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Any tips for setting up a new Win7 laptop and installing lots of software fast?

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dr_andus:
My shiny new laptop has arrived (a Win7 Pro machine), and I will need to spend the weekend installing lots of my favourite software and scripts and data on it.

Would you have any tips on how to go about it? Is there some best practice on installing lots of software fast? Are there any things advisable to do on a new machine before the installation?

E.g. should I restart my system after a certain amount of installs?

It has a 1TB HDD, and 8GB RAM for now (both expandable, but no money left to do that right now). I'll need to install about 50 different software initially to set up my workspace (together it should come to between 200-300 GB of data).

The laptop came with an HP branded recovery DVD, it says

Application and Driver Recovery DVD
Contains software and drivers already installed. For software reinstallation and repair only. This disc contains software for MS Windows 7. For use with a licensed HP or Compaq PC.
--- End quote ---

Should I still make a recovery image of my own? Is that better to do before or after I install all my stuff?

My current strategy so far is:

* let all the Windows updates download and install over the next couple of days;
* install drivers for my various peripherals first (monitors, printer, scanner, camera, mouse etc.);
* install Firefox, so I can download software to install;
* install Dopus, so I can work more easily with files;
* install MS Office 365;
* and then install everything else (some other bigger software, like Dragon NaturallySpeaking, SmartDraw, but then mostly just dozens of little utilities and scripts I can't live without).
I haven't installed anything on it yet, other than the automatic Windows updates.

Any advice or tips would be very welcome.

4wd:
0. Remove any manufacturer bloatware  :)

dr_andus:
0. Remove any manufacturer bloatware  :)
-4wd (September 23, 2015, 06:08 PM)
--- End quote ---

Yeah, good point!  :) I would normally do that but this is a business class machine (mobile workstation), and there is surprisingly little bloatware installed.

And what there is, actually looks useful (like encryption for the hard drive, file shredding, and other security features). I did a little search about them and there seem to be users who removed them without knowing what they were, and later they regretted it.

There is stuff there I have no clue about, like NXP Proximity, something to do with Near Field Communication, whatever that is... I'll have to read the manual...

4wd:
I usually install any drivers first thing after a Windows install, (then let it do its updates), if for nothing else than to let the chipset/video/SATA work optimally using the correct drivers rather than MS generics.

But seeing as it's a baseline recovery install, it's probably got all that already.

xtabber:
Should I still make a recovery image of my own? Is that better to do before or after I install all my stuff?

My current strategy so far is:

* let all the Windows updates download and install over the next couple of days;
* install drivers for my various peripherals first (monitors, printer, scanner, camera, mouse etc.);-dr_andus (September 23, 2015, 06:01 PM)
--- End quote ---

When I set up a new system, I image the C: drive after each of those two initial steps.  Since there is little installed, it is reasonably fast and it gives me peace of mind that I have baselines to go back to if something gets really screwed up later in the process.

Actually, my standard procedure is to boot from a USB drive and image the entire hard drive as received before doing anything else.  Since I almost always repartition early in the process and do some other rearranging, this allows me to restore the system to its initial state if I need to return it under warranty or give it away at some future date.
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