Help with new laptop

B

Boomer

I just bought a new Dell XPS laptop, and now am looking for some "tech" tips on getting rid of all the program junk I don't need on the machine as well as any other tips on making the laptop run better...

I also bought a SSD hard drive to add to it, so I am guessing I will need to re-install Windows on that...any good sites for these type of "how-to's"?

Thanks for any insight...
 
I would set up your computer first with all your working programs on the original dell drive first. When it's ready to go but has no personal files, open the box and unplug the drive, to keep it as a back up.

Do a fresh install of windows on the new SSD. Back up your personal files on an external drive or a cloud site like Dropbox. If your SSD drive every fails, you can swap them and put your person files back on very quickly.
 
Quote from rmorse:

I would set up your computer first with all your working programs on the original dell drive first. When it's ready to go but has no personal files, open the box and unplug the drive, to keep it as a back up.

Do a fresh install of windows on the new SSD. Back up your personal files on an external drive or a cloud site like Dropbox. If your SSD drive every fails, you can swap them and put your person files back on very quickly.
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One thing you could do is to get familiar with the task manager if you're not already. The process tab shows everything running, CPU usage, memory usage and many other things.

Alot of these factory installed bloatware hog lots of RAM or use up CPU cycles. The simplest is to sort the processes by RAM usage. If some of the top ones you KNOW are bloatware and don't use, I'd uninstall it.

Here's a more detail and advanced guide: http://lifehacker.com/356876/reclaim-memory-by-mastering-windows-task-manager

There's also CPU hogs, excessive network usage, and frequent HD read/writes. Honestly, the easiest way to have a zippy running computer is just to install the OS from scratch and add on what you need.

I also wouldn't recommend aggressively uninstalling too many things and disabling services if you're not familiar with what you're doing. You don't want to uninstall something that might be essential.
You can Google the process names and you get make descriptions of the program.
 
Thanks for that advice...

I might have bitten off more than I can chew...but I also have a new SSD to install in my new XPS...but I think I have found a good how-to video on doing that.

One other question I have is regarding "drivers"...I have read others talk about updating different drivers and such...how do you know if this needs to be done? and if it does, where at?
 
Quote from Boomer:

Thanks for that advice...

I might have bitten off more than I can chew...but I also have a new SSD to install in my new XPS...but I think I have found a good how-to video on doing that.

One other question I have is regarding "drivers"...I have read others talk about updating different drivers and such...how do you know if this needs to be done? and if it does, where at?
More...

In general, you don't have to update drivers unless you're having issues. Then, go to the manufactures web support page and follow the directions.
 
Quote from Boomer:

I just bought a new Dell XPS laptop, and now am looking for some "tech" tips on getting rid of all the program junk I don't need on the machine as well as any other tips on making the laptop run better...
More...

You probably already know this, but:

http://pcdecrapifier.com/
 
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