Clean reinstall of Windows 7 on new Acer laptop

[fenris]

I have a new laptop arriving this week I want to do a clean reinstall of Windows 7 to get rid of all of the bloatware on it. It is preloaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I'm a bit unsure how to do this without the actual install disk though. Any ideas?

 

[JMMD]

There isn't another way to do a clean install without all the added crap. The system restore that comes with most PC's will have all that stuff pre-loaded. Just borrow a disc from someone and use the license that came with your laptop.

 

[raybay]

Backup all your data... run an inventory program such as Belarc Advisor so you have a list of all the product ID's for use in reinstall... and be certain you have saved backs on CD of everything important.

But, In most cases, you are going to need a copy of a Windows 7 disk to run the reinstall... but you can use your original product ID. This is because Microsoft is protecting their interests, and they do not want people to create new installs out there willy nilly... unless you use a new hard drive for the new install. Then you need to know a great deal more than we can tell you here.

 

[fenris]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not worried about backing much up since it is brand new and should arrive by the end of this week. I was just interested in having a clean install of the OS rather than the bloatware loaded crap that the manufacturers preload with. I will try to reinstall the OS with the media from another computer I have and I should be able to use the key at the bottom of the laptop right?

 

[Guru1294]

Yes a lot of the stuff is bloatware, but trust me you will save yourself lot of time by just deleting the bloatware that is useless such as all those trial applications. Some of the softwares are actually pretty useful i find which came on my laptop

 

[tipstir]

I would not remove the OS on that ACER. I would also recommend, that you use the IOBIT Advance System Care (FREE) on that ACER. It has all the tools you need to remove.

1. Norton Online Backup trial (bloat)
2. Norton Security (bloat) do not install this or allow it to be install.

I have a few Acers here and sure they do come with Bloat, but not all of it Bloat. So you got to be careful with the Acer and Acer/Gateway ones also.

ebay, netfix these can be removed. Acer Games are trial version again bloat.
Acer Backup, Acer UPDATER you need the updater.

Note: #2 Download from MS (MSE 64-BIT) better than Norton Security and it's free. Also use Windows Update to make sure you have all the updates for Acer and Windows. There is going to be a trial version of MS Office 2007 Student for 60 days. If you got Office already and have a license go for more systems, then use that on the system and get rid of the MSO07S bloat. MS Works are on some Acer also.

 

[ComputerGuy55]

Be careful when reloading some laptops now, though I have not seen this with ACER (But they may start) We sell acer's here but never have problems so we don't reload. But HP's and Dell's have company specific product key's for there windows. That said, if you reload windows with a regular Winodws 7 (or burned) Installation CD, even if you put in the product key, it will say it is correct, but when you go to Activate windows, it wont be valid.

This is because the key is only valid with the company's installation CD's or partition that was created.. Just a thought for people reloading preloaded systems..

 

[fenris]

It turns out that the product key on the bottom of the laptop works fine for a clean install but it did require a call to Microsoft's automated system to activate it. Took all of five minutes. Thanks again for all of the advice guys.