bought a laptop with windows 7. no OS cd came with it

I just did this on my new laptop. I wanted to get rid of all the "bloatware" I acquired a disk of the same OS as what was installed on my pc (windows7 home premium) and did a clean install using my original key. After the Install...windows downloaded most of the missing drivers and it worked out just fine....just had to seek out a few missing drivers for the built in web cam and the SD card reader. I downloaded the new windows WAT just to make sure all was good...and it was. I personally could not find a download site to download the ISO file...had to borrow one from my friend....after i convinced him that it was not illegal to do this....he was worried that it would invalidate his copy..but this was the full retail version..not an OEM.anyway..maybe you will have better luck finding a download than I did... I also went ahead and deleted my recovery partition because I believe it would also contain the bloatware I wanted to get rid of in the first place....I was then able to make a bootable ISO disk from my clean install...took me awhile, as I was unfamiliar with this operation...but now I have a clean install disk and its all legal and above board...good luck....and O by the way...this operation did void my support with Dell.. I called and asked first, before I did this,which i really don't need anyway... so be careful if this is important to you.

electriclott said:

I just did this on my new laptop. I wanted to get rid of all the "bloatware" I acquired a disk of the same OS as what was installed on my pc (windows7 home premium) and did a clean install using my original key. After the Install...windows downloaded most of the missing drivers and it worked out just fine....just had to seek out a few missing drivers for the built in web cam and the SD card reader. I downloaded the new windows WAT just to make sure all was good...and it was. I personally could not find a download site to download the ISO file...had to borrow one from my friend....after i convinced him that it was not illegal to do this....he was worried that it would invalidate his copy..but this was the full retail version..not an OEM.anyway..maybe you will have better luck finding a download than I did... I also went ahead and deleted my recovery partition because I believe it would also contain the bloatware I wanted to get rid of in the first place....I was then able to make a bootable ISO disk from my clean install...took me awhile, as I was unfamiliar with this operation...but now I have a clean install disk and its all legal and above board...good luck....and O by the way...this operation did void my support with Dell.. I called and asked first, before I did this,which i really don't need anyway... so be careful if this is important to you.

Nice work. This is what it takes to get totally clean, folks, with manufacturer's making their profits now off of sponsored bloatware.

Imagine all of the millions of new computer purchasers who try Office (instead of free Works) for word processing and then are handed the bill 3 months later for $260 and have no way to convert their documents to Works, or know nothing of free Open Office by Java. This single bloat which corrupts the OS (if Norton doesn't) when removed, gets the cost of Windows cut by more than half to makers.

The Norton magnate is a billionaire off his bloatshare. Meanwhile, we pleebs have to workaround the mess they hand us like we're doing something sneaky with our own property.

The exception is when you buy a business computer. They don't do it to each other, I guess.

Hi, same here - my new Toshiba Satellite L500 has OEM x64 Win 7 Home Premium, but I read somewhere that the recovery partition is only x86. I think that's a swizz! If that's the case, I'd want to take an image of my current x64 C: drive and reload that if there were problems later.

I've read a lot of the forums, Paragon seems recommended, but what about the inbuilt C:backup utility - is this not trustworthy?

Thanks (Noob from XP sp3, on an ooooold Toshiba lappy)

Instead of a straight OS install disk, I prefer to get my system setup the way I like it after removing bloatware, adding/removing Windows features, installing all required drivers and installing any software I consider essential. Once I get it to that point, I then create a system image (Win7 has this built-in but you can also use 3rd party apps such as Acronis). That way, if I ever need to recover, I can restore that image and have a fully working system setup the way I like it.

It's pretty much the same as if the mfr had given you a restore CD but customized for your preferences instead of theirs.

allend66 said:

Hi, same here - my new Toshiba Satellite L500 has OEM x64 Win 7 Home Premium, but I read somewhere that the recovery partition is only x86. I think that's a swizz! If that's the case, I'd want to take an image of my current x64 C: drive and reload that if there were problems later.

I've read a lot of the forums, Paragon seems recommended, but what about the inbuilt C:backup utility - is this not trustworthy?

Thanks (Noob from XP sp3, on an ooooold Toshiba lappy)

I use Paragon, dunno how I lived without it to be honest, great software , I do a clean install of Windows 7 & update it with all the latest hotfixes & get all the settings how I like them the simply back it up to a external drive, my system image is usually about 3-4GB, now if anything goes wrong I can simply wipe my hard drive & reload the image & install my software again (I only use a few apps so it takes me very little time to get everything back like it was).

It's just like a clean install but without much of the time consuming hassle, much better than going through the full Windows install.

Try it, it's never let me down once

Macrium Reflect Free - Reviews and free Macrium Reflect Free downloads at Download.com
Paragon Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced - Free Download

Win7's new built-in Backup Imaging is not yet as highly regarded, but has never failed for me:
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

WD and Seagate also have free Acronis full suite cloning and imaging apps if it detects you're using their HD:
WD Support
| Seagate

Here's what I'm doing - I'm sure this Lenovo comes with some kind of recovery partition, but rather than take the machine back to Zero should things break down here, I first did a full backup, just in case, and now am in the process of building the system the way I want.

As soon as I get my external HDD enclosure, I will do a full system image. Then, should the need arise, I can reinstall, not to Zero, but to a system rid of bloatware and with my desire programs, settings, registrations and user files already in place.

Isn't that a whole lot better than going back to Zero? And since I'll have the space on the external drive, I'll do differential backups as well, so should I want to I'll be able to bring the thing back up to any milestone I prefer.

First thing to tame bloatware is to uncheck everything in msconfig>startup except AV and gadgets as all others are freeloaders on your RAM/CPU and can spy on you full time.

Gradually wean yourself off of factory utilities as Win7 built-ins are better, e.g. HP Wireless manager adds 30 seconds to startup and pegs CPU, Win7's starts up connected with no hit.

Use a lightweight free AV like MS Security Essentials which works flawlessly and invisibly with Win7 firewall.

Gradually uninstall bloatware using REvo Uninstaller in Advanced Mode. After it runs Windows uninstaller, don't restart when prompted, click Next and delete the bolded reg keys and files it finds to clean up.

Nevertheless some bloatmonsters like Norton, Office Trial and Symantec can corrupt even from uninstall, so run sfc /scannow to monitor System file intergrity.

Clean and order the HD perfectly using state-of-the-art CCleaner (Run Cleaner and Reg tab) then Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers monthly.

Monitor the Event Viewer>Admin View to google repeat errors to find how others have resolved them. Check also Peformance Log on Advanced Tools page accessed by clicking through WEI score link at Computer>Properties. Look for cued issues at top and also Generate a System Health Report there.

Anything less than instantaneous performance or any hangs at all on above-spec hardware would cause me to do a clean reinstall. Locate or borrow any installer to unlock all versions: Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create