Buying a school computer, blah blah blah. Too incompetent to build my own. So I go to the Dell page, and try to fix something up. They want to give me all this stupid crap - AOL, "Dell Media Experience", whatever the hell that is - and clog up the system with spam before I even turn it on. Is there anyplace I get get a good, resonably priced PC that won't make me run AdAware right out of the box?

Edit: Eh, forget it. Went with the Spamtastic machine. I'll just have to clean it out. Bah.

If the hardware is what you want, it's fine to get one of those. But before you do anything, wipe the disk and start from scratch. Trust me, that's a whole lot easier than trying to remove every single little piece of junk they put on there.

http://unattended.msfn.org/ has lots of info. I suggest making your own Windows CD with the latest SP slipstreamed. You can add other program installs (some are easier than others) and tweak Windows settings too.

While you're at it, you may want to make a BartPE disc too. It's basically a minimal install of WinXP that runs from a CD. Very handy for recovery stuff. You can also use it to get online and get patches, without having to worry about getting your unpatched install infected. If you have the means to save them beforehand, I'd suggest downloading and saving all the necessary patches from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...CurrentDL.aspx before you start, so you don't even have to get online before you get your system patched.

Well you can remove some of that software on the dell configure page, aol is optional dell media may not be if i recall, but its only about 4 clicks to delete it off your computer (dell media experience is just musicmatch software that has no key in it if i recall) theres also dell help and thats quick to remove as well. It wouldnt take but 15mins to remove it all through add/remove and you'll be set, or...format and reinstall it, that'd only take 20mins longer.

When I bought my laptop I go on pricewatch and got one with no OS. Basically I don't know of a lot of software you are going to need aside from OS and Office type software, and the savings ought to cover that. Anything else is just utilities that are freeware online, or games you might buy if you don't already own.

I know you already got the system, but I doubt I'll ever buy anything again that comes preloaded at all. I think the biggest perk is that this way they MUST give you a driver CD, instead of some gimp restore CD that auto loads the drivers but you can't access otherwise.

www.ibuypower.com

It's where I got my computer. You can even decide not to get certain components and they'll still put it all together for you. I got mine without any CD drives or an OS because I already had all those things. Good prices too.