Anyone have any recommendations on how to install 7 with the least background crap possible?
Use a generic installation media. That will give you the plain vanilla Windows unlike the bloated systems of any brand. I just installed one and it had 39 processes running. On my own rig I have about 30.
www.blackviper.com is a good starting point in reducing background processes, but you'll also have to look at how you install additional stuff like Flash Player, PDF reader, printer, whatever - even your motherboard driver cd is probably bloated with unnecessary stuff! Drivers are necessary, everything else is mostly just shiny junk. When installing anything do a custom install, carefully thinking about every checked option and unchecking those that you really don't need. After installing anything look at its settings/options/preferences and set them
never to automatically to look for updates. Also set them not to start at Windows startup.
