update things I wished I knew

[wallypedal]

After working on issues for a week, I'm wishing I had heeded the clean install advice. I went from Vista Home Premium 64 to Windows 7 64 on a hp laptop. Followed the directions precisely. Didn't know that the Norton beta UAC I had set up would hose things up. On the reboot after 7 said it was done, the hp setup manager DVD was supposed to be put back in. Couldn't read it. Couldn't read the win 7 disk either. Finally found where someone else had that problem. Removing Norton UAC solved the problem without having to reinstall.

The OSD for the volume control disappeared, but came back after I installed another one!

Then my wireless connection started dropping. Just mine, not my wife's. It would stay sort of working, and then when going to load another browser window, nothing doing. Tried all kinds of stuff. Finally removed hp's "wireless assistant" which does nothing but put the radio tower in the notification area! This after trying a bunch of different broadcom drivers with no luck. Well, it seems hp wireless assistant was the bad guy, because I've stayed on for quite a while now.

Boot time is slow, and I've followed some of the advice, but it's still taking a 90 seconds or more. I read the event logs, but they don't really tell me anything except it is taking too long! Cleaned up prefetch once.

IE8 started opening second pages minimized and slammed up at the top of the display. Had to 'reset' IE 8 a couple times as advised, and that worked.

Haven't removed any of the "old" directory stuff, figured it's just taking up space.
Any new advice on reading logs or speeding up the boot would be appreciated.
Thanks for the Forum! It's been a sanity preserver for sure.

 

[gregrocker]

Never too late for a clean reinstall!

Norton is some of the worst bloatware your WIn7 Upgrade is struggling against. The curse of Bloatware is that it can corrupt your OS just as badly when it is uninstalled.

Check your model's Support Downloads page and see how many of the model's apps that you like are there for download. Most all drivers are in the installer or come via Windows Updates, but see what is there in case.

Start collecting your program disks and installers which should be kept backed up in Downloads file.

Once you boot from the DVD and do a Custom Clean install with formatting, it will be like having a new computer.

Then save a Win7 Backup Image of your finished job externally and (if you want) in a Primary formatted partition, and you will never have to reinstall again.

 

[wallypedal]

Yanked Norton and installed MS essentials a long time ago. Wasn't idle during the week of tuning, etc., just didn't list everything I did. Two questions at this point - can I still do a clean install even though it's been more than three days since activation? It seems I read somewhere there was a constraint of some kind. Question 2 - how can you really tell which things are the boot time resource hogs? I've got event viewer, and I have run the boot logger. Still can't isolate well enough.

Thanks!

 

[Jonathan_King]

It is never too late to do a Clean install.

 

[Tews]

1.) You may have to call MS for activation, but thats not a big deal..
2.) Open up msconfig/startup to view what is starting up at boot... you have the option to disable what ever you want... Hope this helps...

 

[gregrocker]

Yanked Norton and installed MS essentials a long time ago. Wasn't idle during the week of tuning, etc., just didn't list everything I did. Two questions at this point - can I still do a clean install even though it's been more than three days since activation? It seems I read somewhere there was a constraint of some kind. Question 2 - how can you really tell which things are the boot time resource hogs? I've got event viewer, and I have run the boot logger. Still can't isolate well enough.

Thanks!

It's almost impossible to get all of Norton out, even after deleting traces in folders, second and third registry hive Software keys, etc. Tech enthusiasts will not even bother with a Norton/Office Trial uninstall, just clean reinstall from DVD.

Yes, you can reinstall your Windows whenever you want. If on the same machine, it should auto-activate after install at Computer>Properties link. On a different machine, it requires a robocall where numbers are traded that deactivate it on the old machine and activate the new one.

The best thing you can do to get rid of freeloaders on your boot is to edit msconfig/startup regularly. I uncheck everything in mine except AV, MS stickynotes and gadgets. Anything else can start up when you click it. Video listings are for extra control panels most don't use. Google ones you don't understand.

Other useful diagnostic tools including Performance event log, Generate System Health report, etc available by typing performance in start box/Use Tools to improve performance/Advanced tools.

