ThinkVantage - winners & losers?

[globalkiwi]

After a lengthy drama, I've just been returned my Thinkpad T61P as it was when I purchased it - i.e. factory preload. I was considering taking this opportunity to upgrade to a 64 bit OS & have read several posts here & elsewhere about "clean installs" - that advocate eliminating all ThinkVantage (& Productivity Center) software. However, rescue & recovery, & a couple of other Thinkpad applications have saved me a lot of hassle on several occasions. Some of it may be useless, but not all ThinkVantage software deserves to be called "bloatware." So, a question ...

What is your favorite ThinkVantage application? Which programs in the "ThinkVantage" & "Productivity Center" clusters do you think worth keeping (even on a lean clean machine) & which do you think a waste of space & boot time?

[marlinspike]

The only one I used, Thinkvantage Update, they killed.

I just took my computer back to factory preload too (well, new hard drive, wanted to start afresh and go back to XP Pro), and it's SUCH a hassle downloading everything from the driver matrix. Just try getting the latest rescue and recovery now. Oh wait, you have to get the latest client security solution first...but to install that one you need a newer client security solution. Basically you have to work your way through a web of 10 drivers to get the 2 things you want updated up to date. With the old setup you'd just run Thinkvantage Update.