On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:48:00 -0400
Paul wrote:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-refresh-media

I'm wondering if I use this installation media from Microsoft, if it
will just install Windows 8.1 with out the Dell and Intel programs?

Will it leave the restore partition alone?

I'm downloading the 4 GB ISO right now, and have about an hour to
go.

If I don't see an improvement after this, I will definitely buy an
SSD.

If that disc is real installation media, you should be able
to point it at the partition that is to receive the OS.

I have, on occasion, set up a partition structure, before
doing an OS installation. As a means to "coax" the installation
to be done a certain way. It's one possible way to get the boot
partition and the system, into the same primary partition.

But whether that works with just any media, who knows. The thing is,
Microsoft isn't exactly very consistent now. They tend to do whatever
they feel like. On the last Win10 Technical Preview "upgrade",
the installation created a 450MB recovery boot partition, and
they just chewed 450MB off one partition, changed the partition
table order (bumped my DATA partition from slot 3 to slot 4).
And all without consulting me. So when it comes to
any policy that comes with the disc you're downloading, it
might all depend on whether the disc is the "original" 8.1,
or something they cooked up just for the purpose.

The only positive thing I can say about the whole
process you're about to go through, is the OS will
activate automatically. It'll use the Win8 key value
stored in a BIOS table of your OEM computer. But
as for the rest of it, will it leave the disc alone
and so on... do a backup first! You can't really
trust anyone these days.

I was wondering about activation. I found out the reason the computer
didn't have a product key sticker on it is because the product key is
stored in the BIOS.

Another thing that worried me, was after the installation media had
been written to the USB flash drive, there was a message that said:
"Be sure to have your product key ready when you are ready to install
Windows 8.1".

I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's
Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with
the Dell and Intel programs installed on it.

I think the safest thing to do is restore the computer to factory
settings, remove the hard drive and store it. Then install a 250 GB
SSD, and install Windows 7 on it.

I will just have to wait and see what happens with Windows 10.