PC help/advice please?

[Medusa]

So I finally got dragged into this millenium PC-wise and got a Win 7 computer. Now that I have actual choices as regards what to use for browsers etc I don't know which to stick with. Please help?!

1. Firefox or Chrome? (These 2 only for choices) I thought I'd switch to Chrome due to built in flash, speed, and a few other things, but it's annoying me to no end that it wants me to log in to Google on each startup. Is there any way to shut that off? Otherwise I'll just go back to Firefox.

2. Recovery partition help...On the first startup I made recovery disks and also did a system image backup. Do I really need a recovery partition? On a semi related note, I'd like to keep programs on one half of my (already divided) hard drive, but win7 has my data folders on the C drive along with the programs. How do I direct data to save to D drive, or this is not possible/recommended? I thought data backup would be easier that way. (I do have an external drive for scheduled backups)
My old PC had an 80GB hard drive, therefore this recovery partition stuff is completely new to me, also, I've never had a new new PC and always had the actual MS Windows OS disk, so I'm not sure exactly what I need to do to be able to reinstall Win. 7 if anything ever goes wrong, or if I just want to do a reinstall at some point.

Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

[rdmx]

Use whatever browser you please.

Since your computer came with a recovery partition, I assume it was a pre built from Dell or something similar. In this case, I would keep the recovery partition. In case of hardware failure however, since you should have a Windows 7 sticker somewhere (i.e. an official Windows license), you can safely download a copy of the appropriate Windows 7 iso from Microsoft and reinstall using that.

Unless you have at least two hard drives, I don't think it makes that much difference if you save to either C or D drive if they are all on the same physical drive. However, you can still use symbolic links/junctions to point folders such as my documents to another drive. Especially useful if you have an SSD.

[Darkdrium777]

You do not need the recovery partition if you have the recovery disks. System backup is probably a good idea to keep around anyways. This is separate from system restore points though. All in all that's like three things chipping away at your disk space.
I'll tell you what I did though with my laptop. I downloaded a Windows ISO (You can do that legally here (http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/) as an example for Windows 7 SP1*) and used the product key that came with my laptop. I then downloaded drivers for the devices from the manufacturer's website. Why I did this is because I refuse the bloatware that the restore DVDs will reinstall. Stuff like Sims, Norton, etc.
As far as moving stuff off of C:\, yes. You go to your user account's folder from the start menu (Let's say it's Medusa). You should see everything, like Documents, Music, Video, etc. You right click on those, Properties, and under the Location tab you will find what you want. Tell it to move everything of course.

*Moderator notice: Digital River is a client of Microsoft and the downloads are from the e-store. A legal license key is required to activate the operating system.

EDIT: Since you're here, I suggest Ninite (http://ninite.com/) to install a lot of the stuff you probably use.

[Medusa]

Use whatever browser you please.


LOL yes, that much I know. Should have been more specific, but that is now irrelevant as apparently just changing the home page away from google escapes the sign in page. Doh.

Thanks very much for the help guys. I was slightly overwhelmed by all the new stuff, after looking more thoroughly I figured for sure what's going on (I think).
The drive came already partitioned, OS and program files on C drive, a tiny 14 GB hidden recovery partition (I assume - it's not even labelled!), and another partition of the drive that's larger than C by a few hundred GB. So I followed the instructions here to direct my data to D drive and will keep programs on C. Just in case it EVER makes a difference... http://www.pcworld.com/article/190286/move_your_data_to_a_safer_separate_partition_in_wi ndows_7.html Its basically your instructions, but for dummies. :p

I'm very comforted to hear that I could redownload with the product key/license sticker. I feel so old! I was hesitant to buy the thing because it didn't come with recovery disks! LOL

So...one more question. On my old PC I used Norton. Basically because it has always worked well for me and was on there-but I know it eats RAM (although that shouldn't really be a problem, now!). This one was preloaded with Trend, which I did a quick lookup of before I installed/used it, and it rated a bit better than Norton due to having malware protection built in. I'm still back a decade in PC/software stuff. Is a bigger name antivirus program still "better" due to the ability to collecting data from more PCs (and therefore protect from more threats)?

Thanks for the Ninite link Dark. Sadly, I already wasted half a day installing things...:(

[rdmx]

Personally I'd get rid of Trend Micro and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, and pretty decent. I've had some bad experiences with AVG, and Avira has nag screens. No idea about Avast though.
Don't forget to install Windows Updates if you haven't already.
Of course, the best protection against viruses is to browse smart :P

[Darkdrium777]

Microsoft Security Essentials here as well. Malwarebytes if you feel you need extra protection. That's it.

[Medusa]

Ha, paying for internet security is so 2001...

Thanks again guys, I forgot about MSE totally. I did check it out awhile ago, but of course it wasn't compatible with XP 64 bit. If you could only see the facepalms I've been giving myself.