Uninstalling useless internet programs off a desktop/laptop

ek · Post by ek » Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:40 pm

Quick question. Today my new laptop has arrived, HP DV9000 series, 2.0ghz core 2 duo, etc. etc.

Well this is going to be my musical performance workhorse for live sets as well as one of the main composition pieces in my studio. This also means I will not be using this for the internet, ever. So with that in mind, how would you go about deleting all the 30 day free internet trials and email programs and all the 100s of pre-installed internet-related programs that i will never touch or use.

I was talking to a HP rep and he said it was as simple as just draggin them to the recycling bin but I would have to use "add/remove" programs for Norton anti-virus uninstallation.

My main concern is I want 100% of my new, expensive computer to be focused on music applications. Last thing I need is 10 small programs running in the background, hogging my CPU space & these programs all being internet-related.

Anyone have any advice or similar experience? Anything you can offer will be of immense help.

Thanks,
ek.

slatepipe · Post by **slatepipe** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:21 pm

hi mister

i use my laptop only for ableton and one or 2 other music apps. i went into the control panel and uninstalled everything i didnt need. then i went here :

http://www.musicxp.net/index.php

and did loads of other little tweaks and things. i got a button on the top of my keyboard which is normally for internet explorer but i changed that in the settings to start ableton when i press it, which is handy.

i think some people here can get their computers to boot straight into ableton without windows first but thats a bit scary for me.

my pc works nice though, no crap on it or anything (apart from my tunes!)

fdmusic · Post by **fdmusic** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:36 pm

http://www.merijn.org/programs.php#hijackthis

Run HijackThis! and you will see everything that is starting up with your system. Somethings are self explanatory - other items can be figured out with a quick search on google... Or post the results here, and I'll help you... Obviously you don't want to delete the wrong stuff, and there is some stuff listed in hijackthis that could make Windows not boot. This will also show all services that are starting/running.

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:04 pm

Personally I would reformat it with a vanilla XP install. THere is a great site for tuning your xp system for music. Check it out.

http://www.musicxp.net/

frisbeedisk · Post by **frisbeedisk** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:18 pm

reinstall with tiny xp,removes all the uneeded gumf that you dont need...160mb of os on your hardrive, takes six mins to install..

Phelios · Post by **Phelios** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:04 am

I have the same notebook and haven´t reinstalled windows because I am afraid of missing drivers which I will after the install... There is no driver CD included with this notebook, only a recovery cd which sets the whole system back to the initial state.

Phelios · Post by **Phelios** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:11 am

frisbeedisk wrote:reinstall with tiny xp,removes all the uneeded gumf that you dont need...160mb of os on your hardrive, takes six mins to install..

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: Can I install TinyXP on a laptop?

A: No, hardware support has been removed for any battery powered PC

glu · Post by **glu** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:12 am

Phelios wrote:I have the same notebook and haven´t reinstalled windows because I am afraid of missing drivers which I will after the install... There is no driver CD included with this notebook, only a recovery cd which sets the whole system back to the initial state.

Can't you just pop in the recovery cd after the machine is nuked and running the clean OS, and manually install the drivers from windows explorer? Why wouldn't that work?

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:20 am

Phelios wrote:I have the same notebook and haven´t reinstalled windows because I am afraid of missing drivers which I will after the install... There is no driver CD included with this notebook, only a recovery cd which sets the whole system back to the initial state.

XP has a really good driver database so it shouldn't be a problem to at least get to the point where you can get online and get any more specific drivers. I always like to have a machine online nearby so I can get any drivers that it doesn't find.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:24 am

go to start then click run

then type: msconfig, then in the startup tab i generally turn everything off.

tribewalker · Post by **tribewalker** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:26 am

I would suggest, as well, and something i ALWAYS recommend, a fresh reload of windows, thanks to the OBE ( Out of Box Experience ) there can be a TON of garbage on these preloaded systems, especially when it comes to those hidden system partitions that hold all the "drviers" and other junk.

Usually, if you dont get any drivers or system discs with the system, the OS will nag you to create back up or recovery discs of that hidden partition in case you do need to do a complete format and reload. Also, alot of companys, I know GATEWAY for sure has this, allows you to download the drivers for your system directly from their website.

I would suggest though, even though you are not connected up to the internet, some kind of light antivirus program like avgfree, from www.grisoft.com or even nod32 which is super light on resources, granted you dont ALWAYS need to keep these running in the background, but having them, and maybe scanning once a week or something ( especially if you end up transferring files back and forth to a connected machine ) is a good idea.

the whole drag/drop into recycle bin and add/remove programs is a totally horrible way to do things if you want a lean and mean system.

my .02.

ek · Post by ek » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:48 am

tribewalker wrote:I would suggest, as well, and something i ALWAYS recommend, a fresh reload of windows, thanks to the OBE ( Out of Box Experience ) there can be a TON of garbage on these preloaded systems, especially when it comes to those hidden system partitions that hold all the "drviers" and other junk.

Usually, if you dont get any drivers or system discs with the system, the OS will nag you to create back up or recovery discs of that hidden partition in case you do need to do a complete format and reload. Also, alot of companys, I know GATEWAY for sure has this, allows you to download the drivers for your system directly from their website.

I would suggest though, even though you are not connected up to the internet, some kind of light antivirus program like avgfree, from www.grisoft.com or even nod32 which is super light on resources, granted you dont ALWAYS need to keep these running in the background, but having them, and maybe scanning once a week or something ( especially if you end up transferring files back and forth to a connected machine ) is a good idea.

the whole drag/drop into recycle bin and add/remove programs is a totally horrible way to do things if you want a lean and mean system.

my .02.

Just reformat it? Hmm, the only issue i have is the drivers thing.

tribewalker · Post by **tribewalker** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:03 pm

you may have to backup the restore partition to get the drivers reloaded, or perhaps you will get a system utility disc with the drivers.

Gateway usually ships approx 3 discs, one is the OS, one is the Drivers, and one is the OBE / OEM applications.

not really trying to pitch gateway, but im giving you an example....

also, if you go to www.gateway.com and do a search for GWscan, you can get that and burn it as a bootable disk, what GWscan does, is it actually allows you to write zeros to a drive you are formatting, this way it will make sure ALL files are gone.

anyways, goodluck.....

p.s. doesnt the windows update look for drivers and such? oh and speaking of windows updates, DO NOT, let me repeat DO NOT load up IE 7. I have ran into so many bugs and issues with it.

tokyojoe · Post by **tokyojoe** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:09 pm

I use an app called Autoruns that shows all the different little apps and services that boot up. You can uncheck the ones you don`t need....or uninstall as you like.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysint ... oruns.mspx

For other apps that I use occasionally but turn off when I want to do music I use KillProcess:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/299438