What are the advantages of a fresh install?

[square965]

I recently bought a new laptop (that my parents won't let me open until Christmas -.-) and a lot of the review that I read said something like "worked great after a fresh install."

I'm just wondering why a brand new computer would need a fresh install of the OS. Is this something I should do when I finally get to open the computer?

Thanks!

p.s. it comes with windows 7 64 bit.

 

[buwish]

Essentially, by doing a fresh install on a new machine with Windows preloaded, you are getting rid of all the bloatware and crap. But that can be removed manually. What most are talking about it probably in regard to doing a fresh install over an upgrade, which in your case doesn't apply.

 

[pathasse]

You could update the OS with a fresh install as well, seeing as for most of us w7 ultimate its free for grabs.

 

[The_Prophecy]

buwish was right on the mark.

A lot of OEM's like to include "free" extras in their systems as a way to offset the cost of the laptop. Many people find these trials and other extra applications (more affectionately known as crapware) very annoying and detrimental to the performance of their new computer. I myself recently purchased a new Asus gaming laptop and found a modest amount of crapware loaded on it. I quickly wiped the system out and did a fresh install of Windows 7 with a retail disk so it was completely clean. Certain OEM's are better than others in terms of how much crapware they include. Asus actually isn't too bad, but HP and Toshiba have gotten a bad rep in recent years for this.

 

[mi1ez]

HP and Toshiba are terrible! Dell systems are kinda halfway.

Afforementioned crapware includes things like

CD burning software
Print to PDF stuff
antivirus trials
firewall
anti-spyware (yes, these last 3 come as seperate programs on some machines [HP, I'm looking at you...])
a second DVD suite. (why oh why?!)
google desktop
google earth
any number of IE toolbars

...just off the top of my head...

 

[The_Prophecy]

Dell isn't too bad, like Asus, but for me.... any amount of crapware is too much.