Laptop instaled programs

[ormesbyannie]

Hi all, I have just bought a Toshiba laptop. It came with a load of programs already installed, some look to be useful whilst others don't and they all take up space. I would like to know if there is a way of knowing which can be uninstalled without affecting others. I would think it would be a help if the programs could be listed but there are a lot of them.

[rojash]

Generally speaking if programs are interdependent, they have a single uninstaller, so pretty much, if you don't want something that's installed, just go to control panel/add remove programs, and uninstall what you don't want.

To be on the safe side, just don't go uninstalling anything if you don't know what it is.

[ormesbyannie]

Thanks for that rojash, I understand not to uninstall willy-nilly so how about this one, Cisco EAP-FAST module; Cisco LEAP module and Cisco PEAP moduals, do I need them?

[VHG]

>they all take up space.

Yes but how much space, and is it worth deleting them to save less than 1% of your hard disk space.

If it is new laptop you probably have a large hard disk with loads of space on it, so deleting a few small programs is going to save you almost nothing.

You probably have a video file on your hard disk that is larger than all these programs added together.

Cisco are one of the largest networking companies in the world so I assume those Cisco programs are to do with networking.

Uninstall them and you probably wont be able to get to the internet.

If you DO then have to reinstall them, do you know what all the settings for the software are. NO.

So do yourself a favour, dont delete ANYTHING off the computer or you may well find it stops working.

[Milvus]

LEAP, EAP-FAST and PEAP are all about securely transmitting data and passwords over a wireless network. LEAP is quite old and weak in encryption and authentication and was replaced by EAP-FAST, 3 or 4 years ago. PEAP is a further development of authentication dealing with secure transmission of passwords over a wireless network.
All of these are are two ended. That means who or whatever your computer is talking to will also be using one of these (Your wireless network, hotspots etc) but you won't know which one. So as VHG says, don't delete them

[rojash]

As VHG says, deleting little odds and sods just to recover space on a new laptop is pretty pointless. I had taken your questions to be about large applications that you had no use for (such as the office 2007 trial, that comes pre-installed on many systems nowadays), and things that interfered or clashed with your own preferred software (such as picture managers, etc).

[ormesbyannie]

Thanks again, you are right, it's just a thing I have regarding un-needed 'things' on the hard drive. I will take your advice and leave things alone. Thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

[ACtheTROLL]

and alternatively

before you get too far into making your laptop "home"
make sure you have the recovery partition (and know how to use it)

then safe in the knowledge you can restore everything
rip as much out as you want
(It's how I work ... and I think most of the tecs do it too)
if it ain't broke .... you haven't finished!!

as long as you have a plan "b" and don't actually throw it out the window ... you can't do permanent damage

most of he must have stuff will be "invisible" there will be the bulldog, office etc trials

if you have a burner ... there will be some bundled software

and then all the toshiba "helpers" - none of which are compulsory (and if it is it will be part of the restore)
things like alps touchpad show in add remove ... but with a bit of common sense (and google) you should be ok.