new T60... a few questions

Every time I boot up my new T60 I get a "security setup wizard" window for "configuring enhanced security settings". I've been cancelling because I'm nervous... in the info I read it says if you forget your password you will have to take your laptop to a Lenovo service center to retrieve it!!! (the nearest service center is at least 300 miles from here)

I'm the only one who will use this laptop and I really don't want to have to enter a password every time I turn it on (I don't have a fingerprint reader). Can I somehow disable the security settings? Or, can I set it up so I don't need a password?

Also... a "warning" pops up every time saying my anti-virus needs to be updated. From what I've read here I should get rid of Symantec (apparently it's not working anyway). Is there an easy way to completely clear out Symantec (and maybe other unwanted programs)? I'm a little nrevous about doing a Clean Install, as others have suggested.
Thanks mucho!

 

Yes, the Symantec is pretty much worthless for security and has a tendency of detecting some innocent programs and entries as Viruses.
I don't think you will have any problem with a clean install, the windows will be faster without all the useless utils.You just have to download the drivers from the Lenovo later to get all the devices to work.

 

is there a guide on how to safely do a clean install and also where to download all the drivers?

 

I was wondering the same thing, because that's what I plan on doing when I get my T60 and that is get rid of all the bloatware. I have a legal copy of XP Pro that i'll install and i'll probably check the Lenovo site for drivers.

 

Is there no one out there who has set up their laptop so you can log on without a security password???

There are explanations on how to do a Clean Install in this forum-- perhaps in the Asus section, I can't remember. I have a feeling I will still have this problem unless I set it up correctly. But I don't know how.

 

Lenovo have these instructions for you.
Call or email a rep and they should be able to email you a pdf

They did that for me when I wanted to clean install a X60

 

this is the pdf they sent me.

http://web.hku.hk/~gyung/62-14.pdf

 

I am fortunate to be in a position to "review" laptops as I work in media. The Lenovo/IBM machine was out of mind for me. I then did some home work and decided it was time to look at one.

I am currently using the ThinkPad T60 87445BU, This has XP Pro... a Intel® Core 2 Duo T7200 2000MHz . I'm just in the middle of playing with this; but two negatives come to mind. One the start up time is horrible. I can go and make coffee while this baby finally gets started. I had difficulty find "My" network; but finally did. If I leave the room where my Link sys router is it can't find my network at all. I have to always begin in the room where my router is and then take it away. If I owned this I would probably buy an "n" router as compared to the "g" i have now; because I really lose reception when leaving the room.

It's packed with a lot of Lenovo stuff; which I haven't completely figured out yet. However it's a rugged machine.

Oh yes my big personal dig. I love the old Cool Edit Program. I know it is now Adobe Audition 2. I own both of them. I put cool edit on the machine and one of the things I like about the software is that it can EXTRACT audio from a CD. Either cool edit for the Lenovo could not see each other.

I then tried Adobe Audition 2 and it worked fine. Hey.....this is an XP machine. The cool edit should have worked. Most of the negatives I have found it because a number of months ago I tested an HP 9010 (that's the number here in Canada) where everything worked fantastic. Start up time and recognizing my cool edit was no problem. Only problem was that it was 17". Too big for me.

I'm not saying this Lenovo is bad product.........just not for me. It's too bad everyone couldn't take the laptop of their choice home for a few days for a test drive :>)

 

Compared to most of today's laptops, thinkpads come preloaded with the least amount of bloatware.

If your laptop has a slow start up time, it's most likely a software issue, how many startup programs do you have?

And oh, almost any DVD/CD burning program will allow you to extract audio files from audio CDs.

 

There are a lot of tools to remedy slow start up time. It is not particularly Lenovo's fault. I agree with furrycute that Lenovo probably comes with the least amount of USELESS bloatware, and actually *has* some stuff that might be USEFUL to most users. Furrycute is also correct in that nearly all burning programs can extract stuff.

One thing you may want to consider, muzikman, in terms of getting a clean install done the PDF that was linked by garlei is probably what you should follow. Another thing you may want to consider that may save you time is using System Update. I have the download link below in my signature.

 

Thanks to ALL for the tips! --especially garlei for the pdf, and acaurora for the update. I may try contacting Lenovo tech support just to see what they say. It appears Lenovo support is pretty good, so we'll see.

OK, time to get to work...

 

oh hey muzikman, if you happen to get a pdf from lenovo tech support to clean install a T60, could you post that for everyone?

a question for the rest, with 2 GB RAM, would it even be necessary to clean install?

 

If you can't do it as an attachment, I could even host it off my server if someone else can't. (I have hardly any disk space...loads of bandwidth, but no disk space...)

 

There's a link on garlei's post (p. 1, #6) to the pdf from Lenovo. It's five pages long.

 

its for the X60 though. could it be different with the T60?