repair install

thanks for the feedback. I'm one of those who never uses a standard account.

The results indicate that you have a valid Win 7. I needed to make 100% certain that there weren't any problems in that area.

Have a few chores to do and then will be back with suggestions.
karl

Dealing with a standard user account is a new rodeo for me, too. I was not expecting this limitation when "running as administrator" from the standard user account. This the only one of my three machines on I which employ a standard user account for my use. One other one has standard user accounts for other users. My reasoning in employing a standard user account on this machine is that it is used away from home on a regular basis. The little (granted very little) extra security offered by the standard user accounts can limit what others can do if they gain unauthorized access to the machine when it is running while in use away from home. All account log ons are password protected. The bulk of the work I perform is in the standard user account to make it readily accessible when working on the computer away from home.

no hurry on the return reply ... Life comes first.

drpepper

I agree with you about working your way thru one of the install tutorials.

They are excellent and everything is there. Perhaps because everything is there and the tutorials touch all bases, then one can become confused.

Tell me precisely which type of install you would like to make to what and I'll give a quick overview of the route to take.

Sounds good.

I just had an aha! moment which woke me up. I don't recall the following being covered in the tutorials. As viewed under Computer, the HDD is configured as:

Local Disk (C)

206GB free of 254GB

Lenovo (D)

26.7GB free of 28.9GB

I checked the contents of D: drive. The D: drive contains Lenovo factory loaded propriatary software executables plus Adobe and McAfee. There are certain features of the factory software I wish to keep. Notable is Port Locker, which I keep enabled when away from home for security purposes.

Research regarding the One Key Recovery feature built into this computer does not address the necessity of the D: drive. One Key Recovery is both hardware (a button on the computer) and software (the program) related. Do I need to attempt to contact Lenovo support for an explanation?

Does a desire to target only C: drive influence my decision regarding which repair option to choose? From what I have read, it sounds like I need to copy the D: drive folders/files to removable media in addition to an image backup before embarking on the task. Would it also be prudent to use ERUNT to save a backup of the registry to removable media?

drpepper

gregrocker,

Thanks for the "savvy" comment. I have worked real hard to get where I am. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. Your words are encouraging.

So far I have:

downloaded Windows 7 SP1 ISO. WOW! That took ten hours @ 80 KBs, the maximum speed of our internet service. I sure am happy that downloads can be unattended.

downloaded Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool

created a bootable flash drive with the ISO

I have read both the How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7 and the Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 tutorials and followed many of the links contained within both. If I have not lost continuity by jumping from link to link, there are some key considerations for choosing which route to take. Please correct me where I may be wrong or have missed something of importance.

Repair install
will leave the D: drive intact. After further thought, I do not see the need for the D; drive. I can install the programs I wish to keep from Lenovo's web site. I have already done this once when support advised me to remove one of them for troubleshooting purposes. Replacing it was a smooth operation.

My user accounts, files, and installed programs will be preserved. The bloatware would also be preserved, necessitating removing it (again).

Clean install
will require me to gather and save all kinds of data: browser settings, user account configuration, an inventory of installed programs, files, home network settings, internet connection settings, etc.

Programs would have be installed and configured again. User accounts would have to be created again or restored from the folders described in the tutorials. The internet connection and home network would have to be set up again (for this machine). Browsers would have to be installed and settings imported from backups (Mozbackup for Firefox e.g.). For brevity I stop listing things here.

I could, however, recover just short of 30GB of hard drive space, now dedicated to D: Lenovo, for use as part of the C: drive. Bloatware would be absent on the clean install.

The decision will hinge almost entirely upon the trade off between saving time and effort while sacrificing extra available hard drive space and gaining extra hard drive space at the cost of extra time and work. Cleaning up after the task is a minor consideration compared to the trade off. Please correct me if I am wrong. It will help me to learn important concepts.

Thanks,
drpepper