about the bloatware that comes with OEM installs, just download an OS by torrent. You will already have a license for the software (it'll be on a sticker on your machine).

Install the torrent OS, use your legit license/serial, and your sorted for a clean install.

Then you'll just need to optimise it by removing the windows componants and turning off the services that you don't use.

I have NO PROBLEM downloading a torrent file for software I have already paid for a license for!