Computer experiment
 

Every computer I've bought in the last few years (around four I think) came loaded with junk software. I've always wondered if I could take a new computer and just delete all the junk software before I start using it. The Geek squad at Best Buy has told me definitely not to do it. My son in law, who is a geek, says I can delete everything except the operating system and it will still work.

Well, I'm going to find out. I ordered a cheap refurbished computer on line. It's supposed to be delivered on the 29th. The first thing I'll do with it will be to delete all the software that comes with it. If it survives, great! If not then I got my answer for $65 and I'll try to install Linux on it.

Low level format it and reinstall OS. Installing Linux is a breeze in our-days.

Where did you find a refurb for $65 may I ask?

Of course you can. There is no reason in the world to keep crap you don't want. Even if it is stuff you want in theory in some form (security & anti-virus software), the bundled stuff is usually crap and should be replaced with something better. (Of course the best thing is not to buy a computer with pre-installed anything but just to build what you want -- easy with a desktop computer but laptops always come with something installed.) But if you break your computer it isn't my fault -- you do need some knowledge (but this is how you get it!).

However, if you do a total fresh install, there may be certain drivers you have to install again that probably came on a system disk (better yet download the latest ones) for chipsets on the motherboard to get best performance, or certain weird system devices. But Windows 10 and probably the latest Linux versions are pretty good about this (installing drivers automatically) and so probably you don't need to do anything extra.

I've ordered my last two from the Microsoft Store. There's no crapware on it. You might find cheaper computers elsewhere but they all bundle crapware to cut their costs. To me it's worth the money to have a lean and clean machine from the start. https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/home

I bought a Dell refurb laptop from Blair Technology and it didn't come with any "crapware"

Recently bought a high profile computer from http://www.microcenter.com. I went to the their store, picked all the parts I needed and had them assembly the box without no operating system which I installed myself. The cost was very reasonable (in the range of $1,800 for an i7 four core, 64GB RAM, 1Terra SSD including assembly labor) and the quality very high. I strongly suggest them...

Best Buy online.

Actor, do you mean to actually delete everything except the OS? Do you know which folders are still needed to run the OS?
Or do you mean to use a free program like PC Decrapifier?

Thanks :ThmbUp:

I've never heard of PC Decrapifier but not that I have I think I'll try that first. I do mean to delete everything except the OS. I hope to find out what is needed to run the OS.

I would expect the OS to protect itself and not let you delete stuff that it needs.

Good company. I spent 8 years as a tech support supervisor at their HQ in Columbus. I built the first Powerspec (their house brand) with a few other guys👍

Nice :ThmbUp:

I admit that i did not know them until a month ago when i was looking for a high end machine. I usually buy my boxes from system76 but since it takes almost three weeks for delivery time I was looking for a store here in NYC and I found microcenter. They have a very extensive collection of computer components and their employees are very knowledgeable and helpful and their prices are very reasonable. I hope their Queens store remains open for long time as I will definitely revisit them again.

W 7
 

I was thinking of buying another W7 laptop from the seller I bought this one from I got this message:

Good morning,

Unfortunately, the Microsoft mandated End Of Sale for Windows 7 was October 31, 2016. We (and any other entity selling new or refurbished computers) are no longer permitted to sell Windows 7.

I laughed at this because I found 3974 listings with laptops with windows 7 still!(on Ebay)

You shouldn't just go deleting things directly off the hard drive without knowing what you are doing. Use the uninstall function to uninstall all the programs you don't want. (Then run something like decrapifier afterward.) If you don't know what something is, just Google it...

Revo Uninstall is a good program for uninstalling.
If you put in on your machine before other programs are installed, it is even better. Gets the crap out of your registry that many program leave behind.

Right. :ThmbUp:

If you use the uninstaller menu in Windows, you should be okay. Trouble comes up when users starting deleting files manually. You may uninstall an update that Windows will want to reinstall right away again, but that should be the limit of the trouble you'd get in.

Since it's a refurb, I'm assuming you won't get a DVD with the O/S on it for a new install. That's the easiest way to smoke all the unwanted spamware.

