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    New Dell (G7) - Clean Windows Install or Uninstall Apps?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by boeingguy1, Aug 28, 2018.

  1. boeingguy1

    boeingguy1 Notebook Guru

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    Hi All -

    Longtime member just getting back into the gaming swing of things post-college. I received my G7 over the weekend and haven't even powered it up yet.

    I wanted to get the forum's opinion on whether or not to do a clean windows installation, or simply uninstall some of the pre-loaded software (namely the Dell updates, McAfee, etc)?

    I'm comfortable doing a clean install, but if I could just do a few quick uninstalls and update some drivers, it would seem a lot easier.

    Your thoughts are appreciated - thanks!
     
  2. Nemix77

    Nemix77 Notebook Deity

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    Clean install is the way to go if you have the time and knowledge to do so, too much wasted SSD space with recovery partitions and bloat installed with the factory Windows configuration.

    I have two G3's one of which Windows has been freshly reinstalled with updated drivers and one which still has the factory install of Windows with all bloat removed, the one with the fresh install of Windows has a much slower SSD than the one with factory Windows and now the fresh install feels a lot faster and snappier than the one with factory Windows (bloat removed).
     
  3. smcgil9899

    smcgil9899 Notebook Evangelist

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    If I perform a clean install, will I need to reinstall some Dell software?

    Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
     
  4. Nemix77

    Nemix77 Notebook Deity

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    No, you only need the Dell drivers for your specific hardware, for Dell G7: https://www.dell.com/support/home/c...pport/product/g-series-15-7588-laptop/drivers

    What I mean by specific hardware is does your laptop have a Intel WiFi or Killer WiFi or Thunderbolt, etc...

    There's no mandatory Dell software required for the machine to work properly, most if not all is bloatware; the only Dell software I installed in the Power Manager since it enables me to control the battery charging percentage and speed (ExpressCharge) in Windows (the battery controls can also be change within the BIOS and the software is linked to the BIOS settings and vice versa).