Replacing a hard drive

[Wayout]

Glad to hear! Don't forget to uninstall all the crap that comes preinstalled. You certainly won't need anything with a "demo" label, and many if not all of the "Dell" software have an equivalent already built in Windows.

 I got 2 disks with the lap top.  One was just a windows install disk and the second was a factory restore disk.  I used the windows install disk so none of the Dell add-ons (McAffee, Roxio, Media Direct, etc.) were installed.  Just tried Aces High and it's never run so good.  All the mini hesitations I use to have are gone.  I wish I had done this a long time ago, like when I first got the computer.   

[Bizman]

Sounds like you also were able to find all of the drivers as well, or did they come preinstalled on the OS disk?

[Skuzzy]

Getting rid of all the bloatware installed by OEM's (HP, Dell...) is one of thebest things you can do for your computer.

Norton, McAfee, Roxio, iTunes, Intuit products, (and many more) are all viruses looking for something to mess up.  They will cause all manner of anomalies in any Windows computer.  Horrible software, just horrible.

[Wayout]

Sounds like you also were able to find all of the drivers as well, or did they come preinstalled on the OS disk?

Windows went online did a good job of finding the important ones and it wasn't hard to find the others.  The hardest was the sound card driver and that was only because I was looking in the wrong place.

[Bizman]

I'm not sure about Win7, but as a rule the Windows built in generic drivers are far from the best. I'd take a look on Dell's support site if they have new enough drivers. If they look too old, the next step would be the manufacturer for each device. Driver up-/download sites are full of crap, same goes for driver updating programs.

[Wayout]

Getting rid of all the bloatware installed by OEM's (HP, Dell...) is one of thebest things you can do for your computer.

Norton, McAfee, Roxio, iTunes, Intuit products, (and many more) are all viruses looking for something to mess up.  They will cause all manner of anomalies in any Windows computer.  Horrible software, just horrible.

 You've said that so many times and I did believe you  but I never thought being completely rid of them, by never having them installed in the first place, would have such an effect.  In the game I've been able to turn on more graphics and it still runs better.  Considering I use a lap top with a Intel Core Duo T2350 @ 1.86GHz CPU and a ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 with 128mb ram I couldn't be happier.  Also, before the reinstall I posted a message that bringing up the clipboard caused a -30 to -35 frame rate hit.  Not any more.  Frame rate stays at a steady 55+, clipboard open or not.

 Once again, thanks to everyone who helped me through this.  If not for the 300+ Windows updates this would have been fun.  

[Wayout]

I'm not sure about Win7, but as a rule the Windows built in generic drivers are far from the best. I'd take a look on Dell's support site if they have new enough drivers. If they look too old, the next step would be the manufacturer for each device. Driver up-/download sites are full of crap, same goes for driver updating programs.

 For the most part Windows did grab the manufactures latest drivers and the Dell Support website had what was needed to replace the others.