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So I just unpacked my new T500! I love almost everything about it. My only complaint is that it has a bunch of extra Lenovo software and drivers and that it is not as fast as I though it would be. Anybody have any idea what software I should get or get rid of to make my computer faster?
Everyone has a different opinion on what ThinkVantage software they want/don't want. That said, here are the ones that go quickly for me:
EasyEject -Does nothing for me
ThinkVantage Access Connections - Windows manages Wireless just fine.
Rescue and Recovery - Don't uninstall, but set it so it doesn't run on startup and set backups to manual unless you're the type that never backs up anything and still has critical files.
ThinkVantage Password Manager - I can manage my own passwords, thanks
Message Center Plus -As much adware as it is useful
Diskeeper Lite: Pro version isn't bad. Lite version is more of a pain than it's worth.
Stuff I keep:
Fingerprint Reader software
Power Manager
ThinkVantage System Update
Stuff I'm on the fence about:
Active Protection - Useful if you're clumsy, but I haven't had an issue dropping laptops, and laptops I've had without this software have run just fine without HDD issues
Interesting mention of the Active Protection. This is one that I use but really don't know how important it is. I guess it makes me feel safe and secure
I pretty much agree with LoneWolf about the software that would probably be best removed.
Additionally, I removed
System Update (in my opinion, if it works, don't mess with it, and if there really is a benefit to installing an update, it's simple to download a single package and install it),
Productivity Center (which is opened up with the ThinkVantage button in Windows - I haven't found that much use for it), the
Intel WiFi ProSet tools (but left the driver, obviously), and disabled
Intel AMT.
I left Active Protection, as I think it's better to be safe than sorry, and for the minimal resources it uses, I can live with it running in the background.
To make your system faster, here are some things you can do...
1.) Up the ram and install a faster harddrive
2.) Shutdown/uninstall programs and processes you don't need.
3.) Forget about uninstalling stuff and do a clean install so that you start with the bare minimum of the software you need and then YOU decide what you want.
As far as the Thinkvantage app that you might want to keep, I agree with Lonewolf. I myself only have the power manager and finger print reader software installed(though I don't even use the finger print reader currently but might in the future.)
Active protection and power manager are about the only two I keep (aside from critical drivers). R'n'R is potentially useful. Some hotkey stuff is also potentially useful depedning on how you use the machine.
Thinkvantage System Update is more trouble than it's worth in my experience -- works sometimes, screws things up other times. I used to like Access Connections but it's comparatively resource heavy now and if it ever stops functioning for some reason good luck getting it working properly again.
Question for those who suggest a clean install -- are you talking clean from OS discs or clean from Thinkpad rescue partition?
When I said clean install I meant from OS discs. When you do a reinstall from the rescue partition you just get the machine back to the state it was when bought new. So all the processes/apps/trial programs are reloaded. No point in doing that uless you had installed a bunch of other apps on top of the base image and want to bring it back. The clean install from the OS discs allows you to the OS and nothing else, then it is your choice to install what you want.
There is also a way apparently to choose what apps to install from the recovery parition when resetting the machine to factor conditions, but I have never tried it. Might be a good compromise.
Really? That stinks. So all you can do now is just restore EVERYTHING from the recover partition or do a clean install from media(and how many people have those anymore?)?
I don't know, things seems to be getting more unnecessarily complicated as years are going on. I just wish they would allow people to drop a couple bits more and get the OS disc if they want, rather then jump through all these hoops.
Yeah, they used to do something different where you can choose at restore time what software to include and what not to include. I know this was the case in the T60 generation, not sure about the T61 generation, but the Tx00 generation does not have this feature - the recovery partition is simply a drive image, and it will return you to exactly the factory settings with all the included software.
"Really? That stinks. So all you can do now is just restore EVERYTHING from the recover partition or do a clean install from media(and how many people have those anymore?)?"
Well I did with Vista and then added the stuff that I wanted of Lenovo's and I've never regretted it in fact if you're serious about computers I'd say this is a mandatory.
Renee
best get some image/recovery software like Acronis True Image, and once your OS and software is how you like it, use it to keep an up-to-date image of all partitions on an external drive. If disaster strikes - or you want to use a different HDD, use the imaging recovery CD to restore everything to the new HDD. No need then to use Lenovo method, which is a ground zero one; a bit crude to say the least - it is designed for minimizing technical support, not for minimizing re-installation hassles of the individual user...
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
