The Giant HP Laptop Out-Of-The-Box Guide

Also, I know you're all from different places, but check with your internet provider. Here in NY, we have cablevision and they offer Optimum Online highspeed internet. When I checked out the website and entered my username and password, they had free antivirus software from Computer Associates. It's much less annoying than Norton. For some reason, I've never felt as though Norton did anything but use up my system resources.

Great guide though!

 

EDIT:
I added a new guide about Vista Optimization from PC Mag

 

Yes, Some new 17 inch models have been introduced on HP India website .

The new HP 17 inch Pavilion model is :
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/in/e...116665-1116665-1116665-81136552-81249087.html

Besides this another HP business notebook 8710 series has been introduced :
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/in/en/sm/WF25a/1090709-1124051-1124051-1124051-12434688-80114055.html

It would be very useful if some one could mention there actual experience with HP India and about notebooks purchased from HP India.

Im not sure what difference 1440 x 900 WXGA+ ,1680 x 1050 WSXGA+WVA OR 1920 x 1200 WUXGA WVA resolution will make in case of 17 inch display.

Perhaps Velocity might be able to shed more light on this .

By the way Im still searching for the right laptop.

Regards

 

1440x900: the standard resolution for 17 inch laptops
1680x1050: almost 1080p you will be able to fit more on the screen, but everything will be smaller (such as the taskbar)
1920x1200: better than 1080p, you will be able to fit even more on the screen, but everything will be much smaller (such as the taskbar)

i hope this helped
sorry for the late response (too much schoolwork)

 

IMO, 1680 should be the standard resolution for 17" monitors. It's really pretty crappy to have lower resolutions on such a big screen. I wish HP would offer 1900 as an option.

 

wow hp's poor screen resolution choices have made me misinformed

 

hi guys, I followed some of these steps and those in Les' guide (up to the point of the WaitTimetokill tweak), and now my hard drive is CONSTANTLY spinning after about 15 seconds when Windows finishes startup. The laptop is hotter and fan comes on more often. Does anyone know why this is and how to address it?

please help thx

 

15 seconds really is nothing. Microsoft in the past got a lot of complaints that it took too long to start the computer. So what they did was make it so you can login and get to the desktop really before the system is fully booted, so what you are seeing is the system starting up all of the background services that need to be running.

Also, a service like SuperFetch will run for a while and load a lot of things into RAM to speed up the launching of programs. You will probably see the drive light going for a few minutes after startup because of this.

As for the heat issue, it's hard to say that this process would have caused it. If you can use some software to monitor the temps, then post those temps, it will be easier for someone to tell if it's normal. HD Tune can tell your drive temperature, and speedfan can tell you the other temps.

 

Thank you for this guide, it is just what I needed, only wish I had found it sooner. I purchased a new HP laptop at Costco and generally speaking it is okay. However, from the beginning I found myself annoyed at the assortment of "freebies" implanted into my machine.

So I've been working on it by myself until I found this site. Bravo! I so appreciate the tips. Before I got here though, I did a lot of work trying to free myself from the "bloatware" (love that name).

It took me a long while to delete vonage because it has a virus like ability to start itself up even after you disable it. There is no uninstall utility either.

So I finally did a workaround by entering its folder and renaming all the dll files to txt files heh heh and I was able to remove it, by deleting the files one by one. But whew, what a JOB!

So now I find this forum and realize I should have made back up discs first but I made them after anyway. Thanks. Wish HP would have told me that if they are really so concerned with my safety. hmmf

So now I thought I would try to delete some more baggage and find there is NO UNINSTALL for HP Photosmart, HP Games, and who knows what else?

This is UBER annoying. Is there anyway to uninstall these things? I go to the control panel > programs and features and the uninstall is there for oh say Zone Alarm, a program I installed myself but NOT THERE for all this BLOATWARE I do not want. Sorry for shouting, I dont like Mafia tactics when I purchase something legitimately.

Thanks for any help and love the forum

 

Just do a clean install:
See this thread for the vista download links (they ARE legal)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=240320

 

Sorry for newbie questions, but you mean wipe it and start all over? eeeek, no thanks, I am not ready for that.

I already deleted so much crap and now installed many programs that it is not worth that to me.

Basically I want to delete a few more programs. But it does annoy me there is no unistall on these programs. That is ridiculous. I should not have to delete the folders and contents one by one~

But for me that would be easier now than to reinstall all the stuff I have on there.

NEXT time, if I should buy an HP lapttop, (it really has some nice features) I will do that.

Blessings for answering.

 

GUIDE UPDATED:

I added links to my Download Vista Thread in the Windows sub-forum

 

Can a moderator please change the title to:
The HP Laptop Out-Of-The-Box Guide

Thanks
-v3loc1ty2.0

 

Are these programs safe to remove?
- HP Active Support Library
- HP Customer Experience Enhancements
- HP Help and Support

 

I'm not so sure about deleting the Norton software. The newer laptops come with Internet Security 2009, which is actually excellent software that runs with almost no system resources.

 

I think Kaspersky is much better though

 

Does anyone know what the WizLink application is? I searched online and it said it was an essential file transfer wizard, but on my new HP all of the free trial weblinks seem to link to it.

 

what is the specific link in the weblinks?

