Bloatware! Spam! Crap! Get rid of....
All those registry entries just laying dead, praying for a chance to be resurected and seep their way into a system - plague of the living zombie dead registry files - eek.
Every laptop I've ever bought, always for somebody else, has been formatted and a fresh install carried out, I don't even load all that crap energy saving software, just choose whatever the owner wants from the Windows/Linux control panel.
Having said that, just bought eldest daughter person an Asus Netbook and an upgrade serial number to go from Win 7 lite to Win 7 home premium and there was surprisingly little crap on it, just McCrappee's and a a trial version of Win Office 2012 or whatever they're calling it now if I remember correctly.
Bought the netbook in September from PC World of all places, actually got a good deal on Netbbok, external Optical writer/player; case; Windows upgrade and a Logi wireless mouse. It's actually very good, and she doesn't use the mouse much, trackpad thingie's quite ok. And it works very well between rooms on my wireless router.
This is the one. That's one present for that mid-winter celebration taken care of then, albeit it a little early
