What is and isn't necessary in the "Software Installer&

[Hokiedad]

Hi, I'm in the middle of reinstalling Windows on my 2007-C5U T60, and I'm ready to install the drivers, but I don't know what to install and what not to install. I want the good features that came with my T60 like the power management with the battery indicator, and the hard drive and other protection features, but obviously at the same time I don't want the same load of crap that originally came with my T60 (78 running processes, I might add, now there are 18).

Here's a list of what isn't "Mandatory" or "Required":

Access Help
Atmel TPM Driver
Away Manager
Help Center
HydraVision
InterVideo WinDVD
Message Center
On Screen Display
Productivity Center Supplement for Thinkpad
Thinkpad Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate Software
Thinkpad Configuration
Thinkpad EasyEject Utility
Thinkpad FullScreen Magnifier
Thinkpad Keyboard Customizer Utility
Thinkpad Power Management Driver
Thinkpad Power Manager
Thinkpad Presentation Director
Thinkpad UltraNav Wizard
Thinkvantage access connections
Thinkpad Active Protection System
Thinkpad Productivity center
ThinkVantage Technology - System Migration Assistant
Trackpoint Accessibility Features
Windows XP Update Module Q896613
(And the Chipset driver is unchecked because I installed it first)

So, what do I need, what do you recommend keeping, etc?

Also, let me make a few suggestions as my personal experience resulted in hours of extra time simply because my computer was inconsistent with the guide.

1) For deleting the Thinkpad partition, one cannot use either the Acronis Disk Director Suite or PartitionMagic, because PartitionMagic isn't free, and Acronis will no longer synchronize with the server, so you can't register, and you can't use it. Instead, after some searching, I ended up using "Partition Logic", which got the job done.

2) If you run the utility to create the CD using "bcd", the executable utility will not burn the CD for you. I don't know why, I even made sure the Nero utility was placed right. At any rate, when I tried time and again to get the system to boot to my Windows CD, I found out that it was still a blank CD.

3) You CANNOT run either Partition Logic or the Windows XP setup when booting from either CD without switching the SATA drive to "compatibility" mode. Both will insist that a hard drive is not properly installed, or doesn't exist. Right now my hard drive is still in compatibilty mode and I'm unable to switch it back to AHCI right now because the computer was installed in compatibilty mode. Whether this will be possible after installing the drivers, I don't know, but I'm assuming there's some kind of benefit to running the drive in AHCI mode.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[hcalsos]

3) You CANNOT run either Partition Logic or the Windows XP setup when booting from either CD without switching the SATA drive to "compatibility" mode. Both will insist that a hard drive is not properly installed, or doesn't exist. Right now my hard drive is still in compatibilty mode and I'm unable to switch it back to AHCI right now because the computer was installed in compatibilty mode. Whether this will be possible after installing the drivers, I don't know, but I'm assuming there's some kind of benefit to running the drive in AHCI mode.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

The reason for this is that Windows XP doesnt support SATA, but after installing using compatability mode, you should be able to enable SATA in bios. The machine should then recognize the new hardware, and all you have to do is install the correct drivers.

[Hokiedad]

Already ahead of you. I found the article on Lenovo's site explaining how to fix it and now my SATA drives are SATA once again.

[jdhurst]

Hi, I'm in the middle of reinstalling Windows on my 2007-C5U T60, and I'm ready to install the drivers, but I don't know what to install and what not to install. I want the good features that came with my T60 like the power management with the battery indicator, and the hard drive and other protection features, but obviously at the same time I don't want the same load of crap that originally came with my T60 (78 running processes, I might add, now there are 18).
<snip>

The number of processes have nothing to do with anything much. Install what you wish and enjoy. I have nearly 80 processes running thing I *want* running. CPU is at (or very near) 0 and temperature is a tiny shade over body temperature. Nothing to worry about. BTW, What IBM supplies is hardly a load of crap. You should have purchased from a different vendor. ... JD Hurst

[MD1032]

Actually, I had a friend bring over his Vaio in stock form and he had 53 running processes and a heck of a lot less stuff than I did when I got my thinkpad, in fact, his computer didn't require a reinstallation at all, just some tweaking.

