Reformating my dv5t to clear the bloatware?

hey Guys,
I've been thinking about buying the dv5t from HP for college.
people sometimes recommend to reformat the whole system in order to clear out all the junk "bloatware" that HP sticks in there.
Well anyway I was thinking of buying the DV5t with programs like; photoshop, Norton's anti-virus, and that lowjack thing for computers.
if I reformat the system to clear out the bloatware, would that get rid of those programs?
And if it doesn't does HP give me a CD inorder to reinstall them?
Thanks!

 

I've sampled many brands and find HPs to be one of the worst offenders with bloatware on their systems.

So bad that my friend had me look at her HP Compaq Presario Notebook, it was slowing down due to all the bloatware installed by HP, since it only had 2GBs of RAM running Vista, she thought Vista was causing all of this performance problem.

A clean wipe and reinstall of Vista properly changed her view of Vista completely.

I don't think any of the system's included software is necesary, just wipe them and install your own preferred apps.

 

Yeah I also recommend a clean install. I can't say for sure whether HP provide a disc for Photoshop and whatnot though.. I'm sure someone here will know though Also remember you can get a fair bit of Photoshop and other programs through student discounts so it may be cheaper to buy elsewhere..

 

Don't buy software from HP. I can guarantee you'll find it cheaper somewhere else. Buy the computer, clean install, then software.


Also, stay as far away from Norton anti-virus as you can. If you're not retarded you can get away without an antivirus but if you absolutely need one there are plenty of free alternatives which don't use 2 gigs of ram all of the time. (AVG, Nod32, Kapersky, etc)

 

So do they supply a vista disk or would I have to buy that too if I do my reinstall. I'm really not that keen on computer stuff, I mean I know a lot but nothing like the tech guys. So yea yea, the more advice all the more I apreciate it. Thanks again!

 

No they don't supply a Vista disc. When you first get the computer you have to burn your own "Recovery Discs" which put the computer back to how you first got it (including bloatware). If you want to do a clean install you need to obtain or borrow a Vista disc off someone and then do a fresh install of Vista Home Premium (or whatever you order with your dv5t). This isn't illegal as when you buy Vista its the product key you're buying, not the DVD. All you are doing is reinstalling with the same product key. There are more thorough instructions here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

Hope this helps!

 

So when I buy the laptop it will come with a product key for vista?

 

Yeah a key comes on the bottom of the laptop. If you do a fresh install you can do it without that key though.