Maximum PC

I just purchased a new laptop and I am hearing that it comes with a lot of bloatware (no surprise). I want to reformat the HDD and do a dual boot, but like most laptops now they come with system recovery partitions instead of a DVD. Can I use the windows 7 image backup to save all the partitions on the HDD, including the OS, in case something goes wrong? Or can I just format the OS partition, then create new partitions and still use the system recovery partition to restore everything back to stock? I don't get to buy new hardware very often, so I don't want to break it on day 1. Thanks

You are right about all the unnecessary crap being installed! My laptop had all kind of junk installed on it. Unfortunately, your recovery partition also reinstalls all of that junk you do not want. You should make a set of recovery disks before formating your drive. Follow the instructions on your pc to make these disks before doing anything to it. This way if anything goes wrong you can use those disks to recover your pc. Yes, you'll also be reinstalling all of that junk you do not want, but that's the way it is.

Once you have these recovery disks created and you know that they will work, you may format the entire drive including that recovery partition to gain some space. Be sure those recovery disks work before the recovery partition is formated!

If you have a bought copy of Windows 7 or can borrow a copy from someone, use it to reinstall windows 7 on your laptop. When it asks for the product key, use the one for your laptop. DO NOT USE THE KEY ON THE DISK YOU BORROWED! THAT'S PIRACY! Use your Windows 7 key found on the laptop. If you do not know what your key is, use this program to find it. http://www.magicaljellybean.com/softwar ... fice-2010/

Hopefully others will offer help, too. Good luck to you! I know exactly how you feel.

Another thing you want to be aware of are drivers (i.e. sound, video etc.)

I redid a laptop once to get rid of the bloatware and I hadn't researched the driver situation.
I had a heck of a time getting the drivers to take.

Now mind you I was installing XP from Vista so maybe Windows 7 has a better driver program.
Let us know how it turns out.

Yes, bullnettle59 is right. Check with your laptop's manufacturer and download the latest drivers available for your model and operating system (32-bit or 64-bit) and burn them to a DVD also, or put them on a USB device to install from when needed. Your laptop may also (mine did) have a set-up folder somewhere on it containing all of it's drivers. If you can find it, burn it to a DVD or copy it to a USB device just to be safe.

Again, good luck!

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm my laptop is currently "Out for Delivery" so I can't wait to start playing with it!