New Laptop Preperation (Sony FZ)

Right, I should have my Sony FZ by next week and I'm both excited and anxious because it'll be my first EVER laptop.
If any of you experienced users could answer by 'nooby' questions, it would be of great help.

Will there be instructions with the laptop on how to complete its first run?
What should be the first thing I should do once I get into Vista?
Will all drivers be supplied with the laptop?
I've heard that you can get better drivers from the net for the graphics card? Where can I can get these and do they perform better than forceware drivers?
When should I install security software?
When should I install windows updates?

Basically I just want run down on what to do when you first get your laptop and before you start to properly use it.

Thanks again,
Jam.

 

Step 1. Make the set of recovery DVD's. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF!

With those in place, you can play around knowing that WHATEVER you do you can recover the machine right back to its "out of the box" state.

Gary

P.S. One more thing. I just looked at the specs of your current machine, so there is one more thing you will need to do. Get a seat belt and strap yourself to the chair because the performance difference is going to BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF! ...enjoy...

 

Ah rite. Thanks.
Does the recovery software come with the laptop or will I have to buy my own? Is Acronis True Image any decent?

Can anyone answer my other questions. I'm mostly confused on drivers. Do all drivers come pre-installed? Plus, are the pre-installed ones best to have, or should I update the drivers on the respective manufacturers website?

lol, I know. Its the speed of the laptop I'm dreaming about - I currently find my current computer acually OK tbh, my new laptop probably will blow my socks off.

 

The software for creating the two Recovery DVD's comes with the machine. This is NOT the same thing as a program like Acronis True Image. The Sony software will only create the two DVDs that can be used to restore to the "out of the box" state. It will not image your C: drive.

All the drivers come presinstalled. No need for third part updates. (Some folks HAVE tried an updated video driver. Search elsewhere for more info.)

Gary

 

Don't be too surprised if your new notebook isn't blidingly fast. Vista has a way of dragging the best computers down. Best of luck on your new purchase.

 

Be prepared to get bombarded with lots of bloatware. Unless you get rid of that junk, your FZ won't blow your socks off with its speed.
But yes, it's screen definitely will!

 

Ah rite, I see. I'd probably make these recovery these the very first thing I do

Hmm, yeh. I may think about dual booting and installing XP too but I'm gonna try out Vista first. Hopefully I won't have too many problems with it.

Yeh, I've heard many people saying there's a lot of crap on laptop first. I'd be sure to un-install that quickly. Actually is it best to remove these programs before I make the recovery DVD's or not?

Anyway, thanks guys. You've made me feel a lot better now

 

uhh?? but i resently made my recovery DVD and i only used one blanc DL DVD... did i made something wrong??

 

ok i did this after cleaning my FZ from all the bloatware that come with it and some apps that came with the notebook... can i still made my recovery DVD's? r the recovery DVD's made from the recovery partition??

 

i didnt use the sony steps to made my recovery dvd i yust burned my entire recovery partition on a DL DVD

 

Even if you remove the bloatware, the DVD's will still contain EVERYTHING. There is a hidden partition of about 7 or 8 gig, that has an image of what the C: drive looked like right "out of the box", bloatware and all. When you create the recovery DVD's, it uses that image on the hidden partition. Use the Sony supplied application to make the DVD's. (See my note to xavibrugal below.)

I have used XP since it was in beta and to be honest with you all the "complaints" about Vista, I think, are pretty much without foundation. I find it NO slower than XP. A bit more intrusive at times, stopping to ask permission to do certain things etc. But I really don't mind that either, knowing full well that the extra layer of security is just a fact of life.

If you NEED XP, as I do for some development work, think about Microsoft's free Virtual PC 2007. I run XP under it every day.

Gary

 

Then all you got was an image of the recovery partition, and none of the apps to use it. If you use the Sony provided app to make the DVD's then the first DVD will be boot-able and allow you to do the restore right from the DVD set.

What you have is an image which would require somehow getting the image back onto the hard drive, if you had to replace the hard drive at some point. The primary purpose of the two DVD set is to allow you to replace the hard drive should it fail, and then use the DVD's to recover. With just the image you have, you'd have the extra step of needing to get your image on the hard drive first then boot up and do the F10 trick. Even then I am not certain if the F10 trick would even recognize the image you put on the new drive. The F10 boot-loader MIGHT need the image to be at a certain sector on the hard drive. (Thats pretty likely as there would be no "file system" for the boot-loader to use to find the files it needs.) It might work, it might not.

