Formatted my Laptop

Ah, a weight of bloat crap has been lifted from my lappy! Yayy!!

I was having problems with Gmail loading, etc. More stuff than I care to post, the list goes on and on. Restored it to factory conditions(Dell) and now I go through the process of reinstalling my favorite stuff. Still have to get Messenger(Yahoo/Windows set up. I did save all my data on dvd's just have to go through what I deem necessary to re-install.

I hate 'factory' installs on laptops and brand name 'main' PC's. All the extra crap and bloat that always comes with them.

That's why I've used 'real' Windows discs for my laptops - after getting all the drivers from the manufacturer's websites. Then, I use Ghost for all my backups. I have 'clean install' (drivers only) and current images. I also have the hard drives partitioned the way I like (about 5 partitions usually).

Oh, I bought Windows 7 Home Premium last week. Got an OEM version for $122 Australian (better than the $170-$180 upgrade or $450 retail version. Also got a 1TB hard drive for $99 to install it on.

I have 3 hard drives in my main PC now, one with XP Home, one with Vista Home Premium and the new one with Windows 7. I like 7 so far...

Hey, that sounds like a much better price than before! Good you are getting deals. I like Win 7 as well. Gave mom a Vista laptop with the Win 7 upgrade that she can install when she wants to. I got a good deal on them back in July, pre-order Win 7 and get it for 65 dollars. Limit was 3, so I ordered 3.

Not sure about Canada but here in Australia OEM copies of Windows are now only supposed to be sold to system builders which I assume means people who build and sell PC's?

Before, you only needed to buy a piece of hardware - sometimes just a screw for your PC - to get OEM versions.

I asked the guy in the computer shop about OEM versions and he told me about only selling them to system builders. I said I built my own PC and he said "that'll do". lol.

The only thing with OEM is you don't get support from Microsoft but, I don't need that anyway.

Some places here will sell them without a computer part like a mouse for instance. They are supposed to be sold with a part but a lot of dealers don't care so win-win!