For the last three years, I haven't touched a PC. After years in the PC world, I decided to switch to the Mac, and I never looked back.
But recently, there was a software package that I wanted for the restaurant I co-own with my brother in law, Steve Welch (Oggi Gourmet in Harvard Square). I decided to buy a low cost laptop with Windows 7 to run that software.
I had heard many good things about Windows 7. I had heard that it came pretty close to a Mac experience. So I approached the whole thing with some excitement. Maybe this amazingly low cost laptop ($400 for 15" color Compaq CQ42-410US) would give me some Mac-like love on the cheap.
It started up pretty fast, and that was promising. But soon, it was clear that the Windows gremlins that I had come to know and dislike were lurking within this modern Windows 7 product. First up: How the heck do I get rid of the annoying HP "dock" that they cleverly float at the top of the screen?
Searched for the answer, and found this;
Re: HP Advisor / HP Dock launch at startup... How to Disable?
You need to turn it off in the background.
Go to Control panel/administrative tools/system configuration/startup and untick both HP Advisor and HP Mediasmart
Apply and restart
I tried to find this, but couldn't. Neither could some others:
Re: Disabling the HP Advisor Dock
This didn't quite work for me. When I get to the Startup window, there is nothing called HP Advisor. I have "hpsysdrv Application", "HP Remote Solution," and "hpwuschd Application." Which one(s) do I want to disable. I agree with the others on this list that HP Advisor is a pure nuisance. Thank you for your help.
Finally, I found this fix, which worked:
Re: HP Advisor / HP Dock launch at startup... How to Disable?
Here are step by step directions to help out with this if you cant understand from the others that said something similar.
Literally, step by step, and anyone should be able to do this.
1. Click the windows start button
2. in the text box where it says "search programs and files", Type run
3. Click on the run option, under the program header
4. Once the run box opens, type msconfig
5. Click the tab that says "Start Up"
6. Scroll through and find where it says "HP Advisor". Uncheck the box
7. Hit "ok"
8. Restart
This is 2011! And I'm still messing with msconfig? I was truly amazed. But to get rid of that silly toolbar, I did it. And it worked. It did not give me a sense of satisfaction. No, it made me feel that innocent people are still being forced to do strange things with computers, just to solve simple problems.
But, it wasn't over yet. Each time I would reboot the machine, it would come up with no network. I searched the web again for how to make a Windows 7 machine automatically connect to a network. I got this little beauty:
open search, type "services.msc" open services.
Scroll down to "wlan auto config" right click, stop the service.
Navigate to
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Wlansvc\ delete everything in this folder leaving only a folder called "profiles" delete everything in the "profiles" folder except for a folder called "interfaces" delete everything in the "interfaces" folder)
Restart "wlan auto config" connect to your wireless network, enter
your passkey, (ensure the connect automaticly box is checked)
Restart your computer job done, your computer will now connect to your wireless network automaticly on boot.
I did this , and it worked. So now I have PC laptop that seems to be set up the way I want it. But I must say, I was shocked that Windows 7 (with a little help from HP) would still subject users to the things like I had to do.
I admit I'm an Apple fan. But frankly, I had expected more from Windows 7. Did I miss something here? Windows fans: was there some easy way to fix these problems that I just didn't see, and I would have known if I was more used to Windows?
