New Laptop...bios poor?

[Dave]

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:03:38 -0700 (PDT)

I just bought a Compaq Presario F700 notebook computer. I knew it
would come with alot of unwanted software, and I have a few questions
I need help with.

1. The bios seem very limited and poor...is there some sort of
superior set of generic bios that I could install on my laptop to un-
compaq it as much as possible?

Nope. You will totally **** it up if you try to mess with THAT
particular BIOS

2. Should I stick with Vista, or go to XP?

Stick with Vista, if you have 1.5GB or more of RAM. If less than
1.5GB, I'd suggest upgrading to 1.5GB, as that is still a better option
than downgrading to XP.

3. If I stay with Vista, since I have a computer with Vista on it, is
there a way I can obtain a clean copy of Vista by download or
something like it? Or should I just pirate it? I wont get into the
issue of whether I should be allowed to pirate it, but I feel I have a
right to have a clean OS without products I never wanted taking up my
purchased resources.

Did your notebook not come with Vista? I'm guessing you just got a
"restore" disk or worse, a partition on the hard drive, with ALL
software in it, take it all or leave it all? You could pick up an OEM
copy of Vista. It should be legal (gray area) as this is meant to be
purchased with hardware. But since you just bought the notebook, that
should qualify. You probably feel that you shouldn't have to pay for
the OEM copy of Vista. But, I look at it this way...if you'd gotten a
REAL copy of Vista with the laptop, you would have paid more for your
laptop. So the true cost of your laptop is whatever you've already paid
for it, plus the cost of a copy of the OS, which you apparently need.
(oooops, shame on Compaq!)

It seems like Vista is a DOWNGRADE! I have trouble connecting to any
wireless, and it doesnt even recognize my USB storage device! Windows
xp started using it right away, Vista didnt know what was going on :S

Thanks!

Well I can only speak from my experience, I love Vista. Yeah, I run
linux also. And I'm very anti-microsoft. But I can't help but try to
defend vista as (for microsoft anyway) it is not a bad product. I
think it's an upgrade from XP. IMHO

But then, I've only done one (single, note...haven't had to reinstall
it!) "clean" install of Vista, with no extra crap. That could be part
of your problem. Maybe you'd like a clean install better. I suspect so
anyway. Haven't had a single problem with Vista. That's significant,
as I'm on the road a lot, and the computer is tended by a computer
klutz. (!) If there was anything wrong with Vista, I would hear no
end of it.... -Dave

 

[Anthony87]

I just bought a Compaq Presario F700 notebook computer. I knew it
would come with alot of unwanted software, and I have a few questions
I need help with.

1. The bios seem very limited and poor...is there some sort of
superior set of generic bios that I could install on my laptop to un-
compaq it as much as possible?

2. Should I stick with Vista, or go to XP?

3. If I stay with Vista, since I have a computer with Vista on it, is
there a way I can obtain a clean copy of Vista by download or
something like it? Or should I just pirate it? I wont get into the
issue of whether I should be allowed to pirate it, but I feel I have a
right to have a clean OS without products I never wanted taking up my
purchased resources.

It seems like Vista is a DOWNGRADE! I have trouble connecting to any
wireless, and it doesnt even recognize my USB storage device! Windows
xp started using it right away, Vista didnt know what was going on :S

Thanks!

 

[Conor]

I just bought a Compaq Presario F700 notebook computer. I knew it
would come with alot of unwanted software, and I have a few questions
I need help with.

1. The bios seem very limited and poor...is there some sort of
superior set of generic bios that I could install on my laptop to un-
compaq it as much as possible?

What do you think you'd achieve with more options?

2. Should I stick with Vista, or go to XP?

Vista is fine.

3. If I stay with Vista, since I have a computer with Vista on it, is
there a way I can obtain a clean copy of Vista by download or
something like it? Or should I just pirate it? I wont get into the
issue of whether I should be allowed to pirate it, but I feel I have a
right to have a clean OS without products I never wanted taking up my
purchased resources.

Just borrow any installation DVD and use your Product Key on the label
to do the clean install. Get drivers etc from the Compaq support page
for your model.

It seems like Vista is a DOWNGRADE! I have trouble connecting to any
wireless, and it doesnt even recognize my USB storage device! Windows
xp started using it right away, Vista didnt know what was going on :S

Mine works fine. I've yet to find a wifi LAN it won't connect to.
Perhaps you're a clueless dick.

 

[Cathy]

so the motto is buy a blank comp and install the OS as you want
it.......without the junk. I have always done that with comps.