 

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but..
would anyone be interested in a guide like this for the new HP notebooks with windows 7?

if so i'll update this guide to reflect changes with the new computers

 

I just ordered a dv8t and would love to have this updated for use with my new purchase.

 

Ok cool, ill re-write it and have it up in a week or so (probably saturday or sunday)

In the mean time, could some people post lists of all of the bloatware and such installed on their new win7 notebooks (ill give credit and a +rep link )

I'll probably post the guide as a new thread and post a link to it here

 

Excellent guide, my DV7t-2215sa which arrived yesterday didn't contain a Windows 7 disk, is it appropriate to use a product key finder and perform a clean install using the instructions you've provided?

 

I think it would be a GREAT guide. Win7 changed a lot of things!!! I had trouble to find where in the world is the START menu folder and of course the deny access to a lot of folders.

 

Thanks for your support guys, could one of you give me a list of bloatware and PM me to help me do some testing?

 

I am not 100% as to what is bloatware and what isn’t, so here is a list of all the programs in the add/remove on my new HP (Pavilion dv7-2270us) that I just bought and in the process of determining what to get rid of:

Stuff i have already gotten rid of
• Microsoft Office Home and Student trial
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint viewer 2007
• Norton Internet Security (or something or other Norton)
• HP Wireless Assistant
• Activate Norton Online Backup
• Microsoft Works
• Acrobat.com
• Corel Paint shop pro photo x2
• HP Smart Web Printing
• My HP Games WildTangent (name may of been different)
• HP Total Care Advisor
• HP MediaSmart Software Notebook Demo
• Slingplayer (HP MediaSmart tag may of been in front of it)
• SlingBoxWatchyourTVAnyWhere
• Microsoft works
• Powerpoint viewer 2007

Stuff I have yet to touch (and may include windows updates, which I did right away after first starting my PC)
• Windows Media Encoder 9 series
• Adobe AIR
• Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX
• Adobe Reader 9.1 MUI
• Homepage Protection
• QuickTime
• ATI Catalyst Install Manager
• Corel VideoStudio12
• CyberLink DVD Suite
• Power2Go
• LabelPrint
• Powerdirector
• ENE CIR Receiver Driver
• HP MediaSmart Webcam
• HP MediaSmart Movie Themes
• HP MediaSmart Live TV
• HP MediaSmart Music/Photo/Video
• HP MediaSmart DVD
• HP MediaSmart Internet TV
• HP Quick Launch Buttons
• HP Customer Experience Enhancements
• HP Setup
• HP User Guides 0153
• HP Support Assistant
• HP 3D Driveguard
• HP MediaSmart SmartMenu
• HP Advisor
• HP Update
• IDT Audio
• JMicron Flash Media Controller Driver
• LightScribe System Software
• LSI HDA Modem
• Windows Live Essentials
• Microsoft Visual C + + 2008 ATL Update kb973924 – x86 9.0.30729.4148
• Windows Live Upload Tool
• Windows Live sign-in Assistant
• Microsoft Visual C + + 2005 ATL Update kb973923 – x86 8.050727.4053
• MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB954430)
• Microsoft Silverlight
• Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office System
• Microsoft Visual C + + 2008 Redistribute – 86x 9.0.30729.17
• Microsoft Visual C + + 2005 ATL Update kb973923 – x86 8.050727.4053 (yes.. this is on my PC twice...)
• Microsoft Live Search toolbar
• Realtek 8136 8168 8169 Ethernet Driver
• Java(TM) 6 Update 14
• Java(TM) 6 Update 14 (64-bit)
• Synaptics Pointing Device Driver


Anything else that you think may be helpful let me know. For the second portion of the list I am currently slugging through the internets looking for what others have already commented about them on (well.. for the suspicious stuff at least.)

Also on the Desktop, there is what appears to be just a simple shortcut link to eBay, but rightclicking it shows it is a wizLink Application with the target ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\WizLink.exe" http://redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=4&tp=dticon&s=ebay&pf=cnnb&locale=en_us&bd=all&c=94"
( HP Support Assistant, HP SmartMedia and HP Adivsor also present on desktop/taskbar, but are all mentioned above)

I am not sure how much help I can be but I'll help however I can. I went to your profile to PM you, however I couldn't see any option to do so.

 

Thanks very much for your help
I'm almost finished the guide, and ill add your suggestions, I'll probably post it late today or sunday
I think you can't send or receive PMs until you make a few more posts in the forums

 

Thanks. Glad to help. And a HUGE thanks to you for getting this altogether and making sure it's right!!!

There are also numerous items in the start menu (and in program files and program files (86x) ) that are not on the add/remove list but are clearly garbage (eg NetZeroPreloader, Juno preloaders, quicken free trial etc..) Would more information on these type of items be helpful?


I have also noticed that after uninstallation, Microsoft Works has left over a folder that contains a file called "aw.dll ". Usually I like to double check but it was 5 am so I deleted anyway. So far no problems!! I can only assume some other programs have done the same thing (eg I found a "MYHPgames" icon even though I removed that too)

ETA: On my original list.. I swear I got rid of it, but it still lists HP Total Care Advisor, which shouldn't be there because it wasn't on the list on my PC (replaced with just "HP Advisor")

 

Thanks for your continued help
I posted the new guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=432564
We can move discussion to that thread now