Most useful Lenovo Bloatware - ThinkVantage, is that it?

To you seasoned thinkpadders, aficionados, and any other users with experience or insight:

Is ThinkVantage worth acquiring after a fresh install?

My 4-week old T440p came with W8 Pro preinstalled. I then went through a Win 7 downgrade with Lenovo-supplied recovery media (a whopping 4-DVD set) just to "validate" a few things for myself. Lenovo mailed 3 separate sets of W7 recovery media to me (2 came by courier) because it remained "back-ordered" for a full 15 days. A for effort I suppose.

Win 7 proved wanting for my intended usage (as a tablet). I realize that the whole forum here knew that from 18 months ago. But I just had to take the long way.

As I was wishing to return to Windows 8 bliss, Lenovo adamantly refused to send me a relatively "clean" W8 DVD citing utter unavailability. They were going to send me a multi-DVD "recovery media set" with W8 Pro again, which, as you guessed it, was also "back-ordered".

I don't mind waiting a week or 2 again if I must. But I just don't want the full recovery media set that "recovers" the crapware that I wanted to get rid of in the first place. Their only recommendation is for me to go "buy a new Win 8 disc".

Attempting to download a copy of W8 from MS with all manners of "generic keys" came to nothing.

Tired of banging my head, I was finally driven to IT madness by Lenovo antics and the Redmond bully, and went out and bought a brand new OEM copy of Win 8 Pro.

The calculus was that the OEM media will simply allow me to install Win 8 fresh on T440p using the key embedded in UEFI, while still leaving the OEM Win 8 Pro itself "untouched" with its attendant downgrade right to install Win 7 Pro coming April when I need to replace an XP machine in the office by then.

Fortunately it seems to have worked out as I hoped with the OEM W8 pro having installed itself without a hitch. Throughout the process no key was asked for. Therefore I assume it activated with my UEFI Win 8 key.


So far I only installed the network adapter and wireless drivers, and carried out the obligatory Windows update. A few hardware related updates (Intel AMT etc. and a nVidia related driver) failed to install. But I don't see any adverse effects. And I see no use of "AMT" for me anyway.

Now my question is: should I get ThinkVantage? Is it worth the trouble knowing what you know about Lenovo? The last Thinkpad I had was a 2008-9 SL510. All I remember was ThinkVantage constantly popping up and asking me to update passcode or scan hardware ...

Do I need any other bloatware?


P.S., for the swift-minded who would ask why not get W8 from Torrent - unfortunately the luxury of "breathing the free air" is not as viable an option for me now as when I was in college ...

 

The most useful piece of Lenovo software in my opinion was Power Manager, and that was removed for W8.

Everything else is pretty much sheer bloatware, at least the way I see it.

My $0.02 only...

 

Rats, Lenovo never figured out how to get power manager natively working on Win8? What in the world?

Anyhow, how does one check battery health/cycles and update battery firmware without it on Win8?

 

Well...some people have tweaked the W7 version to work in W8 - with varying degrees of success - BUT it's not officially supported by Lenovo, so whatever headache comes out of it you're on your own.

I don't use W8 so someone else will have to chime in on that one.

 

I don't use Windows 8 either, but an alternative program to give you battery health info is Battery Bar, which should work in Windows 8. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as comprehensive as Power Manager and does not allow upgrading battery firmware, creating customized charge/discharge patterns, optimizing for battery lifespan, battery calibration, etc.

I'd definitely agree that Power Manager is by far the best software Lenovo includes (in systems with Windows 7), and it's also the best power management software for notebooks I've personally used.

Other Lenovo software I use: fingerprint software so I can log in by finger scan, Access Connections for an improved UI over Intel's or Microsoft's wireless software, backup and restore for fairly easy system backups, and Lenovo update for quick and easy BIOS and driver updates. Overall, I'd say power manager is fantastic and should be kept regardless, and the fingerprint software is essential if you want to log in with the fingerprint reader; but the rest of Lenovo's software is up to your personal preferences whether or not to keep.

 

I only ever used Power Manager and the fingerprint software. Otherwise, the rest of it was pretty much bloat imo. Now that Power Manager is removed from 8, I wouldn't even bother with the whole thing anymore (though I'm still on 7, so I still have it).

 

Very curious as to why it has been removed from Win 8. Any idea anyone?

 

A Lenovo staff posted purported reasons behind it on this support forum thread. I don't know enough about batteries to comment on validity either way.

And thanks to everyone who chimed in to answer my question. In the end through "trial and error", I settled on TVSU (ThinkVantage System Update) as the lone piece of bloatware that I will keep for now, which is a stand-alone utility (I don't know if it's any different from "Lenovo System Update").

Then I found out about the Intel Chipset Driver … a whole other story in its own right.

Regarding the power manager for W8, I did install the Power Manager Driver, which I found out is probably only needed if one runs the "Lenovo Settings" Metro app, which then installs "Lenovo Settings Dependency Package", which in turn has a mode for "battery stretch" or something similar sounding. I only poked around it when my T440p first came. But I didn't bother reinstalling it since my T440p is no toy for me and I need no frills.

Indeed the ability to change battery charge threshold is gone even from Lenovo Settings app.


Finally, I am still at the "validation stage" with everything installed to the HDD that came with the laptop. Once my SSD arrives, then I will only load what I absolutely need.

 

Yes.

Those who can answer your question - at least partially - are not allowed to discuss it in an open forum at this point in time.

All I can say is that it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see Power Manager again.

 

I usually keep most of the ThinkVantage software on the ThinkPads I bought new, but I'm pretty OCD about original Think software. Power Manager, ThinkVantage Finger Print software (if you use FPR), System Update would be the ones I would keep if you don't want most of the bloat.