My T500 just arrived. What should I do for prelim actions?

Uninstall something... install something... fresh install... ?

I don't have a window vista cd available to me though, so I probably can't fresh install.

Or should I just leave it as I got it? Doesn't look like there's THAT much bloatware... but i'm not sure.

A lot of thinkpad software...

 

My suggestion is to use it for a few days, and explore the ThinkVantage software. Uninstall those that you do not find useful or practical. Also uninstall any trialware if there are any.

 

Make your recovery discs first. Make sure that if you bought a warranty, you actually have it before you go off selling hardware. (D'oh!)

 

IMHO, install a good third party backup utility (I use Acronis) and image the system before you make the recovery discs.

You can only burn a set of recovery discs ONCE; it won't let you do it again. So this way you can always restore that image to a spare HDD and burn a set of recovery discs if something were to go wrong the first time out.

 

That works too.

 

I would...

1.) Make recovery discs
2.) If you have imaging software then make an image as the others said
3.) Make sure you have a good Antivirus software up and running with its latest DAT file.
4.) Make sure you have a good spyware/adware/malware program up and running and updated
5.) Check for any Windows updates and install them.
6.) Play with power manager and get your power management to the way you like it on both battery and AC usage.
7.) USE THE MACHINE After using it you will have a much better idea of what to uninstall. You might actually want to play with a few trial softwares if you were thinking of buying something like them anyways. And like MidnightSun said in relation to the Thinkvantage apps, you will get a much better idea of which ones you want to keep.
8.) Uninstall programs you don't want or do a clean install. I did a clean install last time on my T61p but I didn't on my X200. I don't think I will do it on the X200.
9.) Install any apps you want and do some Vista tweaks that might speed it up. Check out the guide by Les.

Thats what I have/am doing right now with my new X200.

 

The programs I ended up keeping were Power Manager (for switchable graphics), Active Protection (for hard drive), Fingerprint, and the Ultranav utility (for Trackpoint and touchpad). Also keep the Lenovo System Interface Driver and Hotkeys (for on-screen display and function keys).

I would uninstall any trial software like Office and anti-virus (if you don't want it).

 

T500 was my first Vista system. I had completely tweaked and hacked my previous XP system and so Vista was a totally new learning experience.

So for the first 10 days, I read up on all the Vista hacks/tweaks and software tools and tried everything I could in a fast track crash course.

During that time I had to do 3 factory reinstalls as I screwed up my system's registry and other programs. During that 10 days I didn't install anything of importance that would take a lot work to redo, such transferring email accounts/mail, files, programs, favorites, etc.

After 10 days I was sure I knew the ins-and-outs of Vista and felt comfortable which programs worked. It also made me feel comfortable with the factory reinstall. By the third reinstall it only took about 1/3 of the time to re-tweak the system the way I wanted it.

Try to bust and stress test your system when it is brand new.
If something goes wrong, then reinstall everything.

After 3-6 months it is too much work to reinstall everything and tweak everything so it fits like a shoe again.

 

Hmm.. Thanks for the input everyone.

I think i'll try out the software, will most likely most as is since I don't see much bloatware other than mcafee.

I didn't make recovery disc though... I already installed firefox, aim, and avira av. I only have a cd burner, 7 cds is a :\ and i'm going to get a W7 upgrade anyway, that'll be my clean install.

I have had an issue since the start though, i've noticed a lot of high pitched beeps w/ actions, but i didn't take the time to figure out until now.

When the laptop sleeps, afaik it's only sleep (not shutdown, haven't tried hibernate), it makes the beep noise. When i recover it from sleep, beeps again. Only once each time.

Any help with this? It's getting annoying.

 

I would still advise you to make your Recovery discs. It doesn't matter what you have installed or what changes you have made. If the recovery partition is intact you can make recovery discs and the contents of this recovery partition will be copied to the Cds. Even though you are doing a clean install later on, it is still nice to have the recovery discs since you can bring the machine back to factory standard if you wanted to sell it.

As far as the beep, that is normal and I get it too. I don't know how to shut it of, though I am also trying to figure out how. I am guessing it is under windows sounds or power management settings? BTW - the beep also happens when the machine is put in Hibernate mode as well.

 

To get rid of the beeps, you have to go into the BIOS and disable sound for power state change. There are other beep sounds you can disable in the BIOS too.