I was wrong about Windows 7

I have to say, after doing a clean install of Windows 7 last night, I was wrong about it. I thought I had cleaned up all of Lenovo's crap and gotten it as close as I could to a clean install, but it still ran like crap.
After doing a clean install last night for the first time (thanks to the legal Windows 7 download thread), not only is it 5GB *less* than what I had (and that was after cleaning up so much crap ), it runs so much faster.
So far I can say, now that I have an impression of what Windows 7 is supposed to be like, I think Microsoft did good with this release.

 

eh it's sad that it's the oem who gives a bad impression of how windows is

 

I was thinking that very same thing after I made this thread. I never used 7 before I got my T410. So after I cleaned (or so I thought) all the crapware off, tweaked the services and registry and other tweaks, I thought that was how Windows 7 just was and I was pretty disappointed with it. I'm glad I was wrong.

 

I wish the same could have been said for Vista, oops

Glad your enjoying Seven, Roger. MS did a really nice job with 7. It's by far my favorite OS even surpassing XP.

 

It's too late for you now. You should've joined Windows 7 when you had the chance.

 

Heh, I only use Windows for games. I'm using the 32-bit version and find game compatibility is on-par with Vista 32-bit, but not quite as good as XP (for old games). At this point however I may get rid of XP permanently.

 

what kind of old game ? i never encountered any issue except the menu color coruption in c&C and starcraft 1

 

Just curious...what "crapware" did you remove from your machine (I am specifically interested in the T410)

Thanks

 

that's the only reason why apple demands so much of a stronghold on it's products

Apple:
Mac OS - no crapware loaded on, everything is good...
iPhone 4 - no crapware, OS and hardware works well

Windows:
Dell - loads crapware onto windows machine
AT&T/etc - loads crapware onto android phones

 

Dell allows you to remove any crapware via the system configurator online. Also, Sony does too and if you buy most any vendor's business systems (except lenovo) you'll get a clean windows installation out of the box.

Finally, if you purchase a pc from the Microsoft Store, it comes bloatware free. So there are plenty of ways to acquire a bloatware free PC.

As far as Android devices go, if you get a "Google Experience" device, (G1, G2, Nexus One, Motorola Droid) you get a nearly bloatware free version of android without skinning or anything silly like that.


OP, it's interesting that Lenovo's software install apparently wasn't working out. Esp. after they make a big deal regarding their "Enhanced Experience" certification they did with Microsoft:

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Glad to hear you got things going faster. Windows 7 is very good.

 

Literally everything but the drivers. So much software installed, I can't even remember all of it. Lots of third party programs, lots of Lenovo programs. Two different versions of the Visual C++ 2005 runtime, a 2008 version also. Microsoft Office trial, Norton Antivirus, two different Corel programs, etc. After I cleaned everything there was about 15GB of HDD space used. With the fresh install last night (just drivers) it's 10GB, and runs so much quicker.

Edit: Oh and I forgot to mention, there were some 70 processes running at startup with the default Lenovo install. Now there's 26, with only ~109MB RAM in use.

 

my alienware/Dell came crapware free and so far every machine i had from dell came crapware free

the closest to a crapware i saw was the dell dock

 

I had no trouble removing the crapware from my Acer. Took about five minutes in add/remove programs.

My Android phone, on the other hand...

EDIT: I do like TouchWiz and most of the Samsung widgets, just not Sprint NASCAR and that kind crap.

 

The Visual C++ runtimes aren't actually a problem - that'll allow you to run a large variety of programs written for Windows, and chances are quite good that you'll need to install them later anyway if they hadn't been pre-installed. But you definitely had a bunch of unneeded services with 70 processes running at startup.

You sure it's only 109MB of RAM in use though? That seems impossibly low for Vista/7, and it's all but impossible in XP SP2+, too (requires a highly tweaked clean install), except in Safe Mode. It is possible that only 109 MB of actual RAM is in use, and the rest of the memory is being stored in virtual memory, but in that case you might as well just use more memory instead of the virtual memory.

Edit: I'm glad I have a nice unlocked Java ME dumbphone without such bloatware problems as some of these Android phones have. It's a Sony Ericsson (bought here actually); I wonder if their Symbian smartphones also suffer from a bloat problem?

 

It's highly tweaked. The two things I noticed that eat up the most RAM are Superfetch and Windows Search. I always have those disabled. It's most definitely only showing 109-113MB at startup in Task Manager though. I'll reboot and make a screenshot, then come back and show it.

Edit: Here you go.



That's Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

 

You do know that Superfetch is intended to do this on purpose, to help the computer feel more responsive?: Windows Vista I/O technologies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Yeah but I don't like it. Maybe I'm old school, but I don't like things that eat RAM like there's no tomorrow. My system is fast enough for my needs anyway.

 

Can you show what processes do you have running?

 

well superfetch free the ram when needed anyway you notice it when you get out of a heavy program your ram usage is low very low then it slowly fils the super fetch cache using more ram and then re frees it when needed

 

So what? 70 processes is not at all out of the ordinary. I have about 90 or so after booting, and my machine is blazing fast.

That means you are running a needlessly crippled system. RAM is there to be used, it doesn't do you any good whatsoever sitting around unused. Win7 does its own memory management, too, you know...

Like I suspected, that's a crippled system. You may or may not be interested in Windows Search, but Windows Search uses next to no resources anyway. SuperFetch results in significant benefits, and turning that off makes no sense at all.

