problems with new DV51044CA

my girlfriend just bought a brand new hp DV51044CA([URL="http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10108006&catid=']http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10108006&catid=[/URL]) from future shop yesterday and has entrusted me to set it up for her.

so i was excited to do this and see puma in action but i can say that performance has been lackluster at best.
the most simple tasks (ie. clicking the orb for the start menu) will cause the system to slow down and send me the 'windows explorer is not responding" message, which by far is the most common if not only error im getting.

also this is my first time dealing with an hp computer so im not familiar with the bloatware on the machine so i have not uninstalled any of it yet

if anyone has any help they could lend me id be very grateful and if you could tell me which hp programs to get rid of thatd be awesome

***also when the laptop is on battery power it doesnt tell me how much time i have left till it runs out, is there a fix for this??

 

The best method would be to do a clean install of Vista. If you can get a hold of a Vista disc, follow Orev's guide here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

I've generally found the out-of-box experience with HP to be rather maddening, because there is so much bloatware integrated in the factory Vista installation........

 

OH! Tell me about it. You have Norton, Slingbox, Health check, MS Office trial, etc.

All of those are annoying. I hate free trials. Once you finally get hooked on them, BAM! The trial runs out and you're stuck trying to figure out what life was like without it.

 

so i think i figured out the performance problem
it somehow got one of the vundo trojan viruses :S
so im now removing that and hopefully the computer will run perfectly

does anyone know why when im on battery power its not telling me how much time is left?

 

I haven't seen that feature available on HP laptops. However, I may be wrong.

 

No battery meter on the HP notebook. I use this free meter you can download from here http://www.mioplanet.com/products/batterymeter/.
It will tend to calibrate itself over time and become quite accurate.

Edit: You do know that if you put your mouse cursor on the battery icon it gives you a percentage of battery time remaining.

 

very nice application deeastman.