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Stupid question time, "Any way to *prevent* crapware loading on new box?"

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f0dder:
If you can find a DVD with Win7 Pro x64, then I'd say just boot from it, do a complete install to the HDD, (wiping what was there, ie. Dell's auto-install), and enter your CD key off the sticker.-4wd (September 02, 2010, 11:47 PM)
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Won't necessarily work - at least not if you haven't gotten a clean OEM DVD. I tried doing this with XP, and found out that OEM keys, at least then, were tied to OEM install discs (apart from just BIOS strings, meaning they won't work for non-vendor machines either).

barney:
Once you are done installing the drivers, you can enjoy your new Dell computer without all the crapware.
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nite_monkey, I like that resolution.  This beast came with six (6) discs, one (1) a DVD, four (4) CDs, and one (1) indeterminate from the print on the disk.  Each of these six (6) is marked that it is already installed, implying that the discs are there only for emergency reinstalls.  However, I've run into similar situations in the past, where the reinstall CDs also contained the junk I didn't want to reinstall.  I don't want Trend Micro - I think that's the current Dell offering - on a trial basis, nor Works, nor Word, nor any other trial software.  Just want the OS and any drivers necessitated by the hardware.

For instance, I'll have to have the fingerprint software/drivers, since this box has a fingerprint scanner.  (I wonder whether that's any good, but prolly a topic for a different thread - which may already exist here.)

Anyhoo, your process description has emboldened me with the temerity to hit the power switch and turn this beast on ;D.  Dear heart, thank you very much for that response  :-*.

Edited for typos - why cannot I ever avoid those, even with spell-check? - not content.

app103:
I don't want Trend Micro - I think that's the current Dell offering - on a trial basis, nor Works, nor Word, nor any other trial software.
-barney (September 03, 2010, 04:47 PM)
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It's a Vostro, it shouldn't have any of that unless you asked for it when you ordered it. My Vostro desktop came with a bunch of disks too. XP setup, Vista setup, XP drivers for the stuff in the box, Vista drivers for the stuff in the box, and drivers for the monitor.

And it didn't even have the Google Desktop stuff that I mentioned before, on any of those disks, nor the default Vostro wallpaper.

Carol Haynes:
If you can find a DVD with Win7 Pro x64, then I'd say just boot from it, do a complete install to the HDD, (wiping what was there, ie. Dell's auto-install), and enter your CD key off the sticker.

That should work perfectly.
-4wd (September 02, 2010, 11:47 PM)
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I don't know if things have changed in Windows 7 but certainly in Windows XP and Windows Vista this did not work. The stickers on the box are only to prove you have alicense - the actual keys don't work. They used to in earlier XP days but MS moved away from that because people used to wander around computer shops noting down the keys on the computers out on the shelf!

A better way to do it is to do the crap loaded install and then use a utility to backup the OEM activation status (which is more complex than on a non-OEM install) - then install from a clean windows disk and restore the activation.

app103:
OK, one more time...

If your Vostro has crapware preinstalled (besides Google Desktop) it's because you ordered the crapware and asked for it to be preinstalled. This is not a home consumer machine. With home consumer machines, you don't get a choice...it comes with crapware.

This is a Vostro, a business machine and when you order it, you have to check boxes for every crapware item you want preinstalled. If you don't check any of the boxes, you don't get the crapware.

Did you ask for any crapware when you bought it?

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