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    M1330 - Should I do a clean install?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by nunobaker, Jun 24, 2008.

  1. nunobaker

    nunobaker Newbie

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    Hello,

    I'm rather new here and just bought a m1330. I've heard a lot about greatly improving performance by doing a clean install of the OS and what not. I even saw the how to guide for dell laptops. It all seems pretty easy, but I dont want to do anything until I know that its worth it.

    My questions are:

    Is it worth it to perform the clean install and get rid of the "bloatware"?
    Is it possible for me to completely mess things up beyond repair?
    My cousin is a computer tech. Should I just have him do it?

    Thanks in advance. Couldn't find an easy way to search within this sub-forum
     
    nunobaker, Jun 24, 2008
    #1
  2. whamerman

    whamerman Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am assuming you are referring to Les' guide, the sticky at the top of the dell forum.

    It is well worth doing and if you do Les' tweaks as well you will see a noticeable difference.

    As long as you follow the guide you really can't mess anything up. Just reboot off the media direct disk to start all over.

    If you are more comfortable having him do it then that's fine, he should be a good reference for you should any questions come up. Although, the guide is really well written and you can even look at the pictures that have been posted by another user.
     
    whamerman, Jun 24, 2008
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  3. nunobaker

    nunobaker Newbie

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    Thanks, I figured as much. So I should just back everything up first and any other programs I would want that the clean install would delete?
     
    nunobaker, Jun 24, 2008
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  4. whamerman

    whamerman Notebook Enthusiast

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    You want to do a complete backup for the purposes of having a factory refresh should you need it. But only restore it in an emergency as it will restore all the 'bloatware' and you'll be back to where you started. Les' guide walks through re-installing the drivers and such and you should have CDs for all the programs.
     
    whamerman, Jun 24, 2008
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  5. nunobaker

    nunobaker Newbie

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    Cool. Is it alright to use the dell datasafe online back up. or just use cds/dvds
     
    nunobaker, Jun 24, 2008
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  6. whamerman

    whamerman Notebook Enthusiast

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    I would recommend DVDs, just so that you always have easy access
     
    whamerman, Jun 24, 2008
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  7. kinetic758

    kinetic758 Notebook Enthusiast

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    One thing I might add when using Les' post as a guide. If you're gonna use the Vista installation CD that came with your 1330, you will NOT have to manually install the AHCI drivers when doing a clean install. This should simplify things a bit more for you.
     
    kinetic758, Jun 24, 2008
    #7