So I did go through the installation and installed everything and a few hours later, my computer is good to go! The computer starts very fast now compared to how long it took before and the actual number of tray icons is easily halved. Before, there was all of this crap that loaded at the start, even ones other than the google junk, that were unneccessary. This reinstallation was totally worth the effort as the computer simply runs faster/better now. Only two things left are the audio driver, which isn't listed on lenovo's website, and the modem driver, which I don't care about or need.

edit: btw, this is my actual self, I was just posting in my dad's account, hokiedad, temporarily.

[bill bolton]

Before, there was all of this crap that loaded at the start, even ones other than the google junk, that were unneccessary.

I hope you are prepared to have this statement come back and haunt you when you find some Thinkpad features are not working.

Cheers,

Bill

[MD1032]

Before, there was all of this crap that loaded at the start, even ones other than the google junk, that were unneccessary.

I hope you are prepared to have this statement come back and haunt you when you find some Thinkpad features are not working.

Cheers,

Bill

Why wouldn't they work? I used Lenovo's own software installer using their instructions for reinstalling windows (except for making the actual disc, which is what the guide was for). What, because programs like "Google Earth", "Picasa", Norton, and a bunch of other unneccessary crap is gone is going to automatically make my Lenovo software not work? Right now the wireless programs work and the fingerprint reader works, and guess what? That's all I basically need. The Productivity Center and the Hard Drive security features are working, too, in case I ever need them. In fact, I'm going through all of a ThinkVantage programs right now and they all work, even though I'll probably never use them. What do I have to worry about?

[adrianlondon]

because programs like "Google Earth", "Picasa", Norton, and a bunch of other unneccessary crap is gone is going to automatically make my Lenovo software not work?

Why not just uninstall those programs?

I have an X41. I've had it around a year and it's fantastic. It boots slowly due to the slow HD (takes around 2 to 3 minutes for complete boot and settle-down), but I use the hibernate/restore feature most of the time.

I have around 45 processes running. I agree there's loads of rubbish that can be uninstalled and the general start-up places (registry mainly) need to be watched, but other than that, a reinstall won't really achieve much.

Swings and roundabouts, but personally I think it's much quicker to take a standard IBM install and remove what you don't want than reinstall a minimalist O/S and then install what you do need.

[Kyocera]

but personally I think it's much quicker to take a standard IBM install and remove what you don't want than reinstall a minimalist O/S and then install what you do need.

This is what I have found to be true as well. I've gone back and forth with this, and it seems like when I don't have something installed, TP configuration or presentation director, i find some circumstance where i could use it. And if you travel it's good to have the recovery partition in tact unless you carry the recovery CD's, it also takes less time to restore from the partition as opposed to the CD's. Granted the machine snaps when you clean install XP, but then you start loading drivers, and your own software it starts to almost get back to the point of a factory install minus the Norton, google, and other stuf they throw in. It's really a personal preference as to which way you want to go, neither way is really "better" just more personal.

[MD1032]

Well, the way I see it, there are a few advantages of going the way I did, even though it caused a huge headache and hours of work.

1) If I wanted to uninstall the unneccessary stuff, I wouldn't know where to start. I have 50 or so running processes now, I had around 70 with the standard installation. I don't know which 10 or so programs I've have to uninstall to get to where I am now. I might uninstall the google stuff, norton, etc, and still have 60 running processes, one of which is eating 50 MB of memory and I don't know what it is or where it is, all I'd be able to do would be to stop the process from running, which still wouldn't uninstall the program.

2) I get back the 6 GB of space previously taken by the Thinkpad partition.

3) I now have a bootable true Windows XP Pro CD to work with instead of just recovery CD's. And I also have new recovery CD's with the fresh installation backed up onto them.

[asiafish]

I made a Ghost image of my base working configuration (IBM intall minus the stuff I don't want) and rather than bother with the restore partition or disks that only get me back to factory standard, I carry my two DVD ghost restore set. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to fully restore the X41, but at the end of the process all I need to update is the My Documents folder.

[ramian]

I have around 45 processes running. I agree there's loads of rubbish that can be uninstalled and the general start-up places (registry mainly) need to be watched, but other than that, a reinstall won't really achieve much.

Swings and roundabouts, but personally I think it's much quicker to take a standard IBM install and remove what you don't want than reinstall a minimalist O/S and then install what you do need.

Not really... Given that the factory image doesn't have all the latest versions of the ThinkVantage software, you're gonna need to download/re-install the whole lot.