The other thing you get by using the Sony provided software is that disk one is ALSO usable from within Vista! You can stick disk one in while Vista is running and it will allow you to see a list of all the drivers and MOST of the applications that initial came on your machine "out of the box". From that list you can restore individual drivers and/or applications.

Bottom line, use the Sony software to create the recovery disks. In the long run, using two disks is a MUCH better insurance policy! ...big ol' grin...

Gary

 

ok im having a problem now, i go sony vaio help and suppport app, then "backup & recovery" and then "Launch vaio recover center"

so i click "Create Recovery Disk", and then the "Start"...

then an error pups out!!

Microsoft Visual C++ Runetime Library
Runetime Error!
Program: C:\Program files\sony\VAIO RECOVERY\LAUNCHER.EXE
This application has requested the Runtime to teminate in an unusual way.
please contact the application's support team for more information

 

Not sure why this happened, toneka had the exact same issue. What have you done to the machine since you took it out of the box? Had you already started uninstalling some applications? Toneka had and really had things pretty hosed up. So much so, that he finally just did a reboot-F10 trick and restored directly from the hidden portion. I am not sure if after that he created the recovery disks or not. You should look for the thread "bloatware holy crap" (or something similar). That's where he and I had this conversation. Then leave him a note and ask if AFTER the full recovery he was able to make the DVD's. I am pretty sure he was successful after that. You might need to do the same thing, especially if you already started removing things. I know going back to the "out of the box" state is not a pleasant thought, I just don't know what else to tell you to do.

Gary

 

thanks for the help gary... ill ask toneka what he did, at least i have the f10 option and didnt lost the recovery partition becaouse i was thinking deleting the partition before i did my recovery DVD form the partition... thank god i didnt hehe... well i think ill w8 for toneka's replay before i do something.

 

xavibrugal,

If you haven't done much to the machine since you unpacked it, you can always use the F10 option to restore it to the "out of the box" state and immediately create the DVD's. I am pretty sure that after such a restore that you can create the DVD's. If not then it indicates some hardware (or DVD media) issue.

BTW did you use dual layer ones when you tried to create the DVD's? I know this is a long shot, as I don't know the REAL difference between single and dual layer ones, but I wonder if the code Sony wrote to create these DVD's doesn't work with dual layer media? Again, that's a long shot, but might be worth a try! Let me know if you try this and it DOES resolve the issue.

Gary

 

it dont even ask me of a DVD it only pops up the error... little stange but i i suppose after i f10 my notebook it should work well

 

Ok then, i'll probably do things in this order:
- First Run
- Create recovery DVD's
- Get rid of bloatware
- Install internet connection
- Do windows updates
- Install security software

Is that alright? Is anything missing before I install my own stuff?

 

That about covers it!

Gary

 

Thanks dude.

 

Two things. First I don't think this forum allows posting of links to "warez" sites with pirated copies of software. You might want to edit your message and remove those before you run afoul of the moderators.

Second, unless you REALLY REALLY need the extra 7 gig of disk space, I think it's better to keep the recovery partition in place (even as nasty as it is). It does offer an added bit of insurance just in case you do want to revert back and you're original DVD set is missing or damaged. Having said that, once you have removed the bloatware and have a partition image of the C: drive, that partition does become a bit superfluous. I guess what I am suggesting is that folks should do step 4 after step 7. I suggest that, because it does not appear that the creation of the recovery DVD's actually verifies that the DVD's are readable. So until you attempt to use them, you don't know if the Sony recovery DVD's are functional or not. 99.99% of the time they are, but...

Now if you DO change the sequence of the steps, you are going to wind up with a 7 gig unused space on the hard drive. That is easily resolved with most partition management apps (not sure if disk director handles this, I know "BootIT NG" does. It can add the space to an adjoining partition.


I am only suggesting this change on behalf of the true "newbies" here (you are obviously NOT new to this stuff! ), in an attempt to give them just a little more "cushion" in the event of some disaster.

Gary

 

Please do not post links to pirated software.