Clean Install of Win 8 and Win7 on X230--your opinion regarding which pre-installed stuff to reinstall afterwards?

I know the following question has no definitive answer, no right or wrong, only different opinions. I would like your opinion on the following, hopefully with the reasoning behind the opinion.

I recently got a Lenovo X230 with Win 8 Pro installed, just put in a 256GB mSATA SSD, and plan to do a dual-boot clean install of Win 8 and Win 7 to the SSD.

After doing a clean install, of course one needs to install the necessary hardware drivers for graphics, sound, etc.

In your opinion, which of the Lenovo drivers, services, and apps that were in the original installation are useful, good to have, or important to reinstall after a clean install? And from other manufacturers as well, such as some of the Intel stuff that comes preinstalled? (By the latter, not referring to the necessary Intel graphics, chipset drivers, etc., but some of the other stuff that comes with the X230--anti-theft, etc.)

What about the so-called "airbag protection"? Does that really provide useful protection, worth having the extra driver and service running all the time? What about the various anti-theft services that seem to come with the machine? How are they supposed to work? Do you think they are useful?

What is the "Lenovo Password Vault"? Does that work like software such as Roboform or LastPass? If so, better or worse than those? Have you found it useful to restore after a clean install?

I think with Win 8 Lenovo includes a start menu replacement, as Win 8 is unfortunately missing a start menu. There are other apps that will that too, like the freeware Classic Shell. How does the Lenovo one compare?

Feel free to include any that i didn't mention---any Lenovo or other apps that come installed originally, besides necessary hardware drivers, and whether you think it good to reinstall them after a clean install, and why?

Should be an interesting discussion. Thank you for your input.

 

Who has done a clean install on the X230, and which of the pre-installed stuff did you reinstall after the clean install of Windows, and why?

 

I received my X230 with Windoze 7 preinstalled. I clean-installed Windows 8 after two days (of course backing up the Windows 7 activation using Advanced Tokens Manager)

Power Manager is crippled. You can force-install it by setting the compatibility mode to Windows 7, although you couldn't modify the Battery Stretch setting and you can't calibrate your battery. Worse is that you can't uninstall it because you've set the compatibility mode to Windows 7 and you can't do it with Installshield during uninstall.

Hotkey OSD is handled by 8 now. Not much of a biggie though. I don't have the Password Vault simply because I didn't have the fingerprint option added. The Intel Management Engine Components is optional, but the OC in me doesn't want an "Unknown Device" in the Device Manager.

Airbag protection works. Try moving around your laptop while playing some music, you'll notice that sometimes it would stutter, because it parks the hard drive's heads when it senses movements detrimental to the drive's health

StartIsBack is a very good replacement/addition to the Metro screen. No extra services/process are loaded compared to the other alternatives (Start8/Classic Shell/etc). Looks and feels like the 7 start menu. Plus you can configure it like whether to retain Metro-only apps on the Metro start, disabling the charms, use your own logo for the start button, and more.

Here are some of the 'official apps' installed in my X230:
Dolby driver and software (sounds miles away compared to the stock driver. Search here in NBR for this)
Intel stuffs (Network, HD Graphics, Management Engine, SDK for OpenCL - dunno if I need this)
Patch Utility (System Update installed this)
Power Management Driver
Settings Dependency Package (adds registry keys so you could set the battery min/max charging thresholds even without the Power Manager)
On Screen Display (doesn't display anything though)
Rapidboot HDD Accelerator (since I installed it on a hdd)
Card reader driver
UltraNav driver (clickpad/Trackpoint)
Active Protection System
System Update

My security setup is Panda Cloud Free AV and the built in firewall with Windows Firewall Control. Previously I installed Bitdefender Free but it reads and writes to the hdd often that Opera is constantly 'not responding'. Very good protection though. Plus the router handles all the dirty work so I can stick with lightweight options.

You could adjust your fan manually by using TPFanControl.