I've tried uninstalling stuff I don't want from a factory install, and doing a clean install, and the clean install is snappier and boots quicker than the former.

I used to be obsessive-compulsive about keeping number of processes to a minimum (I've got 32 on my PC and used to have 36 on my old non-Thinkpad notebook). I've now got 62 and I'm pretty much happy the way it is. 2Gb is more than enough to support all those processes and whatever else I throw at it.

[Kyocera]

Not really... Given that the factory image doesn't have all the latest versions of the ThinkVantage software, you're gonna need to download/re-install the whole lot.

Not really...you are assuming that everyone has to use all that software . The point is you take the factory install and make it what you want it to be by removing what you don't need/want. Not everyone needs all thinkvantage.


JDhurst,

The number of processes have nothing to do with anything much. Install what you wish and enjoy. I have nearly 80 processes running thing I *want* running. CPU is at (or very near) 0 and temperature is a tiny shade over body temperature.

[unitedunited]

I made a Ghost image of my base working configuration (IBM intall minus the stuff I don't want) and rather than bother with the restore partition or disks that only get me back to factory standard, I carry my two DVD ghost restore set. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to fully restore the X41, but at the end of the process all I need to update is the My Documents folder.

How do you do this? Can you do it using just rapid restore or windows? (I don't have rescue + recovery installed because I don't have the 215 MB to spare)

thanks,
uu

[GomJabbar]

I made a Ghost image of my base working configuration (IBM intall minus the stuff I don't want)......

How do you do this? Can you do it using just rapid restore or windows? (I don't have rescue + recovery installed because I don't have the 215 MB to spare)

To make a Ghost image is to clone your hard drive. Ghost (from Symantec) is just one of just several available programs to do this with. See following FAQ for how to clone. And no, you cannot do this with Rapid Restore or just Windows.

Hard Drive Cloning HOW TO

[Ashiaveli]

I also don't need a lot of thinkpad's stuff. I appriciate it but don't need access connections when windows' built in one works fine. I have the hotkeys and toggling wifi, that's all i need.

i wiped the harddrive (including the hidden partition) and reinstalled windows. clean and fast, not to mention more space.

i can see why some users use all of that stuff but it's not necessary. also, it IS faster without all those processes.

i have 22 processes + 9 of my own (firefox, miranda, utorrent, vlc..etc)

[jdhurst]

<snip>
i can see why some users use all of that stuff but it's not necessary. also, it IS faster without all those processes.

I always maintain - Do as you wish. But the total CPU of my 80 processes added together is normally zero. They are memory resident routines that only consume CPU when used. So how is it faster? It is not so in my experience and I tried it once or twice on spare hard drives. Just a myth.
... JD Hurst

[christopher_wolf]

I am with John here; how exactly is it faster?

I have done boots with selective boot.inis that have and don't have the services and I all I gained was a few seconds in boot up time from my already quick bootup time of 30 seconds whilst losing important ThinkVantage features. It doesn't seem to be worth the time, effort, or lost abilities to remove those services.

I have around 81 processes during heavy usage and I haven't noticed or even managed to gauge differences in application start times, media encoding, computation, etc. The CPU is managed such that it performs a minimum of what is required to run each process; in this case, the only thing that really helps alot is maxed out memory on the system.

[unitedunited]

To make a Ghost image is to clone your hard drive. Ghost (from Symantec) is just one of just several available programs to do this with. See following FAQ for how to clone. And no, you cannot do this with Rapid Restore or just Windows.

Hard Drive Cloning HOW TO

thanks, read the FAQ but it seems to discuss imaging to a another HD (or via an "HD adapter" for USB, not sure what this is). Does this mean it can't be done to DVDs or a USB external?

Also, there is a facility in Sonic RecordNow to make ISO or .gi (proprietary) images. So does this mean an "image" is different from a "ghost image?"

essentially, I'm looking for a way to use external media (that USB external or DVDs) to give me something like what asiafish has--an image of my HD with my essential software, so that, the next time things go pear-shaped, I don't have to manually restore to factory settings and then reinstall my software, which I have enough of to make a very tedious process.

