[nickgall]

Hi,

This website was a great help to me when I my old PC had suffered from malware problems. I thought the people here would be able to help me ensure that I start off on the right track with my new PC.

I have a DELL E520 that has arrived with Windows Vista and numerous other pre-installed programs including a trial version of McAfee. I'd like to start from scratch without all the rubbish DELL that have included but I have no experience doing this. Rather than come crying for help after I've destroyed my PC I was hoping I could get some advice before I even plug it in.

The PC has come with "Reinstallation DVD Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT" and "Drivers and Utilities". Please could I have some advice or a step-by-step on how to get this PC cleaned up or how to reinstall Vista, remove all the pre-installed software, and deal with the DELL partitions. I've searched the forums but there doesn't seem to be any similar requests and I am worried that I could cause myself more problems if I get the process wrong. After that I am planning to install all the free software recommended by GeekstoGo to prevent any infections and then I'll hook it up to the internet.

Edited by nickgall, 21 May 2007 - 07:44 AM.

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I'm sorry to say this but the only way to do this is to buy a new DVD from microsoft or else unistall it all manually. All that CD will do is bring the machine back to the original form that it was given to you from the manufacture.
James

[james_8970]

I'm sorry to say this but the only way to do this is to buy a new DVD from microsoft or else unistall it all manually. All that CD will do is bring the machine back to the original form that it was given to you from the manufacture.
James

[nickgall]

I've seen some posts in other forums that say the Reinstallation DVDs can be used to do a clean install...are these people mistaken?

Edited by nickgall, 21 May 2007 - 10:39 AM.

[james_8970]

Dell won't help you in this regard, people give them loads of money just so that they put trail version on all the computers. They want it on there, they want you to then buy it because companies will continue to advertise through dell.
James

[**Brian**]

James:

Please correct m if I'm wrong, but - Isn't it possible to just go to the Add/Remove Programs area, and just uninstall all the stuff Dell puts in? I am not sure if Vista has that exact option, but you could try a manual uninstall of the items - similar to an XP pogram removal

My .02

Brian

[james_8970]

By manual I meant Add/remove. Technically a manual removal would mean deleting it older by folder.
Should have clarified there.
James

Edited by james_8970, 21 May 2007 - 10:49 AM.

[nickgall]

I managed to get some assistance from another forum.

You were wrong about not being able to do a clean reinstall with the DELL "Reinstallation DVD". It has removed all the crapware and partitions from the system. Managed to get a clean PC and reload the drivers inside of 45 minutes. Thanks for your input but I thought I'd post an update so that any others with similar questions could find an answer.

These are the steps I followed to do a clean reinstall of Vista:

1. Insert the "Reinstallation DVD" and restart the PC

2. Press 12 and select "boot from CDROM"

3. When you get to the partition option you can choose to delete every partition displayed (use to partition keys). You will end up with just one entry saying "unpartitioned space".

4. Windows files will now be copied and Windows is reloaded.

5. That's pretty much it. Now just reinstall the drivers and utilities in this order using the other DVD that comes with the PC. Steps 1-5 are the most important.

6. Go to Windows Update, install anti-virus, etc.

That's it.

[anzenketh]

No those people are not mistaken the Operating system disk is a clean install.

However be advised that you will also loose all of your other programs. That you necessary do not want to loose. In addition to that you will loose the restore partition then you will always have to reinstall the old fashioned way which will take anywhere from 30 minutes to a hour to complete the reinstall.

[Jacee]

I've seen PC Decrapifier mentioned many times... for getting rid of the 'extra' junk programs:
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home