If you're interested in trying Linux, you can install it right away, and still retain the version of Windows on it. I just did this last week with a refurbed laptop I got, letting Windows have 80GB and Linux Mint get 40 GB on the 120 GB SSD drive. The Win 7 image was already defragged and compacted at the start of the disk, so when Mint carved up the partition, Windows ran one file check on the next boot, and it was happy.

Fortunately, the Windows 7 image was pretty light on spamware. I had to uninstall about six programs, run CCcleaner, and it was as clean as if installed from an OEM DVD.

Regardless of what you end up doing, I'd recommend creating a system image backup to an external USB drive as step 1. After I cleaned up everything and had Win 7/Mint in dual bootable mode, I then made another system image backup so I'll have a copy of the clean o/s for recovery if needed.

Something tells me a refurbished computer isn't going to come with a lot of bloatware pre-installed on it...

That seems to be the case. It came yesterday.

It doesn't matter what's on the hard drive if it DOESN'T EXECUTE.

All you really have to do is prevent crap from automatically running when you boot up. Then you're done.

In the rare case that can't be done, then a clean reinstall of the op sys is needed.

Unless you are short on hard drive space.
Except that there are some programs that run automatically after boot up, specifically updates. What annoys me is the quite frequent updates which, as far as I can tell, accomplish nothing. And it's not just Microsoft that does this. Lenovo does it too.

I have heard, but cannot confirm, that the purpose of these updates is to install new adware to the machine. Nothing to do with security or refinement of the OS.

I do not intend to ever use this particular computer on line. That being the case I would like to uninstall Internet Explorer but it's not listed on the Uninstall utility.

Just about everything connected to the internet now has frequent updates, but if you plan to use the PC only offline, you won't suffer from that. You might want to spend some time looking into the "update" services that are on the machine, and disable them to allow the machine to be a bit quicker - and as was suggested, toggle them off in the startup tab in msconfig.

I don't know of any legitimate software program that installs new adware with updates, but there may be some. By legitimate I mean purchased, or reviewed freeware (i.e. on CNET.com or other software download/review site) that's validated to be adware free. If you have some suspicions about a piece of software or something odd running, google it and see if there's info out there about it.

You shouldn't/can't uninstall IE. I believe it's considered an integral part of the o/s starting with Vista, but earlier versions of Windows could be hosed up by trying to remove it. If you're worried about the disk space it or other unneeded Windows components are taking up, you just might have to live with some wasted space, though there are tools like CCcleaner and many web pages describing the steps to delete unneeded files and toggle off unneeded services.

I played a DVD on the machine a couple of days ago. Yesterday I tried to play another DVD but the tray will not open. I'm hoping to find a simple fix because spending a lot of money on this machine is definitely not part of the plan. Any suggestions?

So far I've tried a cold start reboot. Nothing.

Also looked for some app with an eject icon. Nothing.

Open manually
 

Don't know if this helps I've done it before




How to manually open a CD or DVD drive.: http://youtu.be/2ScSLW2QxD4

Right after you start/boot your computer, press the eject button on your DVD drive several times until it opens. If it doesn't open, the problem is probably mechanical (or perhaps something is stuck).

You could also boot a live CD/DVD/USB and see if the drive opens. Again, if the DVD drive doesn't open after you have booted a live CD/DVD/USB, then the problem is likely mechanical.

It worked. Thanks! :ThmbUp:

You're welcome After I did it , it started working again

The computer has started to give me a message that my copy of Windows 7 is not genuine. I wants me to activate Windows 7. Apparently you can do this online or by phone. Since I do now want to put this particular online I have tried to phone option. When I dial the number I get a recording from Microsoft that tells me the conversation is going to be recorded and all that, and that they are glad to have me as a customer, and let's get started. Then the line goes dead. I've tried this several times, always with this result. :bang:

Apparently nothing bad is going to happen if I don't activate (it hasn't so far). I just have to get used to having the error message always there. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile I've loaded all my handicapping data files onto the hard drive.

After a certain amount of time, the operating system will not boot up if you don’t activate Windows. If you have the key, then i would activate Windows and save yourself some grief.

Here are some methods of removing the nag...

http://www.ashiktricks.com/this-copy...t-genuine-fix/

This is my personal fave...

http://removewatdownload.com/

Thanks for the help. I think I have it fixed.