Thinkpads Forum

I have two questions.

If I reformat and reinstall XP what are the best utilities to keep? I've gathered that Access Connection, Power Manager, and the Software Updater are keepers, anything else?

Second where is the HPA located on the disk? Is it at the beginning or end?
Thanks.

ive heard taht the wireless configuration thing is pretty good (sorry dont have my thinkpad yet, wont be able to help much).

the HPA is at the end of the HD. I also have not gotten my TP so I have not had a chance to play with the apps to give my .02$.

William

I personally like the simplest CD writer "IBM Record now" or Sonic Record now. I also like Nero, but you have to buy it!

Parthiban.

Most of the installers for the bundleware apps are in C:\IBMTOOLS\apps.

Just burn them off to CD so you can install them later.

The IBM ThinkPad tools are all handy if you need them. I like their Presentation manager since I plug into projectors of all different resoltions.

The Hard drive protection system doesn't get in my way, and it seems like a good idea.

I dunno, if you're bent on nuking it all, you can't really ask other people to tell you what you should hang onto. Maybe try them all, and see which ones you use?

So far, I haven't found any reason to do a clean XP install -- everything that comes packed in uninstalls and reinstalls pretty easily. Norton AV is probably the most pernicious.

I'd burn off the whole drivers folder, then you'll have them all.

I like CDBurnerXP for burning. It is free, easy to use and works well for basic tasks like making audio and data CDs. There are a couple things it is not as good at as Nero like converting mp3s on the fly and no DVD Video if you have the burner, but it can burn an image file from DVD Shrink.

One piece of paid software I would recommend is Arconis True Image. After you finish installing XP just the way you like, you make an image of the hard drive. That way, if windows gets corrupted or you get overrun with malware, you can restore the partition like the day you made it using the restore CD. I store my image on my external hard drive which the restore CD can read from. Runs about $30-35 on eBay, $40 if you buy it from Arconis. Good Luck.

A part of the thrill for me buying a new Thinkpad is being able to personalize it and configure it in details:

Steps before formatting:

1) building a new Windows XP bootable with Nlite -> http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/nLite/1087118197/1

Nlite (freeware) slims Win XP down with a whopping 400 Mb and embed both servicepack 2 and hotfixes - better than sliced bread

2) downloading necessary drivers off the IBM thinkpad matrix -> http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... PAD-MATRIX

burning the drivers to a CD

3) unhiding the hidden IBM driver partition in bios making it possible to format the drive saving 4 Gb or more!

Clean installation:

4) booting up with the Nlite XP secure CD

5) deleting every partition and repartitioning the HD into two partitions for maintenance reasons

6) installing XP and drivers

after merely two hours of work I have a noticeable faster and more secure machine booting about one minute quicker and have saved several Gb vasted HD space

Personally I don't understand all this obsession with removing all vestiges of the installed software. True, I don't use it all, but the rest really doesn't bother me. The only people I see that need a stripped system, are those that want to post how fast their system is, and those Gamers who need every ounce of speed that they can get. I'm not out to gloat, I'm not a Gamer, so a couple of seconds here or there is not a big issue with me. But hey, it's a free world, and to each his own. As my uncle once told me - Taste is in the mouth of the beholder.

You can always use Add or Remove Programs in Windows to uninstall software you don't want. I do realize however that this app isn't perfect. Often there are pieces of the software left on the system. Also, the registry tends to grow and almost never shrink.

If you do decide to do a clean install, you can read about and download practically all the drivers and applets that come preloaded on the ThinkPad. The only applications that come to mind that this doesn't apply to are:

(1) IBM Record Now! - For recording to CD's and DVD's - I don't like it, I use Nero.
(2) IBM Drive Letter Access (DLA) - For writing to a CD or DVD like a hard disk - I don't need it.
(3) Intervideo WinDVD - For watching DVD movies on your laptop. I don't like it because it is crippled to prevent output to a TV - I use Cyberlink PowerDVD.
EDIT: (4) I missed this earlier. PC Doctor for Windows - For getting system information and diagnosing your system - Handy - The bootable CD and floppy versions (but not the Windows version) are available for download on IBM's site.

Below is the driver matix page for getting the IBM drivers and applets, with the exception of the 3 items above:

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... PAD-MATRIX

EDIT: See the (2) links on above page, under 'Download individual drivers'. There are more downloads available there.

EDIT: Sorry guys. Take my opinion and 5 bucks and you might be able to get a Cappuccino at Starbucks.

[quote="
You can always use Add or Remove Programs in Windows to uninstall software you don't want. [/quote]

Sure you can, but once you install something on your computer, and remove it, your computer is never the same ([censored] windows) who knows how many registry keys are changed and what not. There nothing like a fresh, clean, install of windows.

mgenin, except that in longhorn, vista, [censored], they are trying to not have a single huge registry, but individual registries for each folder (so hopefully after you uninstall, a program is [censored] gone).

guys how can i get/download the "pc-doctor" program that comes with the t43 from factory?

i downloaded everything i need from http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... PAD-MATRIX
for my t43 266872u, still, am i missing anything else based on what i get from factory state or R&R?

please let me know, thanks.

ps: what is the best way to find what versions of software, drivers and hardware stuff (etc) i currently have in order to check if im up to date?