[K0LO]

Take a look at Acronis True Image Home. It will do exactly what you're describing; create an image of your hard drive and save it on DVDs. I like this program a lot better than Norton Ghost. I use it all of the time. It really saved my bacon when I accidentally deleted the wrong partition on my hard drive (easy to do in Linux if you're not paying attention to what you're typing at the command line). 20 minutes later I was back in action.

[unitedunited]

nice suggestion, thanks.

have you used the windows system-restore-like features as well? I wonder about this because when I had a stop error last night and tried to use system restore on all of my restore points over the past two weeks, but was unable to get them. I suppose this could make it especially useful software, if it could prevent you from even having to reimage in situations like this...

[K0LO]

Yes, because System Restore only works about 50% of the time for me. Once when I installed a really crappy piece of software and its uninstaller didn't work properly I was able to roll back using System Restore. Usually though, my experience with System Restore is like yours -- you try all of the available restore points and none of them succeed.

The "system-restore-like" feature in Acronis True Image (ATI) is just referring to the fact that you can restore your whole partition if (and this is a big if) you have made a recent backup. ATI suggests that if you're making backups on a regular basis then you can turn off Windows System Restore, which can use a lot of disk space, and end up with smaller backup images.

For example, WinXP defaults to using 12% of each hard disk partition for System Restore files. If you have not altered this setting and have a 60 GB drive then the System Restore files can occupy up to 7.2 GB! Of course you can always set up System Restore to use less space if you want.

The nice thing about Windows XP System Restore is that you don't need to plan ahead (if and when it works); you just go about your business installing or updating and can (sometimes) recover if things don't work out well. Using ATI you have to make backups regularly and this involves planning on your part.

If you decide to go this route then I'd recommend partitioning your disk into a C drive for Windows and all of your programs and a D drive for all of your personal data (My Documents). When you backup, image both partitions. You can adopt a backup strategy that makes sense to you; for example backup the C drive monthly and the D drive weekly. If you then have a need to fix Windows you can just replace the C partition with your most recent backup image and not affect any of your personal data files on the D partition.

[aschb]

Since > 2 years I use for my 3 PC's (2 Desk and 1 T43P) Retrospect

http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/smb/retroforwin/

and had a couple of partial or full restores behind me. My backup device is a USB Harddisk (Maxtor) plus 1 Recovery CD created from Retrospect for each PC.

[unitedunited]

oh i see. so ATI doesn't really have a system restore-ish feature, just the fact that if you run differential backups you can theoretically turn off system restore. And it seems this would really only work if ATI can run automatically (or be enabled in task scheduler) to do daily sequentials.

hmm. dunno if i'd be comfortable with that--even if system restore isn;t perfect i'd be leery about shutting down an OS-based feature and handing it all over to a third party. (The again, I do run Zone Alarm instead of Windows Firewall).

Yes, i definitely subscribe to the idea of separate backup startegies for OS/apps and data. But I don't think partitioning would work well for me (as I understand it) because the size of both of those areas fluctuates quite a bit--and so I would loose the ability to dole out the free space as it's needed to either group, no?

The main advantage of partitioning would be to save data into a hidden HD partition. IBM Rescue and Recovery does this but I believe I can't control the size of that partition, which is huge since it's meant to hold a whole windows image. Can ATI could set up a small hidden partition for data backups only (and leave me with DVDs for the windows image)? Their web page is not clear on this.

BTW, what's wrong with windows backup (other than having a 10-year old GUI, that is)? Does it need to be within windows to restore or something?

[K0LO]

You can leave System Restore turned on if you like (I do). The only reason for turning it off is to reduce the size of the backup image.

ATI has a scheduler so you can put it on autopilot.

If you have partitioning software (Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director, etc.) then you can resize partitions on the fly whenever needed.

You can set up a partition especially for data backups. ATI has a mechanism that allows you to do this even if you don't have any partitioning software (Acronis Secure Zone). The resultant partition is hidden from Windows and you could put only your data files there and put your Windows image on DVDs or an external hard disk.

I apologize for sounding like a commercial. I don't work for these guys but I like their software. IMHO it's a better backup solution than IBM Rescue and Recovery. So much so that in a little more (6 GB) than the space that the IBM Service Partition used to occupy I have a full image of my entire hard disk, including both Windows and Linux partitions, that can restore the laptop to its most recently backed-up state.

Windows backup is fine for backing up and restoring files but leaves a lot to be desired if you need to back up your operating system.