Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

A few days ago, I updated my Power Manager on my T60p to the latest System Update was offering: Version 5.20. I don't know which version I was using before, but it was a lot better looking and faster. When I hover over the taskbar gauge, it now has a grey ring around it and says "Lenovo Battery", which is unacceptable, since I have worked hard to remove any trace of Lenovo branding from my great IBM ThinkPad!

Fortunately, my system made an automatic System Restore point, but unfortunately it won't allow me to restore back to that point, or any other point saved! The first time I tried it, it booted to my desktop background and nothing else — I couldn't even bring up Windows Security or Task Manager with Control-Alt-Delete! I also configured my Client Security Software somewhere in between, so as I thought that might cause a hang-up somehow, so I removed my passwords, but it didn't change anything.
So I don't understand why this is, but System Restore has just refused to work before on other computers of mine as well. Does anyone have experience with this?

With no way to restore my system to a nice-looking, non-bloated, non-oversimplified version of power manager that forces ClearType, I wondered if I could find a previous version on the Web, but to no avail. I didn't realize these old versions were so hard to find or I wouldn't have taken the chance in the first place with a newer version!

Does anyone happen to have installers for old versions of ThinkVantage software lying around, especially this one? (And Access Connections too, while I'm asking!)

Thanks,
Thomas

thomase13 wrote:A few days ago, I updated my Power Manager on my T60p to the latest System Update was offering: Version 5.20. I don't know which version I was using before, but it was a lot better looking and faster. When I hover over the taskbar gauge, it now has a grey ring around it and says "Lenovo Battery", which is unacceptable, since I have worked hard to remove any trace of Lenovo branding from my great IBM ThinkPad!

The obsession with branding is just silly. Your Thinkpad is a Lenovo Thinkpad, it was manufactured 100% by Lenovo, whether you have the logo anywhere on it or not.

But I think I can help you.

You haven't mentioned operating system; I will assume XP, and then you should have Power Manager 1.48.

Get it from the link here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=73894

dr_st wrote: The obsession with branding is just silly. Your Thinkpad is a Lenovo Thinkpad, it was manufactured 100% by Lenovo, whether you have the logo anywhere on it or not.

I just do not want anything to do with Lenovo. I don't even like writing the name, seeing it, and especially their ugly logo, especially when compared to a graphic design masterpiece like IBM's!
Also, it's not just the branding, but the interface is slower and completely ignores my system display settings — I have font smoothing turned off for a reason and I expect my preferences to be respected, thank you very much Lenovo!

dr_st wrote: But I think I can help you.

You haven't mentioned operating system; I will assume XP, and then you should have Power Manager 1.48.

Get it from the link here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=73894

You are right to assume XP, but I have updated my signature to clarify.
1.48 sounds reasonable (is there some reason that lenovo skipped to version 5?!?), but the link is broken! D:

Do you know anywhere else that might have an old version, or why System Restore just decides to not work when I need it most? Those restore points cumulatively take up a lot of disk space!

Thanks!

thomase13 wrote:I just do not want anything to do with Lenovo. I don't even like writing the name, seeing it, and especially their ugly logo, especially when compared to a graphic design masterpiece like IBM's!

Well, like I said, it's just silly. Your most excellent T60 (I love this model myself) is a Lenovo Thinkpad after all. I don't like the things Lenovo puts out these days, but I can't deny that they had some good ones in the past. To be honest, some of their modern things are also quite good, just not to my taste.

But I digress. Anyways, I completely agree with you on this:

thomase13 wrote:Also, it's not just the branding, but the interface is slower and completely ignores my system display settings — I have font smoothing turned off for a reason and I expect my preferences to be respected, thank you very much Lenovo!

That's why I've been using 1.48 myself on my T60.

Here's a link that works:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... u725ww.exe

As for System Restore - just turn it off, erase all the restore points, and forget it's even an option. I seriously don't know of a single person who it actually helped, ever.

If you want to make regular backups to your system, use a dedicated backup tool. I highly recommend Acronis True Image.

dr_st wrote:

thomase13 wrote:I just do not want anything to do with Lenovo. I don't even like writing the name, seeing it, and especially their ugly logo, especially when compared to a graphic design masterpiece like IBM's!

Well, like I said, it's just silly. Your most excellent T60 (I love this model myself) is a Lenovo Thinkpad after all. I don't like the things Lenovo puts out these days, but I can't deny that they had some good ones in the past. To be honest, some of their modern things are also quite good, just not to my taste.

I think it's maybe a little silly, but not that silly.
I use IBM ThinkPads because of their design excellence.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to use the term "design sanity", but they certainly seem excellent compared to every other computer on the market. The only manufacturer in the same league IMHO is Apple, although their designs are minimalist to the point of removing useful features for the sake of "cleanness", and proprietary to the point that Apple has more control than the user!
Dell has a few pretty attractive designs from time to time, but never as good as IBM's (IMHO).

