It's one thing to pack my laptop with bloatware...

But it's another for most of bloat apps to have improper installations so that I can't uninstall them from the control panel.

I was hoping to do a clean Vista install, but that didn't work out. The help files on the recovery discs from Toshiba made it sound like I would have a choice of what to reinstall, but they lied! It just does a complete system restore.

All that said, I'm still glad to have a laptop that will be usable in the near future.

 

u could try ccleaner

 

Would I delete files manually and then use CCleaner to clear up the registry?

 

What bloat apps are you referring to that you can't uninstall from the Control Panel or don't have their own uninstall routines? Deleting files manually is dangerous and a last resort.

 

I've never seen software, bloated or not, that I couldn't remove. 98%+ can be removed via the standard Windows Add/Remove Programs. The final 2% requires a bit more finesse.

 

Oops... In my effort to not run these applications, I didn't see that they aren't actually installed. Most of the items on my desktop are shortcuts to installation files.

I was confused because some of these items already had a bunch of registry entries.

I already took care of garbage that actually was installed such as Google Desktop Picasa.

Sorry about that!

 

Don't forget that some programs give you a hard time when trying to uninstall and some just can't be COMPLETELY uninstalled. Roxio cough cough. Nero cough cough.

 

Have you ever tried to remove Norton?

@Cerdic:
Take a look at my clean install guide (see my sig), that might help you out.

 

How did I forget about Norton!!!!

 

Norton is a bit of a PITA, but not overly difficult to remove.

 

Dosen't Norton have a special or a complete un-installer at their site to get rid of themselves! I may have to go through the bloatware cleaning this weekend. So you guys run the windows add/remove programs then run ccleaner and call it good? So how will this compare to the semi-clean install by ninjanoodles?

 

Don't talk about the same topic in 10 different threads. I noticed you asking about the semi-clean install in various threads.

 

Listen coolguy I appreciate the help with my issue that I won't mention in this unrelated thread but lighten up abit. I Mentioned it in the most crazy of places the semi-clean install thread and my thread and I guess other than this current mention you speak of can't recall any others. IMO clarifying the method they are talking about in this thread and asking to compare it to an alternate method (which happens to be semi-clean btw) and asking for imput seems related and justified to me. This is not the same semi-clean question asked by me at the other threads. So I would find your "same topic in 10 different threads" way off base.

 

theres also an app from norton's website that removes it.
IMO it works good.