These applied for me, so your mileage may vary:
1) In order:
- Make backup discs
- Turn off Active Keys so that my F12 doesn't turn off my wireless connection unless I press Fn+F12
- Split up the hard drive into a Windows partition, a programs partition and a data partition
- Defrag the new partitions
- Install antivirus, firewall and other important utilities (7zip, PDF printer, video codecs and player, etc...)
- Set up wireless, connect to Internet, and register the system with HP
- Update Windows all the way. This will take a full day, I find.
- Make backup image of hard drive so that I can recover it quickly to a usable state before I start using it
- ???
- Profit
2) Yes, but it's pointless to do so IMHO as HP has put very little bloatware on the notebook, and most of the apps they have put in are actually useful or vital to full control of the computer.
3) Uninstall, then use CCleaner. Closest you can get.
4) Sure, but why would you want to do that? That's what the backup discs you make are for. It's better to set up your computer the way you want it to be set up first (without non-essential programs or games), update Windows and then back up the hard drive after that. That way, you have an image that you can immediately use rather than spend a whole day setting up the computer again if a virus hits you. Lesson I learned the hard way.
I have a few questions though.
Why should I split up the hard drive into 3 partitions? Can I split them into just 2 partitions (C: for Program Files & Windows Files and D: for non-essentials like songs and movies) like a desktop?
About Item 4, I mean backing the system into the hard drive ONLY instead of making discs. I don't have discs lol. By the way, how many DVD-R/DVD+R discs did you used to make the recovery disc and repair disc? Or I can use a Blu-Ray disc instead?