I don't think you can download the Windows version of PC Doctor that comes on the factory preload. You can download a bootable CD version or a bootable floppy version for diagnosing your laptop. The CD and floppy versions are available by making the appropriate choices in the drop down boxes, starting at the following link:

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... date=false

Thanks for the replies.

I am planning on installing XP on it's own 5 or 6 gig patition and putting everything else on the rest of the drive (supposed to boot faster).

Also think I might try n-lite, looks interesting, and then go from there.

Later

motodude wrote:Thanks for the replies.

I am planning on installing XP on it's own 5 or 6 gig patition and putting everything else on the rest of the drive (supposed to boot faster).

Also think I might try n-lite, looks interesting, and then go from there.

Later

5gb for win. to speedup boot time sounds interesting... but:

what would you do when installing alot of software?
when copying or storing big files?
page file, temp stuff and hibernation space (maybe)?

would you be tranfering such stuff to the other partition(s)?

please throw me some ideas.

thanks.

ps: thanks for the link, its pretty ordered.

My Thinkpad is equipped with 2x60 Gb HD (swapping CD/DVD). First HD is partitioned into two partitions with the C partition only 3 Gb large and apprx. 55 Gb for my D partition.

C partition holds:

OS/XP-1, important apps/utilities and Office - but no changing data making it easy to keep the partition defragged.

D partition holds:

OS/XP-2, secondary applications, games, data and the swapfile + 3 generation backup of the full C drive.

the second 60 Gb disk holds:

Encrypted and confidential data + another copy of the 3 generation backup of the C drive.

This setup has saved my [censored] many times and I can restore a full and perfect working C partition in less than 7-9 minutes.

Scorpiontico wrote:
5gb for win. to speedup boot time sounds interesting... but:

what would you do when installing alot of software?
when copying or storing big files?
page file, temp stuff and hibernation space (maybe)?

would you be tranfering such stuff to the other partition(s)?

please throw me some ideas.

thanks.

ps: thanks for the link, its pretty ordered.

I did this on my desktop with no problems, basically whenever I install an app I put it on the D: drive. The only thing on C: is the os and Microsofts' updates.

The thinking on this is that all of the OS is guaranteed to be on the fastest part of the disk, ie the outer most sectors on the platters.

Happy wrote: the second 60 Gb disk holds:

Encrypted and confidential data + another copy of the 3 generation backup of the C drive.

- - - - - -
==>How do you backup your encrypted/confidential data? Onto another portable external USB hard drive?

I don't see you backing this info up from your above posting... just out of curiosity...

I just had a bad experience with my 6 mth old Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 die (hardware failure).

I recovered 99% of my data because it was unencrypted--but none of my data would have been recovered if it was encrypted...

what software are you using to encrypt data? I know IBM has some tools as part of the client security software but do they provide an independent app that just handles encryption or are you using a 3rd party app?

-kaplanfx

I certainly do backup my confidential data as well I bought a 250 Gb Maxtor external HD and do use TrueCrypt 3.1 (open source) as the encryption tool -> http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Tr ... 02840595/1

I do lots of beta testing my desktop machine, the one thing that's mandatory for me to have on any system now is Your Uninstaller 2004. It's not a free program but it works really well. When you use it to uninstall software, it first uninstalls using the default uninstaller utility the program came with, then afterwords it checks the registry, the original folder location, and a few other places and makes sure everything got removed. If there are any traces left (most of the time there are), it deletes them.

I keep this program along with O&O defrag on my thumbdrive. I use them a lot of my friends' and family's computers. It works really well at getting ride of all the crapware pre-loaded on those HP and Dells.

Vindicated wrote:I do lots of beta testing my desktop machine, the one thing that's mandatory for me to have on any system now is Your Uninstaller 2004. It's not a free program but it works really well. When you use it to uninstall software, it first uninstalls using the default uninstaller utility the program came with, then afterwords it checks the registry, the original folder location, and a few other places and makes sure everything got removed. If there are any traces left (most of the time there are), it deletes them.

I keep this program along with O&O defrag on my thumbdrive. I use them a lot of my friends' and family's computers. It works really well at getting ride of all the crapware pre-loaded on those HP and Dells.

whats O&O defrag?...assuming you have alot of experience do you make hard drive images? just after a OS fresh install and maybe drivers too? what software would you recommend?

thanks alot.

ps:what is that uninstaller program called again (i mean full name).

I know something like N-lite which makes XP CD with SP2 together.

AUTOSTREAMER

Google it for more details.

Parthiban-