Everything about the ThinkPad is beautiful to look at, including the logos (stickers, oemlogo.bmp, etc.) I don't want any unnecessary blemishes on my lovely laptop!

Lenovo is not the worst; for example their "ThinkPad" Edge, which I gave a very patient try was much better built and designed than most laptops on the market, and of course it had a TrackPoint. But it still didn't qualify as a proper ThinkPad by my standards.

This is an interesting reference on ThinkPad design values: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/690 ... 9081166/18
I quote: "ThinkPad is the enemy of trendiness, design clichés, fleeting fashion, or competitive emulation. Instead, it is the embodiment of an original and authentic idea."

This is what is unique about ThinkPads, and I don't think Lenovo has really upheld these values.
On ThinkPad redesign research: "Just north of 100 people were intimately involved in refashioning the ThinkPad line for the modern era, with varying research studies taking place in the United States, China, Germany, France, India, Mexico, Russia, Brazil and Japan. Only a small segment of each group were genuine ThinkPad loyalists — the rest were early adopters of consumer technology, as well as those ardently opposed to selecting a ThinkPad as their primary machine. After all, one's biggest opponent often provides the most truthful revelations."

What?!?
I can understand seeking various points of view for input, but I don't think Lenovo understands how special and invaluable their ThinkPad aquisition is.
You have a very dedicated group of customers, who know what they want, who are generally willing to pay more than average for a better-than-average product, and from what it sounds like, they are seeking the opinion of the average person, as well as those with no interest in ThinkPads in order to redesign!
If you ask average people what they want, and then follow industry trends regardless, you will get an average product.
So maddening.

I am not such a purist as to be against things like the Edge series. I understand there might be people who kind of like the ThinkPad, but don't care about having sensible aspect ratio, standard keyboard, or matte finish and would like a jazzed-up (more consumery) design.
I actually think the Edge is relatively nice-looking and well-designed; even the chicklet keyboard was pretty good (for a chicklet keyboard).
But for crying out loud, leave the T-Series alone!!!

Now I digress.

But while you're right that the T60[p] was manufactured by Lenovo, but being a transitionary product, it was the last ThinkPad designed, at least in part by IBM, and it shows. Even the T61 has ludicrous design decisions like audio ports in the front of the computer! You don't do that. I know some have had CD drives opening out the front, but only in the earlier, less refined designs. Ports are even worse. Absolutely a dealbreaker for me.
Being Lenovo manufactured, my T60p is noticeably less solid than my T42 and i1450, and they removed the color from the UltraNav buttons for some reason! I still love it anyway though!
Interestingly, only one of my ThinkPads (the T42) is actually manufactured by IBM — even my i Series 1450 is made by Acer!

dr_st wrote: I completely agree with you on this:

thomase13 wrote:... I expect my preferences to be respected, thank you very much Lenovo!

That's why I've been using 1.48 myself on my T60.

Here's a link that works:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... u725ww.exe

Thank you!
Yes, the whole "We know better than the user" attitude is very Apple and very anti-IBM and and anti-ThinkPad. This is my biggest problem. They almost say it outright: "Sometimes, there's a conflict between what someone reports they need and what they require."
Wow.

dr_st wrote: As for System Restore - just turn it off, erase all the restore points, and forget it's even an option. I seriously don't know of a single person who it actually helped, ever.

LOL
System Restore has actually saved my bacon (or at least made things easier) a few times in the past, but it generally seems to fail more often than it works, especially if the Windows installation isn't fresh!

dr_st wrote: If you want to make regular backups to your system, use a dedicated backup tool. I highly recommend Acronis True Image.

Yup, probably wise to depend on a slightly more reliable back-up tool.

I was looking into disk imaging software, but then I finally looked at ThinkVantage System Restore! It looks like it does full disk images, even though it doesn't exactly say it outright. It looks pretty appealing since it's so system integrated, and has the simple restore option on startup by pressing the magic blue button. I know Acronis is quite popular, but is it much more reliable or something? Have you used System Restore?

I haven't used the Thinkvantage tool, so I cannot say whether Acronis is more reliable than that or not.

I have found Acronis, though, tremendously reliable, easy to use and packed with useful features. In the past I compared it to Norton Ghost, and found it much better. Though Ghost may have also improved by now.

There are plenty of imaging/cloning/backup&restore tools out there. I don't know if Acronis is really the best. All I know is that it never failed me.

I certainly appreciate the advice!
I looked into the System Restore thing a bit more... apparently anti-virus programs can interfere, but I turned mine off, and the same results.
So thanks again for the link — it seems just the same as the version I had before!
I'll have to try your trick of replacing the domain with "download.lenovo.com" — good one!

Cheers!