Do all the factory preloaded programs/applications slow down the running performance?

or just the windows boot time? because i dont know if i should go through the trouble of reformatting and risking some functions not working properly for a faster windows boot time... im fine with all these things as long as the running performance of programs and games are the same as a clean install.

 

if you have 2gb of mem or more. it should run fine.. i have 3gb in mine.. i havent formatted/reinstalled yet.. i just went and uninstalled some uneccessary trial software..etc.. then i just ran msconfig and stopped some software from loading at startup.. some of that doesnt need to load until you need it.. however i didnt turn off any of the thinkvantage stuff.. since its new to me.. im messing around with it.. my r61 has vista but its running fine for what i use it for.. maybe if your going to use it for games or big applications you might want to reformat.. but for the average user.. you should be fine..

 

is there any one's you recommend to stop? because i also ran msconfig and couldn't identify what programs were which from the very undescriptive names....

 

What you need and don't need is preference. Try googling the terms you see or perhaps look them up here: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

Google will usually give you a description of what each is/does.

 

I did a custom factory install and tweaked vista and its A LOt faster than when I first got it. I just use the thinkvantage power managment suite.

 

I bought 2 systems. Reformatted and clean installed one and 'wow', it really was faster after login. The other one I left alone until last night and I took the reverse approach uninstalling software to see if I could identify the process that makes the thinkvantage registry monitor eat up tons of 'read bytes' in the task manager and rattle the disk for ages.

After I removed the client security system and I think the rescue and recovery (I use acronis trueimage), that registry monitor process went to almost zero. I made note of all the utilities and what they did, then cloned the 2nd system to match the first 'clean install system'.

Having done the first system, I can see how much slower the full install was slowing down log in. Perhaps once the disk had settled down, the performance would have been ok, but it was a bit ridiculous to have that much disk access after every login.

It takes some time to reinstall but as others have said, there is a lot of time you save not uninstalling.

 

Norton was a big resourse hog and always has been. Reinstall without norton, the recovery software, and the password manager and it makes a difference. But I just didn't reinstall most of it, heck, I could disable system recovery I have not used it in three years to fix problems. I know how and it works just as well so I would rather have the space.

 

is there anyway to disable specific applications in thinkvantage?

 

My T61 would crash a few times and there were something like close to 80 processes with some of the thinkvantage software.

Fedup of instability, I decided to do a clean Vista install and I only reinstalled
- Active Protection System
- the fingerprint reader software
- ultranav driver
- onscreen display for the function keys

It never crashed ever since.

 

They slow down the system by a mile.

I would integrate all the post-SP2 updates, IE7, WMP11 and device drivers with nLite (vLite for Vista) and remove the OS features I don't need (things like MSN explorer, help).

The only lenovo apps I install are the power manager and onscree display, then a little bit of reg tweaks to optimise processes and remove unwanted startup processes.

In the end I have a XP Pro with 27 background processes and it's blitzing fast and stable.

Same for Vista.

 

revvo: can you stil use the fingerprint reader to log into windows without the password manager? that's all i really need it for. also, is the password manager part of client security?

rescue & recovery allows a 'custom restore' where you can leave out some factory-installed software. that may be a partial solution if you don't want to mess with a full clean install.

 

just in case a clean install doesnt work out with XP, can i just go into the "hidden partition" and then restore to factory specs again?

 

Yep. All I have installed is the Thinkvantage Fingerprint Software and it asks you to enroll. In the settings you got "Fingerprint Logon" under the Logon tab so it's all good.

 

It is slow even you have 2g ram. I strongly recommend to uninstall some software that you don't need it. I just keep Power Management for my t61p and I remove all other software. It is fast.

 

Ok, so I guess there's a Windows fingerprint manager that works in the absence of Client Security Solution. I found that Password Manager is part of CSS, the only thing I think I would miss about CSS is PrivateDisk but there are some substitutes that could be used. PrivateDisk doesn't even use fingerprints anyway so it's a pain entering passwords (at least the version I have). Thanks for the info.