New to Lenovo products

[ls]

Hello,

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I've just ordered a Lenovo Thinkpad R61 8934 with Windows XP Pro. I'll be receiving it in 3 days. I've been reading the specs and wondering what to expect here. I am presently using an HP Media Center Edition desktop and I know nothing about Lenovo products, but I thought they seemed to be of good quality.

I am wondering about the "thinkvantage" software that comes installed on these units. For example, the "access connections". I found this forum while searching to find out what "access connections" is or does, and the post I found here looked very complicated. You know, I just want to get my notebook home and configure it so that it accesses the internet by a wireless connection to my Linksys WRT54G router. The PC is connected via hardwire to the router and it's going to stay that way. I have an Xbox 360 which connects wirelessly to the router, and the intention is to connect the Thinkpad wirelessly as well. I don't want this to be complicated, but of course I want it to be secure. We live in a rural area and not near anyone or even any roads, so it's not likely someone is going to be able to hack into my wireless connection from the woods. So far I don't plan to travel with the Thinkpad, but that could change, I suppose.

So if I choose NOT to use the "thinkvantage access connections", will it just sit quietly and not bother anything or is it going to interfere with other stuff? What would be the best way for me to connect to the internet?

And what are "thinkpad utilities"?

I think the "system migration assistant" is probably self explanatory (I won't be needing that).

What does the "Thinkvantage Client Security" do?

Does the ThinkVantage System Update come activated by default? (I don't want anything phoning anyone from my system unless I specifically tell it to do so.) Can it be shut off? Is that just Lenovo hardware driver updates?

Is there a web page that explains all this stuff?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

[Marin85]

Welcome to the forum! Now to your questions:

1. Thinkvantage access connections (AC) is a connection profile manager, i.e. it stores and manages connections profiles. It´s pretty useful for people who have to connect to multiple networks (wireless or wired) e.g. at home, in the company where they work, in hotels etc., so AC stores the different profiles for them and makes it easy to switch from one profile to another. Recently AC has even a built-in feature for troubleshooting connection issues. It´s really a matter of personal preferences if one wants to keep it or to get rid of it. There are forum members having reported issues with AC under given circumstances but there are also forum members that are pretty happy with AC. There is actually no consensus on that point. Either way you should be able to connect to the web without any problems. If you intend to install SP3, I would suggest you to take a short look in the windows section as there seem to be some issues with AC and SP3 recently.

2. ThinkPad utilities is actually that bunch of applications like AC, System Migration, System Update, Productivity Center, Client Security, Rescue and Recovery and some more that are about to come preinstalled on your ThinkPad.

3. Thinkvantage Client Security Solution (CSS) is an application that takes care of different security features of your ThinkPad like encryption, windows login, fingerprint reader (if you have one), passwords (windows and internet). It also manages different levels of security on your ThinkPad. It has a close relationship to Rescue and Recovery (R&R).

4. System Update (SU) is a separate application that supposedly makes the update process for your ThinkPad easy. It would update drivers and Thinkvantage utilities when applicable. Since Lenovo has specific drivers for many components of your ThinkPad (like wireless, modem, audio, onscreen, grafix etc), SU is supposed to spare you from the hassle to manually go through Lenovo´s site checking for newly released updates. However, there are many forum members reporting some issues with SU under given circumstances, but there are also many users who SU works just fine for. Again it´s up to personal preferences and some experience with the application. If it works for you, it´s ok. If it doesn´t, then you don´t need it. SU comes preconfigured to run on scheduled times, but one can always change that schedule or you can set it to manual updating. On the first run you will be prompted to provide you OS and systembord details to Lenovo servers so that you can then obtain only those updates that are applicable for your system. There are no personal data transmitted as far as I know.

I hope this helps

Cheers

Marin

[ls]

Thanks so much for your reply. That was very helpful.

I'm sticking with SP2, I've been hearing things about SP3 that aren't so great. SP2 is performing wonderfully on my desktop...sometimes it's just best to not "fix" it if it ain't broke.

(Unless, of course, my Thinkpad comes with SP3, but hopefully it doesn't.)