New system cleanup

[TimGu]

Is there a list anywhere that provides information on the software typically loaded on a new HP laptop?  What is included as part of Windows 10? What is part of the Office package (for which I would be charged an annual fee)?  What other programs are temporary/subscription based?  Which are essential to proper operation and cannot be deleted?  And, what do they do (what is the function/purpose, why should I want them)?

I got a Pavilion x360 earlier this year (Product number - 6UQ02AV) and it looks to be a good piece of hardware, but it came preloaded with a bunch of software/programs, most of which I probably do not want or need ( shopping programs, crappy games, promotional junk, really!).  Before I try to dump the whole lot and start fresh, I would like to see what looks useful.  I am coming from an old Win 7 desktop system, so most of this looks new to me.

Lastly, what is the best way to clean this thing up?  Do a reload of Win 10 and add programs I want or delete individual programs?  I do not want to "brick" my new computer. 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@TimGu 

Understand what you're asking for -- but I'm not aware of ANY of that information being available.

Some folks would argue with me about this, but the utilities that HP preloads on their PCs are only designed to "assist" users -- and in my view, are not critical to the PC functioning.  I have generally done a clean-install on OEM PCs just after setting them up and I have yet to run into any issues as a result.  You won't be able to uninstall some of the HP utilities because there are no entries to do that.

What you need to do first is make a backup of your HP drivers to a USB stick.  With this, you can do a clean install from Win10 media you create from Microsoft and get all your HP drivers back.  Here are the instructions:  https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-backup-restore-device-drivers-windows-10-a.html

Also, you are doing this at your own risk -- since if the process fails for any reason, you would have to use the HP Cloud Recovery tool to restore your PC and there is no guarantee that will work.  So, I would follow the instructions below to make an external image backup PRIOR to doing the clean-install.  That way, if there are issues afterward, you have something to restore FROM.

I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

So now, you can download and create Win10 install media from MS, boot from that, and use that to do a clean-install of your PC.  Remember to use the USB stick you create to restore your HP drives afterward.

Good Luck

[TimGu]

WAWood, thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough answer.  It seems that I have quite a bit of cleanup work ahead.  I wish HP would offer a "clean system" option. 

As for all the preloads that came on the system, in your opinion are there any that are particularly useful that I should consider keeping/reloading?

Tim