Want to clean up/format presario c310 -- use recovery disks or recovery partition?

Hi,
I’ve just done a clean install of my Dell Vostro -- reinstalling vista and removing the recovery partition in the process. Outcome = a ‘cleaner’ machine with none of the preinstalled bloatware/c**p from Dell. (first time I’ve done anything like this, but followed a brill guide in the Dell section of this forum ).

I’m about to tackle my Mums Compaq Presario C310EA. The aim is to remove all the rubbish she has accumulated over the years, incl any spyware/ adware she may have, and generally have a bit of a clean sweep…. hopefully resulting in a faster laptop. I’m backing up her data, and moving some of my Dad’s stuff somewhere else.

Basically I want to clean up as much as poss, but unfortunately she has no xp disk, just the recovery disks (cds) she burned when she first got the laptop.
As she has no xp disk I guess the best I can hope for is to reset the laptop to the factory settings (?) .. not ideal, but I don’t think the (factory set) bloatware is too much of an issue for her – she’s not a heavy user.

Should I use the recovery partition for this, or do I need to use the cds she burned? .
I’d like to know the best approach – and can’t seem to find a set of instructions to follow. Can you advise?
thanks

 

Both of them should provide the same outcome. However, using the recovery discs will wipe everything including the restore partition and then put the system back to factory state. A slower process but the system will be wiped and rewritten.

As far as steps, its pretty much insert the first CD/DVD and reboot the system and let it boot from the CD/DVD and follow the prompts. Ofcourse backup any files/folders on the laptop since its going to be wiped during the reformat.

 

You could actually do a clean XP install if you could borrow an installation disk from someone. Borrow a disk (OEM or Retail) and make a copy of it for your parents. Then install XP and re-register the OS with the license key on the underside of the unit (provided it’s still there).

It works, and will allow your parents to keep using the OS they paid for.

 

Thanks -- I assume using the recovery disks will reinstate the recovery partition? .... I think this option ( recovery disks) sounds fairly straight forward -- the wiping and rewriting sounds more comprehensive, but maybe thats purely phycological? I mean is it really 'cleaner', or does it just feel that way?

I would consider this option, but I forsee one issue. If no XP disk came with the laptop, then presumably she got no software disks either... in which case she would lose all the software that came bundled with the laptop.
Might not be worth worrying about, but there may be something she likes to use....

 

Sophie…. to answer your questions:

As Miner stated, using the recovery disks will restore your unit to its original delivery state. By doing this it does not “repair” the installation. It “wipes” your drive and partitions and starts fresh. So “yes” it’s really cleaner. This is a good option if you are worried about keeping some of the original HP installed software.

If however, the unit has not been tinkered with too much, you may still have the original “Software Setup” folder on the computer. If this folder is still present, you can make a copy of the folder and use it to selectively re-install most, if not all, of the original HP software that you want. Although the names in the subfolders are not always blatantly obvious as to what they are, the “Software Setup” folders contain the installers for nearly everything that came with the computer including the drivers, DVD encoder, etc. If you copied this folder to a USB drive and scanned for virus, it should be safe to use. Once that’s done, burn the data to a disk for future use.

My personal opinion is that you will end up with a much cleaner running system by doing a fresh XP install, using the latest drivers, and re-installing what you need from the original “Software Setup” folder. If however, you are not comfortable with that or need something that you can’t find in the software setup folder, then do the recovery from the disks and un-install what you don’t need including the Software Setup folder after you make a copy. Finish up by running CCleaner or something similar to clean up. Not quite as tidy, but still very good.

Manuals and Guides are here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?man_lang=en&lc=en&dlc=fr&cc=fr&product=3318980

Software and drivers are here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&dlc=fr&cc=fr&man_lang=en&product=3318980&

Last notes. If you select to do a fresh XP install:

1. I think you might need the SATA drivers to install XP. It really isn't difficult and a utility is availble form HP:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=228&product=3318980

2. Install the Microsoft Universal Audio driver (UAA) prior to installing the Conexant Audio. If you do not, it will not install the audio properly. Other than that…. everything else is straightforward. Chipset…Graphics… and so on.

All the best…..and good luck.... whichever method you choose.