That's all I guess. Wondering if I would reinstall when the msata ssd comes or just clone it..

 

Thanks for the info, Particle.

What is Advanced Tokens Manager, and why did you need it? Couldn't you use the Product Key with your Win7 to reactivate it?

So--are you saying that it is not worth it to install the Lenovo Power Manager on a Lenovo notebook running a clean-installed Win8? Do others agree?

Is Startisback another freeware start menu for Win8, like Classic Shell? Lenovo has its own, called QuickLaunch. (Not like the Windows Quick Launch toolbar, but a start menu replacement. Not sure that I like it though.

If you have Lenovo System Update running, one would think it might install Lenovo apps one doesn't want. Might it not be better just to use Windows Update, and manually check the Lenovo site for driver updates and such every once in a while?

What is "Active Protection System"? The same as the "airbag"? Regarding the latter, one usually does not use a computer while moving it., It is usually stationary while using it, and asleep or off while moving it. Do you think it is worth the memory hit?

What is the Intel Management Engine for?

What is Lenovo AutoScroll?

Does anyone know, if the Password Vault can import passwords from Roboform or LastPass?

Thanks again.

Others opinions and input?

 

Advanced Tokens Manager backs up your current Windows and Office (if you have it installed) activation without having it to activate again, just restore it. I just want to create a backup option for my activation. You could still use your serial key at the bottom of the laptop if you don't want this.


See this thread regarding Windows 8 compatibility: ThinkPad software for Windows 8

StartIsBack is shareware, costs $5 for a 5-PC license. I didn't liked Classic Shell, and Start8 impacts startup times. Didn't tried QuickLaunch though

You could actually select only the Lenovo Updates you want at System Update, I have the Auto scroll (didn't have to use it) and Realtek driver (replaced by the Dolby driver) 'hidden'

The Airbag and Active Protection System are the same, at Control Panel it is listed as 'Lenovo - Airbag Protection'. I seriously consider installing it if you have a mechanical hard drive, you may never know but you'll need it someday when the laptop is turned on and is accidentally pushed off the table or dropped whilst running.

Probably the Intel Management Engine are for the IT department to manage the company's laptops. You and I don't need this I think

 

If you're only using SSDs and not mechanical HDDs, you can delete the Active Protection System. SSDs don't have any heads to park.

 

Thanks for all the info.

What does auto-scroll do?

Does the airbag protection have any effect on the performance of the HDD?

 

Yes, if it is falling off the table.

 

By "it," Thor meant the ThinkPad with the HDD sitting in the main bay, not the HDD itself. Just saying.

 

My question that you were answering there, about performance, did not have to do with what protection it would offer if falling off the table, but how having that "airbag" software might affect performance if running all the time.

Another thing occurs to me about that protection. The protection is hardware-- a sensor that if it detects certain kinds of movement will park the hard drive. Why would that need software running all the time, a service, etc., in order to work? Might it be working anyhow, and the only point of the software is to send popup messages to the user telling you how often this feature saved your HDD, as a selling point for Lenovo?

For instance, I haven't been up on recent notebook drives, but I know that a couple of years ago (and probably still today), Seagate was selling some notebook drives they called I think G-force (I might have mixed up the name), and I think other manufacturers as well, that had such protection (sensor to park the drive heads from certain movements) built into the drive. It did not need any particular software nor drivers to have that protection, it was built into the hardware, the drive. The sensor in the X230 is built into the notebook rather than the drive itself, But it is similar hardware, I gather. Why should it need a service running all the time to work, when that feature built into drives doesn't need that?

If it needs a service that starts with the OS in order to provide the protection, what if the notebook falls off the desk during bootup, before the OS has started, or at least before the "airbag" service has started? Bye bye protection, if it is dependent on software that starts with the OS.

Or, might that hardware "airbag" protection work in any case, and the software for it is a marketing tool? (I am not saying that is the case, just wondering?