Thinkvantage? Do I need it?

[robertmartin]

Hello,
I am brand new here and I have this question. Do I need any of the Thinkvantage programs? I have recently aquired a ThinkPad T60 and would like to free up as much space on my hardrive as possible. Anything that I should not remove that may hurt my system? Thanks so much ahead of time for any help you guys might offer.

Robert

[Dead1nside]

To my knowledge, you can remove all of it, although it is quite deep rooted in areas. Thinkvantage tools tend to spawn a lot of processes rather than use up memory, but I find quite a lot of them handy. In theory you should be able to remove it all.

[Superego]

I would suggest you give the Thinkvantage tools a little time and then see what you're not using. As Dead1nside said, some can be deep rooted and so removing them may be more tricky then others. Some of the tools I use frequently: Access Connections, Power Manager (I would say keep this one above all), System Update, Active Protection System and Fingerprint software. I took off Access Help, Productivity Center, Presentation Director and System Migration (don't have need for these but they could be of use to others), Keyboard customizer, Help Center, and some others. Try Rescue and Recovery and then if you decide to get rid of it, do your research before taking it off (common sense, it could have more of an impact on your data than, say, Help Center).

[robegusn]

I would make sure that you leave the Power Manager and the Active Protection.

I removed Picassa, Google Search, Norton, Security Client and Finger Print.

I kept the two items listed above and the Touch Pad software. The other software items are still installed but I disabled them from "auto starting".

After a defrag and running Bootvis a couple of times it takes about 30 seconds to boot to the login screen and about another 30-40 seconds before everything is settled. The Desktop is appears right away after login, but Windows is still churning in the background starting things.

I use eScan for anti-virus and the last "free" version of Sygate Personal Firewall.

[robertmartin]

Hey Guys!
Thanks for all the help so far! Sounds like a lot of really good advice. Glad I found this group, looks like I'll have plenty of good help to look forward to.

Robert