OEMs pay Microsoft about $50 for each copy of Windows

DeaconFrost said:

I don't mean the restore media...that's all well and good to have. I mean a legit, OS only disc to install just the OS, not their preinstalled crap.

That is whe OEM from manufactures is. Want it w/o all the CRAP, buy the OEM from Suppliers, etc: Tigerdirect, Egghead, CDW, NewEgg.

Snuffy said:

DeaconFrost said:

I don't mean the restore media...that's all well and good to have. I mean a legit, OS only disc to install just the OS, not their preinstalled crap.

That is whe OEM from manufactures is. Want it w/o all the CRAP, buy the OEM from Suppliers, etc: Tigerdirect, Egghead, CDW, NewEgg.

+1 for Snuffy. Absolutely a good idea. Plus, it is easier to deal with MS on re-activating following a major component upgrade.

Truly,

I build my own PCs, but as far as notebooks go, you just can't do it yet for a decent amount.

I guess one thing that Dells have going for them (sometimes it seems like it's the only thing going for them) is the disk they supply with new computers is a copy of the MS Operating System disk with nothing added but a small OEM section that passes pre-activation when it sees the correct BIOS boot flag. For Vista, the install.wim file on a Dell reinstallation disk is the same as on an OEM disk, allowing users to do clean installs of just Windows if they wish.

They also create a factory image of the OS and all of the software purchased with the computer (as well as the crapware) and stash that in a recovery partition for automated restoration to factory-shipped conditions. In practice, I think the factory restoration process is used more by Dell tech support than consumers. In 10 minutes they can have you back to square one, a known quantity, and then proceed with real troubleshooting..... of course, at the expense of losing all data not backed-up.

chev65 said:

It's hard to believe when you purchase a new computer you are somehow inadertently paying them to install malware on your new Operating system.

Yeah, strangely it's the reason that the OS and such goes for a lower price since those crapware vendors pay money to get their junk included on the computer.

chev65 said:

I guess those OEM computer hotlines make it all worth while for some people.

Well, I've owned a couple Dells in my time and I had a problem with a video card in 1 and a power supply in the other. It was nice just getting them swapped out and replaced with very little hassle and no cost whatsoever.

I don't honestly see what all the fuss is about. You pay for the crapware in order to get a computer for a few hundred dollars more than the operating system. If you purchase upgrade media disks then you can do clean install. Also if you have a friend that had an upgrade disk you can use those as well.

I bought my Dell computer with XP and was Vista upgrade eligible. I bought the upgrade disk for only 10 bucks. Now I can do a clean install on any computer. My wife has a Toshiba and I used the Dell Upgrade disk to perform a clean install.

With Windows 7 you should purchase at least one upgrade media disk so you can do a clean install on any future windows 7 products. So for 50 bucks you have the ability to do clean install on any computer that has a windows 7 license for the upgrade media. The nice thing about Dell was the upgrade media disk had all version.

I concede that Dell is the most well-behaved of the OEM vendors. They also de-engineer the boards they use so that most CPU/RAM/hdd port capacity upgrades require a completely new system purchase.

No biggie. They serve a purpose in the marketplace. God bless 'em. They smell like bread and butter to my support business.

And if you buy a Dell, don't buy it from Dell. Ask SubSonic what he paid for a brand new Dell from a friend of mine in Virginia.

redacted - trade secrets and personal info. This was a long couple of paragraphs

The retail PC sales and support industry is a racket. I feed 15 families plus my own - and I am a very small player. I am also selling my PC shops. The margins are getting too thin ;-)

Antman said:

Not totally related, but since we are addressing bad practices -

I will not work on a machine with AOL software installed. Period.

If the victim convinces me to uninstall AOL for him/her, I will only do a wipe and clean install. I don't care. I will not diagnose anything after AOL is detected. Period.

Period.

I'd certainly like to take the SAME approach with Norton machines...but there's just too many of 'em...

Norton is one of my biggest hooks when selling a residential service contract. A large percentage of residential Norton users are miffed at the annual subscriptions and can readily see the value afforded by an offer that provides real hands on tech support.