P.S.: Mind you, and not to be misunderstood, I am not telling you what to do, it's your system after all. I am just saying that there's no rational basis to your tweaking. But if it makes you feel good to seee that just about none of your memory is used, then enjoy.

 

Windows 7 is a dream OS compared to any of the previous Windows versions. I used Vista A LOT since that is what was on my main work computer up until last week when I finally got to upgrade and all the headaches and problems I had with Vista disappeared. I haven't been this happy with an OS since I first started using Windows XP!

 

If you say so.

 

Hey Roger, I'm Roger too Anyways, i signed up after being a longtime reader (years!) just to point out something here.

Your screenshot shows you are using 384MB of your 3GB of RAM. Pretty good as it is You are still using the prefetch though which is the 108MB of Cached RAM you were referring to.

I'm using a T410s and i've always done clean installs on all my machines (T20, T21, T22, T23, T40, T41, T42, T60, T61, T400, T410 and now T410s ) as i find it runs better. Sometimes i think there is some battery savings to be had from the Lenovo install but i definitely rather clean installing my own drivers.

As for shutting off SuperFetch - well if battery life matters then you'll use more battery with it off as well as your HDD wont get to rest. Anytime you request anything the system has to go to the HDD which sorta in effect makes the system "slower" by default. Superfetch only puts apps you use in RAM anyways. You end up making the computer work harder for you instead of you working hard. Work smarter my dad always says, not harder! As others have stated you unused RAM is wasted RAM. If Windows was allowed to run entirely from RAM then it would probably FLY! The idea that you have a 3.00GB system and only using 0.30GB while the rest sits idle makes no sense! As you said however, it's your system and you get to use it the way you rather Windows Search isn't such a big deal per say but do as you must

 

I am another supporter of unused RAM is wasted RAM.

 

Personally having run almost every Windows since Windows 95, I have to say that Windows 7 is the most refined, flawless OS that MS has produced to this date. Aside from a few driver problems and software incompatibilities Windows 7 is legit.

 

Its the same thing as taking a car and stripping the interior, radio, speakers and A/C. You gain a little more performance due to reduced weight but you lose some functionality. Personally I have 98 processes running right now, but I'm getting 30+ FPS in BBC2 totally maxed out and very snappy response from Windows.

 

The standard amount of processes for Win 7 is 38 to 44.

That's on a clean install with only MSE at start-up.

Doing tweaks to Win 7 is not really needed for the most part.
Superfetch doesn't really slow down performance for me.
If anything I experienced a slowdown upon disabling it at one time.

What I recommend doing after each clean install.
Fresh install Win 7, updates and all the necessary programs.
Once you've done that, go into CMD and force run the scheduled optimizations.
That will fully optimize the OS (including the boot sector).

Haven't really had any issues with it.

My standard RAM use in Win 7 (after start-up) is around 1GB (I have 4GB).

 

i have to say though that i don,t like the 1.7 gb my system use just to exist .... but it does not slow down performances so i never cared about

i guess i could do a little optimisation (EDIT: or don't care since my 8GB of ram arrived monday and i'll have my hand on it tomorrow)

 

Unused RAM = wasted RAM + money.

Windows 7 manages RAM very well. Let those services run!

 

Be sure to add to that; apple has developers that tweak the complete hell out of there os which is why their stuff is sold as a "platform" and not an os like windows

This is what the oem vendors are "suppose" to be doing, instead they plop it on, configure to work with their drivers and let you figure out the rest...I think people are "really" surprised when they start finding out just how configurable windows 7 is....you would think that the oem vendors would have a tech/developer staff to do the same for their own platform...the trick is finding which setting/tweaks work best for your system and which ones help windows in general to make your system "just work"...which is what I do for friends/family and a few customers....

 

I understand what he was saying, and I understand your point as well. However I don't need such services as print spooler, server, etc. I only use Windows for gaming, so I shed off unnecessary services that I don't need to optimize my "windows experience".
Considering my experience with the Lenovo install, having an optimized system has reduced boot time, and time starting applications, considerably.

 

Do you have a list of the services that you disable just for gaming? I'm thinking about doing the same thing with a dual boot with Linux.

 

Off of the top of my head...

Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Computer Browser
Print Spooler
Remote Registry (just like to check to make sure it's disabled)
Security Center
Server
Superfetch
Windows Defender
Windows Search
Windows Update (since I never got online with Windows any more).

I know there's a few more that I can't think of, but that's the jist of it. I also check the registry to see what's starting during boot, and disable anything I feel is unnecessary.

 

i have to agree that the printer service is absolutely useless i put it and 2 or 3 other services into manual start and i think it cut my boot time by 5-10 seconds

without choping my system functionality since when ever i need they will be started

 

so you use windows for gaming and you never got online with windows
hm

 

I use Windows for games, and Linux for everything else. Oh, unless you mean online games. I only play single player games.

 

BlackViper has recently reset all of his services recommendations for Win7 based on a years worth of experience and feedback in his forums.

If you are looking to run a wholly stripped down Win7 layout for gaming and are willing to give up a lot of other things, BVs 'bare-bones' setup is a good place to start.

You should also work up for yourself a 'factory reset' .reg file that sets all of the services back to, well, the install defaults. This can be very useful in case you get your machine wedged into a bad state. Quick recovery.