Clean Vista - Which HP software to install?

Hi,
I recently reinstall Vista on my dv6623cl in order to get rid of all the crapware that came with my laptop. My question is, which of the following HP software I'll probably need to install (I already installed the needed updated drivers):

• HP Help and Support for Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit Editions)
• HP Software Update
• HP Active Support Library

1. Do you have a quick info for each one of these softwares?
2. What about QuickPlay? Is it useful?
3. Do you know what download adds the "HP Recommended" power scheme to Windows?

Thanks in advance!

 

NONE

Just make sure you have all the latest versions of drivers from HP.com support and download site, then you will be fine.

* HP Help and Support - Useless, unless you are a total noob who needs manual to operate Windows... are you? lol

* HP Software Update - Again, useless, you get all your driver updates from HP Support and Download Site anyways.

* HP Active Support Library - Bunch tools that you probably will never need to fix your computer.

* QuickPlay - Only install if you wanna record video/take picture via HP built-in webcam, other than that, useless. Or install it *correctly* to play CD/DVD without booting up windows.

* HP Recommended Power scheme - never used it and never cared about it. The default two "Power Saver" and "High Performance" (Hidden "Balanced") are good enough.

 

Thanks for a great answer TomTom2007.
Some questions regarding:
1. How do I install QuickPlay correctly in order to play DVD's without booting?
2. What did you mean by hidden "balanced" power scheme?

 

With the current version of Quickplay(ver 3) and Vista you cant. If you want to get the bootable version of Quickplay you will have to use ver 2 and XP. If you have Vista Business or Home Basic, it might be worthwhile to install it since will install the necessary codecs to play DVD's. Vista Home Premium and Ultimate ionclude Media center which basically doe the same thing sa Quickplay.

As for as the power schemes by default Vista has balanced, power saver and High performance. HP just tweaks the settings for the Balanced profile which you can do so yourself in the Control panel.

 

Thanks miner.
Do you know what are difference between Vista's balanced and HP's?

 

Not much, from what i can remember HP changed the Critical/low battery level settings from the default low level from 10% to 5% and the critical from 5% to 3%. They also chaned the screen brightness levels on battery and the time settings as to when the system went into sleep mode/turning off the scren etc. As I said nothing special and you would be better off customizing or creating a new custom power plan to fit your needs. if you still want to use the HP recommended profile then the batch file to install it should be located in the 'Swsetup' --> 'System default settings' folder.

 

i didnt install any hp programs at all.. cause its all useless bloatware

 

just install quickplay that is it

 

You might want to install the HP wireless assistant if you have bluetooth in your laptop. It allows to disable the bluetooth without affecting the wi-fi module. I found this useful!