Would like to know -For last few months I've been checking out laptops. All
of the ones I've seen, of every make, aleready have Vista installed and all
of them only come with Recovery discs which you burn to CD's or DVD's when
you get the laptop, (no original install discs) so if something goes wrong
with Vista you can use Recovery discs to restore original Vista install. But
what if I made the Recovery discs from the already installed Vista, in case
I wanted to install Vista later, but preferred to install Win XP instead of
Vista? Could Vista be completely deleted from the hard drive and Win XP
installed instead? Also, what is the possibility of having a dual boot with
Win XP on C drive and Vista as apartition? Are any of these setups an
option? Thanks for any comments.

Cathy

 

[Dave]

Would like to know -For last few months I've been checking out laptops.
All

of the ones I've seen, of every make, aleready have Vista installed and all
of them only come with Recovery discs which you burn to CD's or DVD's when
you get the laptop, (no original install discs) so if something goes wrong
with Vista you can use Recovery discs to restore original Vista install. But
what if I made the Recovery discs from the already installed Vista, in case
I wanted to install Vista later, but preferred to install Win XP instead of
Vista?

Can't imagine why you would want to do that, but it's definitely possible.

Could Vista be completely deleted from the hard drive and Win XP
installed instead?

Sure. Assuming that there are XP drivers for all the hardware (safe bet),
it is trivial to reformat the hard drive and start over with a new OS
install. But you'd need a copy of XP, and not a restore CD, to do that.

Also, what is the possibility of having a dual boot with
Win XP on C drive and Vista as apartition? Are any of these setups an
option? Thanks for any comments.

Cathy

A little more difficult, but definitely do-able. If you want to set up a
different partition, you'd have to first use Partition Magic or something
like that. Or if you're not afraid of linux, any live CD distro will work.
And you'd need full copies of both XP and Vista (the restore CD wouldn't
work to install Vista OR XP in the circumstance where you want to
dual-boot). But with Partition Magic, a full copy of XP, and a full copy of
Vista, you can do it, easily. My wife's computer triple-boots XP, Vista and
linux. The installation order is XP, Vista, then linux, as linux controls
the boot process. But if you install XP then Vista, vista will control the
boot process.

What all these questions boil down to is, WHY oh WHY are laptop
manufacturers only including the stupid "restore" CD and not a full
operating system? Basically, a laptop is not complete without an operating
system. Selling a laptop with a restore CD is like selling a car with
wheels that melt when they get wet. First rainstorm, you need to buy new
wheels. Assuming nothing else on the car is damaged when the wheels
self-destruct. -Dave

 

[Cathy]

I don't think the dual boot would work unless you bought a real copy
of vista. You can remove vista and put xp on, if and only if all the
drivers you need are available for xp. Check before you count on it.
With the release of service pack 1 for vista, I believe you'd really
have to have a special need to go through the aggrevation.

Thanks for your comments/advice. I will consider these things. have a
desktop with dual boot Win 98SE/Win XP, which I like, but dual boot may not
be suitable for a laptop with Vista already installed on laptop for the
reasons you said above. I think almost all makes of desktops and laptops now
only include making your own Recovery discs - no more original OS discs. I
guess less expense for manufacturers,

Cathy

 

[The Seabat]

Something to consider is using PC Decrapifier

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/features

to get rid of most of the junk the OEMs put on new computers. It's
free and easy to use. A no-install program and you get to select which
crap you want to get rid of. Makes life so much easier!

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I just bought a Compaq Presario F700 notebook computer. I knew it
would come with alot of unwanted software, and I have a few questions
I need help with.

1. The bios seem very limited and poor...is there some sort of
superior set of generic bios that I could install on my laptop to un-
compaq it as much as possible?

FYI, there is a critical BIOS update here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n&cc=uk&lang=en&os=228&product=3629571&dlc=en
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5fjkno

It applies to both the F700EM and F700EF models.

===================================================================
Release Date: 2007-12-14 Version: F.1F

PURPOSE: Critical

Fixes

Updates the fan control algorithm of the system to reduce the
likelihood of future system issues.

Fixes issue where the touchpad scroll function does not work on some
notebooks.
===================================================================

BTW, your BIOS appears to be a Phoenix 4.0 BIOS.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Cathy]

Something to consider is using PC Decrapifier

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/features

to get rid of most of the junk the OEMs put on new computers. It's
free and easy to use. A no-install program and you get to select which
crap you want to get rid of. Makes life so much easier!

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Cathy