Comments on: Buying A New Laptop Computer And Getting Rid Of Sony VAIO Bloatware

By: best rakeback

best rakeback — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:01:10 +0000

I really like the screens on the sony laptops but to be honest the price is the thing that shys me away from buying them. I tend to stick with Hewlet Packard now!

By: Claudia

Claudia — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:14:33 +0000

What’s the deal with the Magic-i visual effects s/w? Noticed you deleted. Will I want it with the Webcam, though? I have no idea. Prob not as I have never needed a webcam in any other computer before, but now that I have one, maybe I’ll use it. The driver is getting in the way of another app I want to use. My question is, since the webcam is also driven by ArcSoft, if I DO want to use it, will I then be screwed if I take off the Magic-i? Also, just out of curiously, don’t you need Java?

By: Raymond

Raymond — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:57:43 +0000

Maria,

My understanding is that all recent Sony VAIO models come pre-installed with the Hard Disk Drive Recovery system, accessible by pressing F10 at boot time. This means that the recovery image is located in a hidden partition on the hard disk and they should be able to automatically reload and install all of the necessary operating system software and drivers.

I recommend calling the Sony hotline to find out the precise NVIDIA graphical drivers required by your laptop model. The outsourced Indian customer service technicians were able to help me out.

By: Maria

Maria — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:27:11 +0000

Ugh, I almost cried while reading the post – my VAIO SZ broke a month ago: it just had started freezing and Windows weren’t responding… They reinstalled the Windows but lost all the other software…. Nothing helped anyway… If I manage to fix it, does anyone know where I can download the NVIDIA drivers?..

By: sajag

sajag — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:06:57 +0000

smartwi connection utility is an useless program

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:57:44 +0000

Interesting article. I do maintenance on computers from time to time, and one of the free products I usually run on a person's new computer is called PC De-crapifier, which goes through many of those programs and removes them. www.pcdecrapifier.com (I have no affiliation with that person, just a useful tool).

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:27:19 +0000

I purchased a computer from Dell’s small business unit a couple months ago. They are actually cheaper than a comparable computer from their home office unit, and come without any bloatware. That sold it for me.

By: Richard @ Student Scrooge

Richard @ Student Scrooge — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:00:24 +0000

For me, laptop size/weight and product reputation and customer service were definitely most important — I need my laptop to be light and portable, and have been very happy with the ultralight I chose a few years ago (a Dell). One thing it looks like you didn’t really mention — battery life, which can also be huge.

As far as bloatware, I think you made the right call. You might want to consider keeping Adobe Acrobat Professional, though, as that can let you do some useful things with PDF documents, especially if you’re publishing ebooks and the like.