Brand new Dimension 9150-want to wipe out and start clean.

[stratus595]

I just received my new Dell Dimension 9150 that is going to be my dedicated Photoshop machine for my photography studio. As you know you can't order them with just the OS system only loaded on it so it comes with all of the pre-loaded junk on it. I would like to reformat everything and purify the system to get a clean slate before installing Photoshop and begin working.

I do have my XP backup disc and I'm assuming some of the drivers and such that I will need. I've never done this before so I'm not sure if I DO have everything that I will need. I was told I would need to download some of the drivers from the Dell site??? I've also searched this on the forum here but didn't come across anything that really answered all of my questions and some information was a little contradictory.

I read that you should NOT wipe out the installed Dell partition on the hard drive and some people were saying to completely wipe it out and build a new one????? Someone said Dell would not honor support if it was wiped out?

If someone could give me the accurate information and some step by step instructions on how to do this, that would be great. I'll ask questions if I need to.

I've not done anything as of yet, not even plugged the unit up, because I've been too busy in the studio and out of town recently so nothing has been done.

[glc]

I would recommend that you just uninstall the preloaded stuff that you don't want. It's not that hard to clean up.

[stratus595]

glc, do you mean just the usual way of going through the control panel and such?
Will doing it that way remove EVERYTHING or will it leave behind trash and hidden files and folders that will still be there?

[glc]

Try it and see what you wind up with. You can use a registry cleaner to finish up the removals. If you screw up and remove too much, you can use the restore system and start over. It's best to leave that alone in case you DO need support from Dell - if you wipe the preload you won't get support. I clean up Dell laptops all the time this way and they run fine.

[stratus595]

What registry cleaner do you recommend just in case??

Okay...I'll just go through the control panel and do it that way just to be safe. If I need help, I'll come back to this thread and ask questions.

[glc]

I use Crap Cleaner.