Preinstalled laptop, install partition, too many processes...

Hello!

I need some general advice on what would be the best thing to do about dad's new laptop...

It is an Acer Travel Mate 4002 WLMe with a pentium M725 1,6GHz, a 60 GB hdd, 768 MB ddr ram and an 80 Mobility Radeon card 9700/64 MB. Don't ask me what he needs all that power for... Lol.

It came pre installed with XP home. When my dad booted for the first time, the computer took him through an install process and installed drivers, Norton 2003 AV, and a ton of shit I have no idea what it is good for... All those drivers and stuff is on a hidden partition (partition filled with about 1.8 GB of stuff...), my dad did not get install drivers for anything.

(I've never worked with laptops or pre installed computers, that is why I'm being so detailed)

Now on that computer there is about 50 running processes, and to be honest, if I know what 10 of them are, I'm lucky. Acer has put so much junk on that poor disk it is untrue!

All those processes are slowing that computer down. It is a lot more powerful than my computer, but still it doesn't feel so fast... It is not too slow, but not working to its fullest potential.

My question is, would it be wise to wipe the drive and reinstall the computer, start from scratch with format C and install XP pro on it, and just install what utilities I want to be on it?

How would I go about with that hidden partition? Is it likely that XP will have drivers for most stuff (firewire, touchpad, cdrom & dvd unit, networks card, modem... etc) or should I try to look through that partition and see what I might need? Hard to do though, as most stuff had strange names, so it would be hard to see what is used for what... (of course a google search would probably tell me most stuff, but there must be hundreds of files in there...) Some drivers, like graphix, I can get from the net of course.

Or... If I delete all the stuff I think I don't have to use, and make a clean image with True Image or something, when I install that, will this install partition interfere and put its junk back? Probably not, I'm guessing, but I'm not sure.

So, just some general advice would be great! You don't need to go into great detail, but just give me an idea what you would do with this machine!

I'm very busy at work now, so it will probably be a few months before I can do a major surgery on it, I've deleted some of the obviously unnecessary junk, so it actually runs now...

 

Sometimes that is quicker, if you have the ability to do so.

I lucked out with my HP, it came with a real, OEM CD without any crap on it.

 

I know when I was looking at laptops, some like HP/Compaq and others would come with a disk that just loaded the OS. I was checking because some of them had the Office 2003 tryout loaded on them and some other things I didn't think I would use.

The bad thing is, there are some pretty good programs installed that you might want or need at some point. I would be sure before wiping anything, if your not sure do like Halo suggested and sort thru it.

If you have CD with it contact Acer and ask if it just reloads the Operating System.

Steve

 

Yeah, I do, dad has win XP pro too that he got for his old computer.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Halo, I'll do that. I've already gotten rid of some of the most obvious junk, like MSN explorer and messenger etc, but a lot remains. I'll just have to take a day or two to go through it all...

Isn't there a risk I will end up with a very messed up registry though, with so many installs and uninstalls? That is my main concern, and why I've thought it might be best to do a clean sweep. Or will a good registry cleaner fix it?

 

Myself, I would blow it away & start from scratch...then you're pretty much in total control of what's going on with it, rather than relying on manufacturer's bloatware to work properly. Be sure to visit the Acer site & verify all the drivers you are going to need are there, download & burn 'em beforehand. They're usually grouped together by computer model# to make it easier. The DELL resource CD that came with my laptop had all the drivers on it, perhaps your Acer does as well. I'd recommend slipstreaming SP2 onto your XP Pro install CD to make for a rock-solid install, without relying on the update site for too much. That's if you're planning on installing SP2, that is. You can find details for that here:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

Good luck!

 

Thanks, Wavetar, I'll look it up!

And the xp disk is already slipstreamed, have just had to reinstall his old laptop!

 

Thanks Halo!

I've wondered for a long time... What differences are there between different registry cleaners? I've read some posts here that some people have had bad luck and had wrong files erased. I use JV16 Powertools and TuneUp reg cleaner, and they have been good. Don't know how effective they are, as I don't poke around that much in the registry, and probably wouldn't know what I saw even if I did... But I notice the effect, I have a smooth running machine. Lol.

I have so far done the easy way out as I don't have so much time for messing with dad's comp right now. I've uninstalled what was obviously unecessary, and I've made a backup image with True Image. But I think in the future I will have to wipe the disk, get rid of the install partition and start fresh...

C is now filled to over 7 GB... (I set it to 14 GB, so it is over half filled. That is 1½ GB more than I have on my computer, and I think I have installed more useful things on mine than on his... The hidden install partition takes up 7 GB and the secure zone is set to 10 GB. That leaves less than 30 GB for data out of the originally 60 GB hdd. That is just wrong. Lol. So one day, when I have nothing to do... And when I've found drivers... But not in another month or 3...

Thank you all for your suggestions! Dad is happy about his computer now, and he has actually threatened to become a member here!

 

Thanks, Halo! I'll look up the settings for restore.

Right now it is more the thought of not knowing exactly what stuff is in there... and the need to be in control...

And then of course there is the itch! I just want to lay my fingers on it and mess with it!

Just a thought, if I run the compatability test with Win XP pro on that thing, will it detect if there might be problems with drivers or will it assume I have drivers for everything? I'm guessing XP will have driver for most of it, except for things like graphics and modems, right?

 

Oh... and my dad.. I will make sure he joins. He might not post a lot, but he will probably read every single post back to when the forum started...