John Phoenix

Sevrach, I think I understand what you guys are saying.. Please correct me is I'm wrong. I'm going to put this in non geek speak. (sorry but I have never messed with re-building an OS or slipstreaming -anything like that- Just ghosting drives) Since there is no way to safely remove the bundled software from my install disks, the work around is to extract the key and oembios files from my disks/system, and use the info on that page ( http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=63258 ) To build a fresh copy of the OS (using another copy of Media Center 2005) that will install and activate just as cleanly as the HP disks do with my system.. I assume this is because the oembios files have information about my Motherboard and bios and their settings that is critical to the correct installation of the OS..?? Is this correct? If this is correct, therein lies the problem. I cannot afford to purchase a new copy of the OS. Thats why I wanted to strip and re-build my OS from the install disks I already have. Well, also, thats not exactly true... A friend has a 'generic' copy of media center 2005 But I didn't want to try to install that because it seems it does not have 'some' of the things I do want to keep.. For instance, my MCE 2005 came with not only the needed Sonic Encoders that all MCE's need but is came with Sonic CD/DVD Burning software also. My friends does not have this software, only the encoders. I do not know why, I assumed the burning software itself (not the encoders) was added by HP. This made me wonder what other added software I want to keep and what I didn't want. I was kinda of hoping to get a list of the bundled HP software that they themselves added, and be able to pick and choose what to keep then rebuild the install disks...providing of course there was an easy way to do this. I have compared the running processes for my machine and his, and his uses lots less. I assume my machine is running so many more processes due to so much HP bundled software running. He runs about 30 to 35 processes, and I run about 40 to 55 - I have seen this go up to 80, which is unheard of in my book. This is one major problem I sought to correct by rebuilding the OS with some or most unwanted bundled software removed. Also, the less processes running the more system resources and memory I have to do the jobs at hand, as well as makes it easier to know when a process starts running due to a virus or other malware. Like how they teach a cashier to spot counterfeit bills.. They teach you to get to know the real bills so well that when a fake bill pops up, you can easily spot it. Perhaps I'm wanting to go about fixing my problems the wrong way? Any other thoughts are appreciated. John

Bezalel, that looks interesting, but I don't have any need to make an installation pre-activate. Once I reinstall the OS I can activate Windows the normal way.. It IS a fully registered copy of MCE 2005 registered to me..... All I really need to do is remove all the bloated added bundled software HP has added to the MCE 2005 install disks.. (but I don't know how to do that without screwing up critical installation parts/programs/pieces of the install disk's install procedure.) Er.. In other words.. I don't wanna break the thing by accidentally removing a component I shouldn't while trying to remove the bundled software. Or perhaps I'm missing your point?

It's Feb 12, You may have fixed your problem by now but, search for (google) and try a program called Uninstall Plus 3.9. It will help you uninstall programs that don't come with uninstallers or when the uninstaller log file gets messed up and Windows can't read it. This lil shareware app has saved my butt many times. You have 30 days to try it for free.

Hi, I am having problems with all the software built onto my Hp Presario install disks. I'm pretty familiar with Windows and I like to monitor the app usage. I don't wish to have any software that is not stock with my windows installation. By the way, the OS is Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. As it is, I didn't get Restore CD's with my PC, I had to make them from a locked off 8 gig partition and burn them as iso's. I want my 8 gig's back. I wish to rebuild the iso's after stripping the unwanted software from the disks and reformat my hard drive and partitions (to reclaim the 8 gigs) before installing the OS again. Is there any easy way to do this? A set of instructions perhaps from someone who has done this before?