XPS 15 on the way. What should I do first?

I've been lurking for a few days and pulled the trigger on an XPS system this morning: i5, 1080p, 640HDD, 8GB ram, blu-ray w/ tv tune, 9 cell batt, back-lit keys, 6250 wifi card. Its a refurb and with coupon got it for $943 + tax which seemed like a good deal so I went for all the extras. Had to get them on the phone to talk them into free shipping to Hawaii. Thanks for the info on this site for helping me decide.

My question is, what should I do once I get the system? Sorry, I didn't feel like wading through all 100 pages of the "Lounge" thread.

1. I know I don't plan to do a "repaste". This machine is not for gaming. My most intensive ap is Matlab in which I might keep the CPU pegged pretty good for long periods doing image processing experiments, but I doubt it is as taxing as games. I don't game. I'll watch my Bladerunner DVD on it but that's not particularly intense, is it?

2. Is it worth it to re-install the OS clean? Will I have the disks to do this in the shipment? I'm afraid of not getting everything to work right if I do it. Is there really much advantage to re-installing OS as opposed to running CC cleaner to uninstall any bloatware?

3. I'm not sure what if any anti-virus it will have when shipped. What do you recommend? for free? for a few bucks?

Any other recommendations welcome. mahalo!

 

Even for refurb laptop it will be shipped with clean OS and not something left over by other. Reinstall if you wish.

Antivirus, I don;t think so, even if installed that would be free version like avira or avg.

If i were you i will check for minor details, like each and every port must be working, no dead pixel. may open up to clean the cooling fan and fins.

 

1) Only repaste in extreme cases of overheating (laptop freezes, crashes). Doing it incorrectly will avoid your warranty. If you dislike the heat and don't want to DIY then RMA it to Dell.

2) In all honesty no. Dells come with the least amount of bloatware. I haven't uninstalled anything on my Latitude 13 because there wasn't anything to uninstall that I needed. Make sure you create recovery discs first thing you do if you want to uninstall stuff. Sometimes uninstalling preinstalled stuff will hose your ability to make recovery discs.

3) Dells tend to push Mcaffe, but now Trend Micro and and Norton. I would stick with Avira or Microsoft Security Essentials if you want a free AV. AVG is by far one of the worst free AV out there.

 

Go with Microsoft Security Essentials for your AV, it's a good free program & many forum members use it.
I just use Windows 'Built In Firewall', haven't had any problems.

Here is LINK for MSE.

I always do a Clean Install on my lappy when received. I can get rid of any Dell presents left behind & make it mine.

 

Hopefully you keep your recovery partition...

 

^^I sure do......

OP, check out this section of the forum also..is helpful:
Security and Anti-Virus Software

 

Thanks! Appreciate the input on all matters. Will check out the MS security essentials and will make recovery disks but probably won't tamper with much.

I'll built my own PC with dual boot linux/windows 95 many many years ago - back then was probably closer to a lot you guys/gals age now. Lost the appetite for most of that kind of fun though.

Keep any other suggestions coming. Mahalos again!

 

Why? I ask because I never keep it. When i got my XPS 15 I wiped the entire HDD and reinstalled windows from scratch. What good would had it done if I had kept it?

 

In case you get a virus attack you can boot into the recovery partition and reinstall Windows. The recovery partition will reinstall all original content, and pre-activate Windows. If your COA gets rubbed off, the recovery partition is very useful. It's also ALOT quicker than a vanilla install.

 

Can you point me to a how-to for making recovery disks for Dell laptops? Or should I just follow a generic procedure? thanks

 

This thread may be of help: Dell System Recovery Guide

It's also "stickied" on the main Dell Subforum.



Cin...

 

thanks. that's just what I had it mind!