[jbm1991]

Hi everyone

As stated in the title i'm getting a new laptop and i have some questions. I would be very grateful for any input

The laptop i settled on was a Toshiba satellite P300-1FN, specs can be found here: http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.c...hibaShop/true/
I have settled on Norton 360 v3.0 as it appears to be the best and have the least drain on system performance.
I have also settled on a slappa ballistix aura bag for it

I have already bought the laptop and its being delivered soon, i havent bought the bag yet, and i can always return the norton. So does anyone have any comments so far?


now for the questions:

1) What is the best way to remove bloatware from the new laptop? I want to avoid doing a full OS reinstall if possible.
2) Can anyone recommend any cooling mats for laptops to me?


Thanks again for any input

[mudy62]

I use pcdecrapifier ,itworks great with all brands-Just download the program and create a restore point in case you you delete a program by mistake http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

[jbm1991]

thanks, i'll check that out. welcome to TSG aswell btw

[JohnWill]

I second the suggestion for PC Decrapifier, it's a great utility.

[jbm1991]

righto, i'll deffinately check out PC decrapifier then
So then, today my laptop arrived a mere 20 hours after i'd ordered it direct from toshiba!! very impressive. However i have to wait till my birthday before i can use it /cry

a few minor little updates to my questions from before:
1) the bloatware question, we have answered that
2) the cooling mat question, i have dug around and settled on this cooling mat it lines up nicely with my laptop fans and such so all should be good on that front. any comments?
3) if you looked at the laptop specs, you will have seen that it has 2 internal 320gb hard drives. I have a 200GB desktop external hard drive, and ive just bought a 250GB portable hard drive. So, to keep my laptop running as fast as possible my plan is to put all of my multimedia collection on the 250gb portable (music, photos, etc), back up all my important documents to the desktop HDD. Have all my documents on the internal HDD that doesnt have the OS on it, and keep the OS and all my programs on the other internal HDD. You think that'll keep the laptop running smoothly, or would you recommend putting the programs and documents all on the other hard drive, and giving the OS one to itself?

Thanks again for the input

[JohnWill]

Well, as far as keeping all the media on a single drive, there is one fact that you need to keep in mind.


Remember: Data you don't have at least two copies of is data you don't care about.

[jbm1991]

that be true that. I was planning on popping the media into compressed backup copies on the backup drive i have.

as i'm also getting rid of this computer i want to wipe the hard drive clean. Are there any good free programs that will erease the HDD completely? or is the "old fashioned" method more effective

[JohnWill]

DBAN will do the job nicely.

[Rich-M]

Dump the Norton and get a "real" antivirus program www.nod32 is the best paid imho and Avira the best free. Norton is not effective and is way too much system drag.

[jbm1991]

thanks again john will

and rich-M thanks for the input, but on the contrary to your opinion there (one which i used to share myself), norton appears to have cleaned up its act, and the latest version uses minimal system resources, see here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343092,00.asp somewhere in that review it goes on about performance

Again thanks everyone for the input.

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by jbm1991

thanks again john will

and rich-M thanks for the input, but on the contrary to your opinion there (one which i used to share myself), norton appears to have cleaned up its act, and the latest version uses minimal system resources, see here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343092,00.asp somewhere in that review it goes on about performance

Again thanks everyone for the input.

Well you may think so but I just took Norton 360 off of a Dell Laptop with Vista and I thought I doubled the ram. The client thought I walked on water after doing one thing to her laptop.

[jbm1991]

ah yes, but which version of norton 360 was it? cause v1 and v2 were admittedly dismal performance wise. However norton 2009 and 360 v3 they got their act sorted out.

[Rich-M]

I wasn't aware of the difference so I cannot answer that.

[DoubleHelix]

Norton Internet Security 2009 is in a different class than previous Norton products. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

[jbm1991]

completely agree doublehelix. And norton 360 v3 is just norton IS 2009 improved a bit, and with some extra stuff chucked in for good measure. (2GB online storage, a backup utility, etc)