Minimized system restore?

I was reading through the owners lounge and someone mentioned running a minimized system restore on their computer before installing programs/games. I've heard that HP pre-installs a lot of unneeded software so I was going to just uninstall them all, but is there a different way of getting rid of all the unneeded stuff?

 

The only other way of getting rid of all the unwanted stuff is to either uninstall everything manually by yourself or by doing a fresh install with windows CD.

Minimal install is great because it really does only install programs and drivers associated with your notebook. No bloat.

 

If you just spent a good chunk of money on a laptop, you might as well start off on a good note and clean install or do the minimized system restore.

 

Ok, sorry if this question is really dumb but how do I do a minimized system restore or "clean install"? I did pay $19 for the system restore CD with the laptop, will it be just using that or do I need to do something else?

 

Its included in the restore partition on the hard disk(pressing one of the 'F' keys upon bootup should put you into the recovery partition or the hp recovery software in windows will also do the same).

The disks are not worth the $19 since you can burn them yourself once you receive the laptop.

 

Bring up the Recovery Manager and click on the System Recovery option on the left. It will take you to a similar window but it will have the minimized image option on the left. Just follow through with it and it will do it.

Before starting this though, you should copy the contents of the SWSetup folder somewhere safe such as a flash drive.

Here's a useful thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/582474-first-steps-successful-laptop.html