Hi,
I'm about to buy the HP Star Wars™ Special Edition (15-an050ca) Notebook. It's running Win10 home edition.
My question is: Is there a way for me to remove the Star Wars content safely while it's new. I just don't want the SW stuff to clutter up my computer.
Thanks.
mjlw
When I help friends that buy PCs with "bloatware" loaded on them I do the following:
1. Remove all applications that are obviously unecessary from the Control Panel>Programs and Feature>Uninstall or change a program list.
2. Check the startup items Task Manager>Startup list and disable anything left.
3. Check the registry for any items left in the HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and RunOnce locations for things loading at startup/signin and delete them.
4. Check the Startup folder in both the user profiles and the all users area for items and delete them.
5. Check Task Manager for running processes that should not be running, track down the program their associated with, and delete them.
6. Check the computer services to see what processes are there, track down those that look like bloatware, and disable and track them down and delete them.
7. Look in the Program Files and and Program Files (X86) folder for bloatware program folders, check to see if they've been emptied, and delete them. If programs remain, I look inside their program folders for unistall programs that might be there.
8. Run through all the steps to make sure I didn't miss something.
I've done this with several HP laptops. HP is notorious for loading "management" programs that add no utility and slow things down a lot. These often check for updates at startup and slow down machines terribly. Lenovo does the same thing.
Maybe a Clean Install of Windows 10 Home would be better and quicker?
Windows 10 - Clean Install
Maybe, but you then play the "driver roulette game" (looking for the correct driver and hoping you'll be able to get them loaded properly), plus any programs you actually need would likely be diffult to reload.
The process I described takes around ten minutes tops. That's far less than the time to do a clean install by a mile.
I highly doubt that there is going to be much on there, other then the usual click to try and buy stuff like Office, Norton, which can be removed with Revo Uninstaller. It is the Metro Apps that are a little harder to remove, because Windows 10 has a built in task for Update, that will check for missing Metro apps and reinstall them from Windows Update.
It states on HP's website what comes pre-loaded on that series. Majority is wallpaper and screensavers that are Star Wars themed, same as the skin and the design of the touchpad. http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentVie...pecial-edition
The majority of the cost for that laptop is for the Fandor 12 month subscription and the licensing of the Star Wars stuff. You can get the same laptop a hundred to two hundred dollars cheaper if you are not interested in the licensed theme stuff that Disney is forcing HP to charge customers.
This is the list of pre-loaded items on that laptop. HP, Dell, Toshiba and other company's have finally gotten smart and started to not pre-load as much enticement or other software on their computers. That is because they are finally listening to the consumers.
Star Wars Photo Galleries: You will find collections of behind-the-scenes photos, set designs, costumes,
models, and other goodies.(72)
• Marvel™: Double-click on the Marvel desktop icon to see the Star Wars comic from Marvel
• Star Wars Font: Aurebesh™ font included in the fonts folder
• Recycle Bin: The Death Star™ icon is your Recycle Bin empty and full.
• Packed with ports: Connect to displays, printers, devices, and more with ease.
• Re-writable DVD drive: Watch DVD movies. Or write your own media.(6)
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam: Capture all the details with vibrant clarity, even in low light.(9)
• Live. Love. Watch. Movies. Enjoy the most talked-about independent films from around the world with a
free 1-year subscription to Fandor.
• Dropbox: Get 25GB of free online storage for six months with Dropbox.(22)
• Snapfish: Enjoy your photos with access from any device, all in one place. Celebrate your memories with
photo gifts and prints for delivery by mail, in-store pick-up, or print to any printer anywhere.(36)
• Three months of Evernote Premium included: Keep your life on track and set reminders with Evernote.(34)
• McAfee® LiveSafe™: Protect from dangerous online threats with a free 30-day McAfee LiveSafe trial.(8)
• HP Support Assistant: A free self-help tool built right into your PC.(56) Immediate, always-on, problem
solving, automatic updates and diagnostics. HP Support Assistant | HP® Official Site
It's a brand new laptop from a major OEM, which means there are no issues with finding drivers. Finding drivers hasn't been a difficult process for a while now, no game involved.
As for programs, they aren't difficult to load, either, especially if they are something the user needs. The OP would be installing them on the laptop anyway, right?
I always do a clean install on an OEM system. Always. It takes as little as two hours, from wiping the drive to finishing up with your last application installs.
I have to ask the obvious question.
Why not buy a different computer that does not have Star Wars on it?
Thinking about this I guess doing so would just trade Star Wars for some other bundled software you would have to clean up ... never mind :)
Quote