Question Clean vs OEM install?

[AlexLenaers]

What are the pros and cons of doing a clean install on a Lenovo laptop vs keeping the OEM version and just run an anti-bloatware to clean it up? Thanks for comments!

 

[Eximo]

OEM
Pros: 1) drivers will be pre-loaded

1. Vendor specific utilities and potential restore options will be available
2. Free software and software trials that might be of some value (Lenovo including Roxio for example, or free paid anti-virus for six months)

Cons: 1) Vendor specific utilities will be installed and waste system resources

1. Some vendors of late have been known to sneak ad-ware and spy-ware into their images
2. A recovery partition will reserve space on the drive for an image of the stock system

Clean
Pros: 1) There will be no additional software (beyond MS bloatware anyway)
2) You will have complete control of account setup and registration of Windows

Cons: 1) You will have to get and install drivers
2) You have to do it yourself, and any issues that might crop up will not be applicable to whatever warranty or support you had (Basically you will only retain hardware warranty)

 

[jsmithepa]

Well, I assume you been running on OEM for a while now. Does it feel like it drags? annoying things, Ads that pop up blah-blah.

So Clean is technically "cleaner" but takes more effort on your part.

So only if paragraph#1 bother me enough will I spend the time doing paragraph#2. My time is valuable.

 

[britechguy]

Clean, in my opinion and without reservations.

Windows 10 itself has become much, much better as far as having a massive component manufacturer produced driver library from which to select and making the correct selection.

While the above is not always the case, many component manufacturers are every bit as slow, if not slower, delivering updated drivers to the computer OEMs, so what you get in an OEM install from a recovery partition is often out of date to begin with and there are sometimes no newer options from the OEM, anyway.

These days I make a point of actually using my computer OEM's "service station" software that alerts me to available updates and also, in the case of Intel, their own Driver & Support Assistant since my machine has an Intel Bluetooth/WiFi card and they've been pushing out update after update after update for this under Windows 10 for over a year now.

I, personally, have never had Windows 10 pick a driver that is cranky on my system, but I know and have advised plenty of people who have not had the same experience about sourcing replacement drivers. And the sources for same are either the computer's OEM or the OEM of the component for which you need a replacement driver.

Third-party driver updater software is to be avoided at all costs.