HP Setup Manager

[Seven8nine]

I'm just wondering if this HP Setup Manager program that came with my pc is useful for anything that maybe I'm just not recognizing. Can I uninstall the thing? I see where it may be useful to some but i don't know.

 

[unifex]

If by this setup manager you mean an HP application that came bundled with your HP desktop, then most likely you can uninstall it. If you have an HP laptop and it has some special, non-standard buttons, then chances are this app lets you program them. If you have no use for them, you can safely uninstall it.

 

[TVeblen]

Why don't you just fire it up and see?

Most of the techy people here will just wipe a new laptop and reinstall W7 fresh and not have any of the bloatware that comes preloaded on these things around.

So can you delete it? Sure. Windows is very configurable by itself.

But what can it hurt to check it out? Just don't make any changes unless you know what they do and want them. You could always create a Restore Point beforehand.

 

[Seven8nine]

Why don't you just fire it up and see?

Most of the techy people here will just wipe a new laptop and reinstall W7 fresh and not have any of the bloatware that comes preloaded on these things around.

So can you delete it? Sure. Windows is very configurable by itself.

But what can it hurt to check it out? Just don't make any changes unless you know what they do and want them. You could always create a Restore Point beforehand.

Yeah, i did check it out. I didn't see where I needed it for anything but was just checking since I'm new to Windows 7.

The thing with re-installing windows 7 is that I would have to purchase Windows 7 again, right? The thing did't comw tith a regular Windows 7 disk, it came with a set of three restore disks which basically puts everything back on as far as bloat.
And then I had to pay extra for those as well because if not I wouldn't have had anything.

 

[Seven8nine]

If by this setup manager you mean an HP application that came bundled with your HP desktop, then most likely you can uninstall it. If you have an HP laptop and it has some special, non-standard buttons, then chances are this app lets you program them. If you have no use for them, you can safely uninstall it.

It's a desktop pc. It's a HP Slimline s5704y. I don't know whether I should keep the program or not. Looks like a solicitation type software but I don't know.

 

[Bill2]

Its amazing how poorly some of the HP bloat is documented. Look for a folder called SWSETUP at the root of C: i.e. C:\SWSETUP. Inside it you'll find copies of all apps that came preinstalled on your computer. If the HP setup manager app is there, you can delete the installed app from the computer- if something goes wrong, you can reinstall.

Also, the Recovery manager being used by HP now has an option "Software Program reinstallation" which presumably lets you reinstall factory apps. See here.

Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows 7 HP Pavilion Slimline s5704y Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

 

[Seven8nine]

Its amazing how poorly some of the HP bloat is documented. Look for a folder called SWSETUP at the root of C: i.e. C:\SWSETUP. Inside it you'll find copies of all apps that came preinstalled on your computer. If the HP setup manager app is there, you can delete the installed app from the computer- if something goes wrong, you can reinstall.

Also, the Recovery manager being used by HP now has an option "Software Program reinstallation" which presumably lets you reinstall factory apps. See here.

Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows 7 HP Pavilion Slimline s5704y Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

Holy smoke. There is alot of junk that came with this thing. In going through my files I was wondering what they were for because the Geek
Squad was supposed to remove everything but the OS. Apparently, they didn't clean up the leftover junk. Man, there sure is a lot too.

I should have known better. Maybe I'll just go buy Windows 7 and start from scratch.

I should call and tell them what they're made of but why bother I guess.

Thanks for that information, btw.

 

[Bill2]

You can just cut and paste the entire SWSETUP folder to a backup drive, it wont affect your installed programs. Benefit of doing this is it'll come in handy for future installs. Also, even if you install windows fresh, then install drivers, they'll all be extracted to that silly SWSETUP folder first.

 

[Seven8nine]

I recall years ago with xp that I could reinstall just the OS from disks using parameters. Can you do that with Windows 7? Should that be a separate thread, maybe?

 

[Bill2]

Unfortunately AFAIK, theres no easy and convenient way of skipping the bloatware when using the restore disks. See this thread.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...ustomized-restore-disk-do-custom-install.html

One option is the HP "minimized image recovery" that apparently avoids at least some bloat.

Re: The Cleanest Install (Windows 7 Recovery Discs) - HP Support Forum

Of course theres the clean install path with a regular win7 disk- windows can be activated using the COA sticker key.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I recall years ago with xp that I could reinstall just the OS from disks using parameters. Can you do that with Windows 7? Should that be a separate thread, maybe?

You definitely don't need to pay for a new license just to do a reinstall. You already have a license, shown on a sticker on the computer. What you should get from a friend (easiest way) is a copy of the Windows 7 disc. Then you can do a fresh, clean install of Windows 7, and within the 30 days from the install, pop in your key from the computer and activate.

 

[unifex]

It might be a good idea to make a clean install, but a word of caution is in order.

Large OEM manufacturers often use proprietary hardware, especially on laptops and special form-factor desktops. I am not sure about the HP slim-line, but as an example, I recently got a new Sony laptop and decided to do a clean install. Once I've installed Windows, I needed to download Sony drivers for almost all the hardware on my laptop. Sure, these drivers are indeed available either from Sony's website, or from the restore disks. The restore disks however use a certain Sony app to manage the restores, so I had to install that as well, which in turn required some other Sony stuff. It's a bit of work. As an alternative, I have a desktop from Dell which turned out to be a regular desktop, no driver issues at all when I installed Windows 7 instead of Vista which came with it.

So, before you re-install, make those recovery discs and gather all possible information about your hardware, making sure that you know where to get the drivers from in case they are needed.

 

[Seven8nine]

It might be a good idea to make a clean install, but a word of caution is in order.

Large OEM manufacturers often use proprietary hardware, especially on laptops and special form-factor desktops. I am not sure about the HP slim-line, but as an example, I recently got a new Sony laptop and decided to do a clean install. Once I've installed Windows, I needed to download Sony drivers for almost all the hardware on my laptop. Sure, these drivers are indeed available either from Sony's website, or from the restore disks. The restore disks however use a certain Sony app to manage the restores, so I had to install that as well, which in turn required some other Sony stuff. It's a bit of work. As an alternative, I have a desktop from Dell which turned out to be a regular desktop, no driver issues at all when I installed Windows 7 instead of Vista which came with it.

So, before you re-install, make those recovery discs and gather all possible information about your hardware, making sure that you know where to get the drivers from in case they are needed.

I thought about that and I did burn those drivers that the poster had mentioned to a disk in case I get hold of a Windows 7 disk.

I have since re-installed the operating syestem from the disks and then went through and removed the things that were left after a minimal install.

I think the Geek Squad guy just went through deleting whatever because now I don't have any (that I know of as of yet) remnants from the bloat. The fonts reverted back to italicized and bold upon reinstall of OS but now that I know how to fix that, it's fixed too.

So, thanks to all.

 

[Seven8nine]

Unfortunately AFAIK, theres no easy and convenient way of skipping the bloatware when using the restore disks. See this thread.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...ustomized-restore-disk-do-custom-install.html

One option is the HP "minimized image recovery" that apparently avoids at least some bloat.

Re: The Cleanest Install (Windows 7 Recovery Discs) - HP Support Forum

Of course theres the clean install path with a regular win7 disk- windows can be activated using the COA sticker key.

Thanks again for that information. I managed to make a boot disk with only Windows 7 and then used my license key to register. Now i have a fresh, clean install of 7 with absolutely no bloat whatsoever.

The drivers were quite easy to deal with as well.

Live and learn, i guess.