 

[ickymay]

Yanked Norton and installed MS essentials a long time ago. Wasn't idle during the week of tuning, etc., just didn't list everything I did. Two questions at this point - can I still do a clean install even though it's been more than three days since activation? It seems I read somewhere there was a constraint of some kind. Question 2 - how can you really tell which things are the boot time resource hogs? I've got event viewer, and I have run the boot logger. Still can't isolate well enough.

Thanks!

a clean install is the way to go

 

[MacGyvr]

Yanked Norton and installed MS essentials a long time ago. Wasn't idle during the week of tuning, etc., just didn't list everything I did. Two questions at this point - can I still do a clean install even though it's been more than three days since activation? It seems I read somewhere there was a constraint of some kind. Question 2 - how can you really tell which things are the boot time resource hogs? I've got event viewer, and I have run the boot logger. Still can't isolate well enough.

Thanks!

It's almost impossible to get all of Norton out, even after deleting traces in folders, second and third registry hive Software keys, etc. Tech enthusiasts will not even bother with a Norton/Office Trial uninstall, just clean reinstall from DVD.

Yes, you can reinstall your Windows whenever you want. If on the same machine, it should auto-activate after install at Computer>Properties link. On a different machine, it requires a robocall where numbers are traded that deactivate it on the old machine and activate the new one.

The best thing you can do to get rid of freeloaders on your boot is to edit msconfig/startup regularly. I uncheck everything in mine except AV, MS stickynotes and gadgets. Anything else can start up when you click it. Video listings are for extra control panels most don't use. Google ones you don't understand.

Other useful diagnostic tools including Performance event log, Generate System Health report, etc available by typing performance in start box/Use Tools to improve performance/Advanced tools.

Actually, if you go to Norton's website, they provide a tool that will completely and totally eradicate any of their products from your hard drive. It is called the Norton Removal Tool and it is regularly updated to take new programs and versions into account. I use it at least twice a week on customer's computers and it does a fantastic job.

 

[gregrocker]

Yanked Norton and installed MS essentials a long time ago. Wasn't idle during the week of tuning, etc., just didn't list everything I did. Two questions at this point - can I still do a clean install even though it's been more than three days since activation? It seems I read somewhere there was a constraint of some kind. Question 2 - how can you really tell which things are the boot time resource hogs? I've got event viewer, and I have run the boot logger. Still can't isolate well enough.

Thanks!

It's almost impossible to get all of Norton out, even after deleting traces in folders, second and third registry hive Software keys, etc. Tech enthusiasts will not even bother with a Norton/Office Trial uninstall, just clean reinstall from DVD.

Yes, you can reinstall your Windows whenever you want. If on the same machine, it should auto-activate after install at Computer>Properties link. On a different machine, it requires a robocall where numbers are traded that deactivate it on the old machine and activate the new one.

The best thing you can do to get rid of freeloaders on your boot is to edit msconfig/startup regularly. I uncheck everything in mine except AV, MS stickynotes and gadgets. Anything else can start up when you click it. Video listings are for extra control panels most don't use. Google ones you don't understand.

Other useful diagnostic tools including Performance event log, Generate System Health report, etc available by typing performance in start box/Use Tools to improve performance/Advanced tools.

Actually, if you go to Norton's website, they provide a tool that will completely and totally eradicate any of their products from your hard drive. It is called the Norton Removal Tool and it is regularly updated to take new programs and versions into account. I use it at least twice a week on customer's computers and it does a fantastic job.

For some reason whenever I remove both Norton (with removal tool) and Office Trial, there are corrupted system files which Windows cannot repair. I just take a screenshot of the SFC result and show owner to get ok for a clean reinstall.

 

[wallypedal]

Clean install successful! Still loading drivers and tweaking services, all is good.
Thanks gregrocker and all who advised!

 

[gregrocker]

Set restore points before every tweak and program addition so you can roll it back if something upsets performance.

Save a Windows 7 Backup image to an external drive (and to a primary-formatted partition if you want) so you never have to reinstall again, just reimage the HD or a replacement in 15 minutes using your Win7 DVD or Repair CD.

 

[gregrocker]

Great Wally!

Now don't forget to save a Win7 backup image to store externally (and in a primary formatted partition if you want) so that you never have to reinstall again, just reimage the HD or a replacement in 15--20 minutes flawlessly!