Can someone ehlp me get this Sony Vaio working smoothly?

It just wants MS Word, Internet and anti virus stuff. For what ever reason the MS key doesn't work. Beers for payment.

If you can help send me PM.

Cheers

spelling lessons would also help

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I'd recommend Libreoffice instead of MS Word, it's completely compatible and free so no mucking about with software keys and what have you. Can't help with much else tho, not used Windows in a while.

TBH it's the sony bloatware that I want rid off

http://lifehacker.com/282337/completely-remove-programs-with-revo-uninstaller

Very good uninstaller here

What a fucking ball ache this is. I have no idea what is worth keeping or jibbing and there are so many websites saying keep this, loose that.

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Personally I'd completely reinstall it if you want to get rid of the all the Sony shit.

But that would mean a windows license (if you use the recovery disk you'll get the same shit back).

Assuming you don't have one of them, your options are pretty much Linux, or a pirate copy of Windows (with all the problems that brings). And you still may need some Sony drivers to get things like hotkeys working properly.

My choice would be Linux, no virus issues, unless it's the latest hardware things like hotkeys should be dealt with, the only issue is getting used to a new operating system, and you can't run MS Word, but OpenOffice is fine for most purposes.

This is my Mum's laptop. She'll only use the internet, and some kind of MS word program. My head hurts look at all the stuff. Conflicting info as to what things do....FML

In that case I'd suggest downloading Ubuntu, and burning it to CD or USB stick.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

You can run it as a Live CD, meaning you can try it out, see if it would meet her purposes, if you don't like it you've not lost anything.

Making it Ubutu? Why can't I just find a simple list that says EXACTLY what I can and what I should not delete for idiots like me that aren't computer literate?

Because there isn't really a simple list. I've had Sony laptops in the past, and it's pretty hard to get rid of some of it, it's so deeply embedded into the OS, delete the wrong thing and you'll stop something important working.

I've tried in the past, and in the end always opted for the easy option, install from a vanilla Windows disk, or install Linux.

+1 for Ubuntu, but I'd suggest LinuxMint, which is based on Ubuntu but keeps a user interface more familiar to a Windows user. Try them both though, it'll only cost you two CD-Rs.

Yeah, not tried LinuxMint yet, but heard good things about it.

Ta for the info. I've zapped a few bits and will see how it runs. If there are any issues then I'll look into the minty linux suggestion...

Installed Mint 12 on two laptops yesterday, worked perfectly on a FujitsuAmilo but I need to install wifi drivers for a HP DV8000 laptop which uses Broadcom chips. Luckily, I knew this before starting the actual install.

Which version of Windows is it running MG?