things to do...

... before i begin installing my regular apps (i.e. aim, itunes, firefox, etc). i dont want to install everything i need to later realize i need to update something that will wipe what i have on my hard drive.

 

if your new laptop is running vista, it will be worth going to the "vista bloatware removal guide / reformat guide" and following through whats there, in that guide there is also a link to a bunch of vista tips and tweaks which will help you get the most out of your laptop.

i suggest tweaking it and getting it to run as smoothly as possible, and removing all the bloatware, and only once you're satisfied with its performance / it's clean of anything you don't want, then proceed to install all your programs/apps etc.

Les's bloatware guide is at the top of the forum, ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838)

well worth doing before you start putting stuff on.

if you have two hard drives and you wish to use a RAID setting ( provided your computer is set up for it) you need to double check that it's working how you want, if you decide to change the way RAID is working ( either disabling it, enabling it, or changing between raid 0 and 1) it will essentially delete everthing on your harddrive.

and finally, once you're ready to install your applications, it doesn't hurt to give the system a quick Defrag before and after installing, a relatively empty harddrive shouldn't take too long to do, and it will help keep your computer running as fast as it does now.

p.s, make sure the first things you install are your Antivirus software and your firewalls (if any), the sooner you do that, the quicker you close any "backdoors" into your system for any undesirables.

 

Thanx for the tips