Gateway Laptop Crapware

[skwhig]

My friend bought a new Gateway laptop which is pretty much unusable due to crapware. If I format and use the OEM disk that came with it to install Vista, will it just reinstall the crap or will it be a clean Vista? Also, it has Office on it, will the OEM reinstall that as well?

 

[Joe Average]

If it came with a DVD, that should be just the OS, because iirc Gateway still has a recovery partition on their machines. Here's the difference:

The recovery partition (if it exists) is used to do an absolute and complete factory restore meaning when the process is complete the laptop will be in the same condition it was the day you got it and first turned it on, so everything is there.

If Gateway included a physical DVD in the box that should be just the OS itself - there's really only one way to find out. Boot off that DVD, if it starts to install Vista, there you go. But, if it warns you with stuff like "This restoration disc will erase your hard drive and restore it to factory condition" then you have that question answered another one: it's a full blown factory restore DVD and not just the OS alone.

If that person just wants to get rid of all the OEM crap after a true factory restore, point them to the PC Decrapifier (seriously, that's the name of the app, Google it). That'll get rid of almost every trace of non-OS specific applications and junk that OEMs install on machines and leave just the OS by itself. Great tool...

Good luck...

 

[skwhig]

Thank you very much! Decrapifying now, thanks for the start up disk info.