New IBM T42 - How to config it?

[Robor]

I'm new to IBM's... What's the standard "to do" when you get one?

I booted it and registered it. I've got it on my network and found it takes forever to boot and had ~ 40 processes running. That seems like a lot to me considering this is a fresh load. I decided to let it do the IBM updates and it took a while to do it and dropped to a DOS window and shut down(BIOS update?). I booted it again and decided to put SP2 on it. It's about 50% thru and it's been an hour.

One of two things... Either something is wrong or the preinstalled software is bogging this thing down. I'm ready to blow away the whole drive and install just the necessary drivers. Should I do it considering I don't have a restore CD? Should I just blow away the existing WinXP partition and reload?

Thanks!

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

I hear NAV is a resource hog. You can order the recovery CDs (8) from IBM at no charge. Then you can blow away the hidden restore partition.

 

[jvarszegi]

I reverted my Thinkpad T41 to Windows Classic LAF, turned off unnecessary services, disabled system restore, disabled paging executive files, etc. and it sped up quite a bit. Go into the BIOS if you want to make the hidden 4GB partition available to the OS.

 

[Robor]

I decided to blow away the system partition and install a standard version of WinXP Pro on it. I had to go to IBM's site to download all of the hardware drivers though. I installed the HD shock protection and updater programs. The system definitely boots much faster and the desktop is ready for use quicker than before.

Are there any "must have" IBM programs I should install?

BTW - This notebook is sweet!

Edit: Thanks for the info on getting the CD's from IBM. I think I'll give them a call and have them shipped when I see about upgrading my warranty.