So, I’m here working on my Dad’s computer. He’s unhappy with a computer he bought a few months ago. He has a a Thinkpad R60. Now, I realize that IBM has a lot of proprietary features that are of some use, but I’m generally a nice and clean kind of guy with my installations. I open up the task manager and I see loads of processes and I don’t know what half of them are.
I want to reinstall windows. Now, I realize that there is no installation disk on this computer. Yes, the new Lenovos have some kind of partition with all of the installation disks on them. Now I have a few quesitons about this partition. Is there a way to somehow extract a Windows Vista installation disk and burn it? I’d prefer this without all of the IBM extras. I’d prefer to install them separately.
Basically if anyone knows how to get a clean install of vista on this machine i’d be happy to know…
Or any one willing to explain this partition would help too. I don’t know how to read it. I’ve seen it but it doesn’t seem to be visible.
Dude, you’re probably out of luck. The recovery partition most likely includes all that shovelware. The only way to get a clean install is to get DVD-based install media. Try contacting Lenovo. They may send you the disks you need. Or you can buy one at retail for lots of krone. A long shot: you may find a mom-and-pop store that will burn you an OEM install disk. Usually you have to bring the machine in so the tech can see the “Genuine Microsoft Windows” sticker on the bottom of the machine, the one with the long number. Couldn’t hurt to ask.
Or you could try to work with what you’ve got. Check out PC Decrapifier. It claims to get rid of shovelware. I just found out about it today, so I don’t have personal experience with it yet. I trust the source (Maximum PC Magazine), so I’d not worry too much about it messing things up. Then you can use these links from Extremetech magazine and MyDigitalLife to determine which services you can disable. For the Lenovo stuff, Google is your friend; if you wonder what a specific service does, Google its name. Finally, this link from Winmatrix gives you some guidance on how to optimize Vista, too.
Good luck on this endeavor. I’ve spent many days tweaking my HP laptop’s Windows XP for security. It was worth it, but, damn, Microsoft didn’t make it easy.
/rant I’ve heard that Vista’s recovery partitions are specifically made so that they can’t easily be made into DVD or CD installation media. Preventing piracy, you know. Even though you can get Vista on any street corner in Beijing for a buck. Really effective piracy prevention, Micro$oft. /end rant
I bought a couple of HP/Compaq laptops that installed from Vista partitions, One was urged to make install discs from the partitions - 2 DVDs or 12 CDs. Makes you wonder what the hell they shovelled in there.
Neither of them worked so they were swapped for Toshiba’s, that came partitioned but nothing on the second partition, Vista was installed but needed ‘waking up’ and there was a set of installation CDs with the machines too
Thanks for the info. It sounds like these were recovery media that included all the crapware upon reinstallation, not “clean” install disks that the OP wants in his quest to prevent installing the craplets onto his father’s laptop.
2 DVD’s you say? How odd. My XP-based HP laptop needed 2 DVD’s, too, and the recovery media included the shovelware.
My eldest son and son in law both bought Compaq’s, almost the same as the ones I got but a year before. Son in law reformatted his and reinstalled from the recovery discs BUT had the option of installing or rejecting all the crapware. He did a pretty bare-bones install - which you would, of course - and gained a huge leap in performance.
Make installation DVD’s or CD’s from the recovery partition. Then you always have something to reinstall. (Yes, that will include all the crapware that came on the machine.)
After re-installing with those, run PC-DeCrapifier to remove all the junk software bloating up the system. Get it as lean as you can, and also customize the desktop, software, etc. the way you like it.
Then make a complete backup copy of the whole disk. Now you have a copy you can restore that has only the clean OS, without the crapware, and setup the way you like it. If you ever have to restore again, use this instead of the bloated reinstall media you made from the recovery partition that came on your machine.