M$/Lenovo bloatware

[dedanna1029]

Gee, wonder what would happen if I got rid of all the Lenovo and M$ bloatware? All the "Live" crapola, the works?

Whadya think? If I uninstall all this crap?

Windows 8.1, my lappy specs are here.

Seriously, let's learn something.

[viking60]

You should be able to turn off UEFI secure boot in your firmware and go for Bios legacy mode.
After that you should be able to install Windows from your created install media in MBR (Master Boot Record) mode as opposed to UEFI mode.

To achieve that you need the bootmgr file on the root of your media. To prevent Windows from installing in Uefi mode you need to remove the efi folder from the root of your media.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lib ... 25112.aspx

As long as you manage to turn off Uefi secure boot you should be good to go. I am not sure you that you can uninstall all that crap without re-formating the disk - and I am not even sure if that would help.

You can install with Uefi with secure boot turned off - that option should be possible. Linux is perfectly capable to be installed on Uefi boxes (That secure thing is Microsoft stuff) .

Here is how Manjaro does it:

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?titl ... tall_Guide

Installing On Uefi with secure boot turned off; has the advantage that large disks over two terrabytes are handled better.

Here ist the excellent documentation from the "mother ship"

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un ... _Interface

As you can see it is technically possible to install Linux even with secure boot turned on - but that requires some hacking.

[dedanna1029]

Yeah, but there are issues when I turn off UEFI.

[viking60]

Sure Windows won't boot because it needs the MS certification - it will have to be installed again without secure boot if possible.

[dedanna1029]

It boots, it just dumps the PXE-ROM.
Although, I'm not sure what that is. All I know is this thing runs really slllloooooowww... I'm talking about when I turn it off now. If I'm having issues now with Windows when it's off, then... ???

[dedanna1029]

At the end of the day, I just am wondering how much of the software (er, bloatware) I can uninstall without affecting the hardware for now. It's all up there. ^^
I'm seeing Lenovo Companion, Skype, a bunch of Lenovo proggies... Lenovo Settings, Lenovo Messenger (which starts on boot), all kinds of stuff I don't need or want.

[viking60]

PXE is a pre boot environment that loads Operative Systems.

Here are some examples:
http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX

https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/PXE/PXE_Setup/Menus

So PXE is where you set what OS to load. There might be a config file that you can work with - I am not sure

Maybe something like /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

[dedanna1029]

OK. What about the pre-installed Lenovo and Microsuck software? This is what I'm trying to get down to.

Lenovo Messenger starts on boot, drives me nuts.
Companion I don't give a rats about.
Skype has gone to crap.
I think I have a better way of listing all this stuff.

The bloatware the computer came with:

Mail, Calendar, McAfee, Lenovo Settings, Skype, Weather, OneDrive, etc.? Can I uninstall this stuff that I've put arrows on (I finally figured out resize in Paint)?

Thanks.

[viking60]

It sounds like you have to turn that off in the BIOS.

Maybe this write up can be of some help too:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3332

You disable secure boot like this in Win 8 and 8.1

Boot Windows 8

Press the Windows+I keys

Click Change PC Settings

Click General and then Advanced Startup

Click Restart now

Click UEFI Firmware settings.

In Windows 8.1, do the following:

From the left sidebar, go to Update and recovery

Click Advanced startup

Click Restart now.

The machine should then reboot and enter the BIOS where you can disable Secure Boot.