Hi, all.

I just purchased a new Dell desktop PC. It’s just a basic model with 12th Gen Intel i3, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, integrated video. It comes with Windows 11 Home installed. This replaces a 9 year old Dell laptop that just died.

This will be used for everyday needs like web browsing and Microsoft M365 apps. Nothing major. I was planning on using the antivirus apps that come with that.

I’m wondering if you’d recommend I update or reset anything to start on a good foundation. I don’t want any bloatware affecting performance, etc. Any specific setup or refresh steps you’d recommend? While I’m tech savvy I’m not really looking to perform a ton of intricate and esoteric steps.

Thanks for your time.

Chris

We buy multiple Dell computers every month.
The base install on ours is Win10Pro & is fairly unobtrusive.
It's a bit more time consuming, but a fresh wipe & install of Win__ is a bit better, but not significant.

Currently I'm the only user in our company running Win11, no complaints so far.
I was the guinea pig for Win10 as well, to ensure compatibility with our business applications.

If you decide to wipe & start fresh, you'll need to make a Win11 install USB
Boot from that, delete the existing partitions & install.

Unless you are experiencing any issues you should be fine.
No it isn't a HD computing machine but if it isn't being used hard then why worry?

Home use and along with my business, I've had Dell gear pretty much exclusively for 20 some years. I've never found much bloatware on any of the installs from Dell direct. It's solid gear and should serve you well. Just stick with the built Microsoft Defender. It's all you need.

quote:

I don’t want any bloatware affecting performance,

Is there anything installed/running now you don't want? Check what apps are in the taskbar tray (down by the clock) and what is running in task manager (ctrl+shift+esc). First time you look, it will have a button on bottom left that says 'more details', hit that.

If you see something using CPU/Mem/disk/network that you don't recognize, post it up here.
You can also go to settings/apps/apps & features & get rid of anything you don't want (make sure you know what it is first, google is your friend). On some windows apps, you can't uninstall, but under advanced options you can stop it from running in the background IE - I don't let cortana run in the background or have mic access. I'm paranoid like that.

Dell's usually not the worst at adding crapware, but there will probably be some things you don't need that are running by default. Likely, they'll never cause a problem or slow you down but can be annoying if they want to update all the time or if they DO cause a problem.

I would never start fresh. Dell drivers and upgrades are tied to your service code and diagnostics are also available with Dell software.

quote:

(make sure you know what it is first, google is your friend )

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quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
I would never start fresh. Dell drivers and upgrades are tied to your service code and diagnostics are also available with Dell software.

Never had a problem with this with hundreds of Win10Pro installs on reissued machines.
We increment our hostnames by 1 with each install & are into the 1000s, probably about a 30/70 split by now on Win7 & Win10 respectively.
And that's just laptops, desktops are in the low 100s.

Thank you all for the info! Good stuff to know. It should be delivered tomorrow. I will check a few things out and let you know if I see any issues I may need to address. I’m glad to hear that Dell factory computers should be good to go. Thanks again!

Got two laptops from them recently. First thing I did was delete McAfee and everything McAfee related. Yeah, it's free for a year, but it's always been a resource hog for me.

Upgrade storage if you can.

Getting rid of the bloatware which includes all but the basic Microsoft security is a great first step. The stuff that does security and comes with Windows is pretty good for most people today and the aftermarket crap (McAfee, Norton, etc.) really slows things down needlessly in most cases.
Also any of the crappy and expensive "free trial" and other software is good to clean off too.
If you're not experienced in how to do that, I'd try to find someone you know that actually knows the technical aspects better to help.

I think you've gotten pretty good advice thus far so I won't comment further on that. What I will suggest is once you get the machine how you want it, image that SSD and make a recovery jump drive so if anything happens, you can wipe and reinstall everything without much fanfare. I'd also suggest installing a second drive to keep all your personal stuff on while the original SSD holds the operating system and application software.

Enjoy your new machine.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

(make sure you know what it is first, google is your friend )

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*clipped video*

It's not paranoia when they are actually watching you.

“I don’t want any bloatware affecting performance, etc.“

Maybe get you a copy of Debian Linux, reformat the hard drive getting rid of all that MicrSquish stuff and end up with a lean mean Debian machine.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
I think you've gotten pretty good advice thus far so I won't comment further on that. What I will suggest is once you get the machine how you want it, image that SSD and make a recovery jump drive so if anything happens, you can wipe and reinstall everything without much fanfare. I'd also suggest installing a second drive to keep all your personal stuff on while the original SSD holds the operating system and application software.

Enjoy your new machine.

Taking a base image was a much better idea when updates were smaller & less frequent. Now it's not really worth the time & effort - you basically have to DL a new OS/Drivers/antivirus after you load the image, sometimes gigabytes of updates and if it was an update that borked you....
Now I prefer using fresh install media + a backup method with duplicate storage, preferably an offsite copy. If I'm doing a bunch of installs in a short time, slipstreaming office & drivers is worth the setup time, but not for a single machine. I usually just create the boot USB with windows & then throw whatever installers I plan to use on the USB too. Ninite.com makes quick work of some of the utilities I always install (chrome, 7zip, puTTY, etc).
After XP, the 'nuke & pave' approve to fixing computer issues has become less frequent - I skipped ME & 8 though. I can't think of the last time I had to re-install windows due to something NOT user error. It was probably 7 or when 10 first came out.
I shut off the VM snapshot feature on the machine I'm using now because it wasn't getting used. That could roll me back a day if something got hosed (or a few minutes if I did a snapshot before doing something sketchy).

They usually have a hidden partition that they use to restore the original configuration.

Instead of resetting anything, I would invest in a good back up process / program to back up your system. And regularly backing up. I use Acronis and in addition to back ups, it provides anti-virus and malware protection.

To get rid of bloatware, I would uninstall specific programs. I use CCleaner to uninstall programs and it also updates my drivers.

I use my laptop for Microsoft 365, web browsing, and quicken. It's 5 years old and it's not really hampered. I would still keep it except i started losing sound out of the speakers and also my bluetooth headphones which used to work. I've already replaced the battery.

For the first three years, it was under warranty and for something like this I would call Dell and they could fix it for me remotely.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
[

Taking a base image was a much better idea when updates were smaller & less frequent. Now it's not really worth the time & effort - you basically have to DL a new OS/Drivers/antivirus after you load the image, sometimes gigabytes of updates and if it was an update that borked you....

Just add a usb based backup drive (ssd or spinner) that backs up the image on a schedule.
One I suggest is VEEAM ~ free and effective.
Paid versions will expand the flexibility but not necessary.

https://www.veeam.com/products...html?ad=in-text-link

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
[

Taking a base image was a much better idea when updates were smaller & less frequent. Now it's not really worth the time & effort - you basically have to DL a new OS/Drivers/antivirus after you load the image, sometimes gigabytes of updates and if it was an update that borked you....

Just add a usb based backup drive (ssd or spinner) that backs up the image on a schedule.
One I suggest is VEEAM ~ free and effective.
Paid versions will expand the flexibility but not necessary.

https://www.veeam.com/products...html?ad=in-text-link

Which is exactly what I do with my desktop machine (with VEEAM, thank you for the recommendation ), but I still overkill things and maintain the original drive image separately on an additional drive. Probably not necessary, but since I have the drive space and always seek to overkill things.....

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
... I still overkill things and maintain the original drive image separately on an additional drive.
Probably not necessary, but since I have the drive space and always seek to overkill things.....

Never say "overkill" with backups.
You can never have too many or too recent.
It's only common sense but should be based on the the value of the data you want to protect.
The more important it is ~ the more you have to put into it.
So it's not overkill.