Windows 8 is sh1t!!!
And HP Envy comes with so much bloatware I can’t believe it!!!
And making a bootable USB for a clean Win8 install is a pain in the a$$!
I got a BEAST of a laptop (Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ with Intel HD Graphics 4600 (2.4 GHz, 6 MB cache, 4 cores), 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM (2 x 8 GB), 256 GB M.2 SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 840M (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)).
I’ve got a busy weekend coming up, just getting a clean install of Win8 sorted…
What or who is a ‘Windows 8’ ?
!
Haha removing windows 8 to install 7 is somewhat fun make sure to disable secure boot and UEFI and enable legacy or else have fun lol
Wait until Windows 10 comes out lol.
I’m gonna stick with Win 8 (8.1, actually).
But, even that doesn’t look easy. Gotta install it with a “MS Generic Win 8 Serial No” (
slight_smile: then change that to the HP OEM serial that is stored in the BIOS.
Honestly - I’m not looking forward to it at all.
I dunno why you guys complain all the time.
I have absolutely no problems with any of my copies of windows.
And clean install of Win 8? That takes up like 10 minutes of your time. It does most of it automatically…
Not when your machine doesn’t come with recovery discs, and that machine is CRAMMED with bloatware.
HP recovery disks
shudders
I remember having to do that on my ENVY. Re-install was ez-pz though.
Sounds alot more like HP is sh1t, and Windows is just along for the ride.
Honestly, you could just remove the bloatware and be fine. There are a couple free utilities that can make sure you only remove the right stuff. I highly recommend the Revo Uninstaller for starters. I run it as a part of the portable apps suite, along with Process Explorer and System Explorer, WhatChanged, CrystalDisk utilities, CPUZ, and the Wise cleaners. It’s a PC toolkit on a USB drive, and it’s all free.
I also use this drive for private browsing and Tor, and it’s installed on a tiny 8GB keychain drive so I have it everywhere.
It’s actually not that bad i just did a downgrade to 7 from 8 on a Lenovo Y50-70 and that hardest part was getting the GTX-860 driver installed… Hardest ones I’ve found are the Asus zenbooks but once I figured out the proper process it became way easier and now can get it done in no tine
The envy laptops are packing some serious girth in those metal pants. But yeah, my Lenovo came with Windows 8 and it literally cannot be removed without replacing the hard drive and the BIOS due to a bug Got my ass fucked by Lenovo on that. Fortunately, bloat ware took the best part of 5 minutes to remove and I’ve never had a problem since.
The recovery disks are probably on the computer in the form of an ISO.
And bloatware doesn’t affect reformat THAT much. I’ve done it so many times.
this, i built and installed my own win 8.1 and there’s no bloatware anywhere to be found on the machine.
Gonna try the software that nem0nic mentioned…
Ya patch, upgrade to win 7 pro asap. You may have to enable legacy mode in the bios to get it installed properly.
My Lenovo also came with a stupid amount of crapware. Irritating but removable.
You can use Belarc Advisor - Belarc, Inc. to dig out the serial and then (i think) download a win8 iso from microsoft and install a clean version. I hope it works!
I have the serial that came with my machine - but there is a weird “rule” (MS/HP screwing the end user) that doesn’t let you do a fresh install using the OEM serial number.
That’s why I’ll have to install using a “MS Generic” serial number (MS actually provides a list of these…), and after installing using that S/N, change the serial to the OEM one that is stored in the BIOS.
I’ve done a little research, and it seems this is the best way to get a fresh install on a machine that came with a pre-loaded OS and no recovery media.
Windows 10 beta is already out on the internet 
I still prefer windows xp, but windows 7 is also almost just as good
btw. An uofficial Service Pack 4 for windows XP just came out some days ago 
http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=133918#133918
Can XP use quad core processors and 16gb of ram?