How Difficult or Easy is it to remove VONGO

After looking at a few laptops, I decided to buy an HP and it is hard to believe how much junk they give you . Is there a an easy way to get rid of it. If so can you describe the steps. Thank you so much[

 

I have had to go to Add/Remove programs in the control panel to uninstall the bloatware on HP/Compaq computers. In my experience, the various recovery options do not allow you to reformat without reinstalling this bloatware, so unless you have an OS CD from somewhere else, you'll have to uninstall each of the programs. Basically, most things on that Add/Remove programs list are ok to uninstall if you haven't installed any programs yourself. It's much better to ask about individual programs that you might have doubts about than to inadvertantly remove one that you actually wanted.

Vongo shouldn't be harder to remove than anything else, it hasn't been a problem for me. Correction, none of the owners of the computers I have worked on have complained about it after I have left, I've never personally had it on a computer.

 

Umm, Add/Remove Programs.

 

A HP tech took remote control of my Notebook.. and they went to several different areas of the registry to kill vongo.. The tech said that it can give users trouble with some of its features.. Its not easy to remove.. I don't believe their is a add/remove of it. Its a bad one. Bad enough that the tech was willing to take an hour of time to root it out.. I was doing other things at the time but would go to the laptop and watch them delete vongo lines in the registry. It upsets me when they put malicious bloat without add/remove. I deleted alot of stuff then I removed a bunch from the start up folder in msconfig... now windows defender tells me its blocking some of them from installing at boot up.... a bit annoying but at least defender is preventing them from loading.. I really love my 6500t but HP bloat ware is much worse then Dells.

 

Vongo is an absolute mess in the registry and any comments made alluding otherwise were either made in jest or via a lack of knowledge about Vongo crapware. It took me over a half-hour to remove Vongo from my (now sold) dv6000t - simply using Add/Remove programs leaves many entries in the registry. The trickiest part was locating where Vongo remnants try to invoke the install sequence for any new non-admin users created after Vongo is "removed" by Add/Remove. The install sequence fails and you have to click thru a bunch of pop-ups and there will be numerous red X's in the Event Logs. Vongo is a dirty trick on users - but its not a nasty, criminal dirty trick like Norton....

 

I tried Vongo because I really needed an alternative to Blockbuster after they screwed over my plan. Vongo sucks. I don't know any other way to put it. The moviews download fast, but so what? The "widescreen" they give you is not anamorphic and won't fill the wide screen on the laptop.

I installed it and then I was able to uninstall it pretty easily (AFTER I canceled my account, which you MUST do through the software)

 

Vongo certainly could be a mess to uninstall, but as I said, I haven't heard any issues from the owners of the computers I've worked on where I've just removed it through Add/Remove. None of them are "good" with computers, which is why they called me up, so they might not recognize any residual issues even if they did exist.

 

After killing most of the startup items and crapware programs my 6500t still takes 2 minutes to boot. The dell I had booted vista in 1 minute. I am beginning to think the only way is to do a fresh install. HP has just modified vista too much.. Vista SP1 is also suppost to speed things up. Any beta testers out there? Does SP1 help in startup/shutdown times?

 

For Vista, a clean install is the easiest way to go. It doesn't take much longer than manually removing all the bloatware, and it's a lot more thorough. Then optimize the machine, disable startup programs and services.

 

I called HP and they said that its impossible to use the anytime upgrade DVD to do a clean install. However, the sticky on the HP forum says you can.. even if you use the serial on bottom you can still call MS to activate. I talked to several techs and sales people and they won't send the anytime upgrade disc. But the sticky shows Compusa sells them for 5 bucks plus shipping.. I think I will do that. HP is being ridiculous by trying to keep their customers from doing clean installs. Probably tell their advertisers of all the crapware they they will make it harder for people to rid their trial ware crap. Can anyone tell me how long it takes a dv6500t to boot up after a clean install. My factory oem vista takes over 2 minutes and that is after uninstalling allot of crapware and cleaning out the startup folder.. I disabled the HP advisor from loading.. Its still boots slow. The dell 1420 I had before returning for crappy screen booted up in 45 seconds.

Also, is their a list of services that can be disabled in msconfig that we generally don't need. Its a hassle doing this manually.. I think the clean install is the way to go.

 

HI Desert - H-P is pulling your chain about the Anytime Upgrade DVD - I used the instructions from this forum on my dv6000t without extracting the true activation code and certificate, then called M$, no problemo with activation using the code on the bottom (which would not activate without calling). I then used the activation code/certificate extraction script on my F3T OEM Vista build then used the same Anytime DVD - again no problems and exactly as described by (The Great) orev in his very informative thread.

 

I may buy that anytime dvd from compusa. The sticky had that link to it and it was only 5 dollars plus shipping. HP is getting some money from AOL Vongo etc.. and they want people to not only be stuck with that on their desktops but want people to buy from their sponsers.. OS's have become nothing but a big ad billboard. I also killed windows defender and superfetch. Superfetch is a joke. My kaspersky does a better job then defender.

Is their any good guides for vista tweaking?

 

I can't find the Anytime dvd on Compusa - do you have the link? And, if you don't mind - how did you kill Defender? I tried it but kept getting an error after I reboot? And I, too, would like to find a Vista tweak guide....