Clean install on a brand new computer

[Paul Black]

Good morning,

I have ordered a brand new Windows 7 Home 64bit computer which will be with me over the next few days!
Now I know that it will come pre-installed with crapware and what I basically want to do is to install a nice clean crapware free system as soon as it comes out of the box so to speak.
I assume that it will have a factory image on a seperate partition so my question is, how do I go about getting rid of the existing install and installing a clean version please.
Also, any tips that you guys can provide will be greatly received.
Thanks in advance.

 

[nommy the first]

Hello Paul Black,

For a clean install, you can follow the steps of this tutorial.
If it's only the factory bloatware that bothers you, you might want to take a peep at this tutorial.


Good luck and keep us posted,
Nommy

 

[Paul Black]

WOW! Nommy, there is quite a bit of reading there which I will plough through over the next couple of days.

I just want a nice clean system to start with, load my new Office Professional 2010 that I have bought, do all the updates etc, load a few programs that I know I will use, and then take a FULL SYSTEM image in case anything happens in the future, that way it shouldn't take that long to reinstall.
Out of inerest, would I save the new image to where the existing pre-installed image is kept so I will have two images or do I save it somewhere else?
On that particular note, is using the built in Windows image maker just as good as say Macrium or Paragon?

Thanks for you time in responding to my request, it is appreciated.

 

[Golden]

In my opinion, Macrium is far superior - it is well regarded here, and highly recommended.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

 

[nommy the first]

Hello Paul Black,

No problem I'm here to help.
I would not know, as I am yet to figure out system images.. I'm still using the good old restore points for my system restores But I see a lot of recommendations for both Macrium and Paragon, and virtually none for the built in image maker, so I suggest following the tutorial that Golden linked. Creating a system image with the built in software is explained in this tutorial, and using them to do a recovery is explained here.


Good luck and keep us posted,
Nommy

EDIT: Sorry for my late-ish reply, but it seems that the admins are messing with the site, as I suddenly have to use HTML code instead of BBCode-.- Took me long enough to remember how to use the good old p, a href and /br tags

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks for the insight Golden, I will investigate further!

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks for taking the time to find and post those links Nommy, I guess I will be doing a lot of reading over the next few days!
I will keep you updated once I receive my new Laptop and make a start , I just don't want to end up :banghead:.

Thanks again.

 

[madcratebuilder]

There are image editors that allow you to build custom install .iso CD's. nLite is the one I use. Be sure and burn the new .iso at the lowest possible speed, I made a few coasters before I figured that out.

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks madcratebuilder but this sounds a bit out of my comfort zone, although when I looked at the "about" section there are things that I don't want to particularly install.
I will however investigate further.
I just wonder if I could use this from a factory restore though?

 

[jumanji]

Here are a few recommendations:

1. Irrespective of whether you are going to do a clean install or not, make the recovery CDs for your system immediately after you receive it and set it up for the first time.

2. Optical discs are not that very reliable. So in addition to the recovery disks you made, make ISO images of the disks and keep those in an external drive. If the disks are damaged/lost you can burn new copies.

3. If you do a clean install, you will not require the recovery partition. You can wipe it and use that partition for other data or annex it to any other partition. ( Reinstalling with the Recovery disks will also recreate the recovery partition should you anytime want to go back to the factory condition.)

4. Whichever imaging program you use, the image should be stored in an external drive. You can keep a copy of the latest image on your internal drive (apart from the external drive). If you can boot into Windows, you can use the image on the internal drive.