Guide: To-do list and IMP things on any laptop / factory reset laptop

Check list and To-dos for HP laptop or Factory reset laptop using HP recovery discs:

Following instructions apply for all laptops using Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 OS.

I’ve created this small guide to help users to make best out of the awesome HP laptops and keep system running like brand new laptop all the time! 

I advise you to restart System several times during this course to get things configured well.

1)      Charge laptop battery to 100% and restart it at least twice, so that all the drivers get configured well.

2)      Run all diagnostic tests from Boot menu. Press F2 when laptop boots. It’s good to get all tests done, to prevent further problems/issues.

3)      Turn off Windows features like Indexing, Games, etc. if not required.

4)      Defragment hard-disk and use Disk clean-up to clean up files.

5)      Don’t partition HDD or copy your data into HDD. Copying personal data may slow down tasks those need to be performed.

6)      Install Latest BIOS, HP Software frameworks, Intel Management Engine Interface, Chipset Utilities, Essential System updates, Intel Rapid Storage Technology. Be sure to restart laptop after each installation, as these are critical updates.

7)      Run Windows updates and install all of them except Intel HD graphics AND/OR AMD/NVidia Graphics driver.

8)      All Windows updates aren’t installed at once. So restarting and checking for updates 2-3 times is necessary.

9)      Install Intel HD graphics driver if applicable and then install AMD/NVidia Graphics driver.
After installation check if both the graphic control panels are working by right clicking on desktop. If it doesn’t work, uninstall non-working driver, restart and install again.

10)   You may install Intel HD graphics driver downloaded from Intel Site.

11)   Now install other drivers such as Bluetooth, WLAN (Wi-Fi), LAN card, Card reader and other drivers.

12)   I suggest you not to install extra Software except essential apps like Browser, VLC, MS Office, PDF reader, etc.  Also don’t use any registry editor during this course.

13)   If you don’t have HP recovery discs, I strongly recommend you to create them using HP recovery media creationtool. You may need 4-6 DVD-R or DVD+R or USB drive of at least 16 GB. Also create System repair disc; it’ll be useful if you face nay boot-time problems/errors.

14)   After you’ve created recovery discs, now you can repartition your hard-disk.

15)   I suggest you not to remove/format/delete any partition. Use Partition manager like EaseUS or other you like. Windows tool is little complex and doesn’t have many options.

16)   Resize C drive to at least 70 GB or more as per your need. I suggest 100 GB. Use unallocated space to resize D drive (Recovery partition) to unallocated size.

HP_TOOLS can’t be resized as it is FAT32 partition and others are NTFS. Also HP_TOOLS contain important HP diagnostic tools, which are much better than Windows tools.
By resizing Recovery partition, you don’t lose recovery folder and additionally you can create recovery media anytime later if not possible at that instant.

17)   After resizing partitions and installing all drivers and if they are working well, create a system image to external HDD or Blu-ray, because the size of image will be larger to accommodate on DVD.

18)   Create additional power plans. I suggest you not to tweak system power plans too much.

19)   Delete System restore points except latest one, as they are not needed after all is working well. Use CCleaner to delete them.

20)   At this point you can use CCleaner to clean data and invalid registry files.

21)   Rate your system to get latest system rating after configuring all things.

22)   Install Monitoring tools like Speccy, HWMonitor, GPU-Z to check if System is working normally and perfectly.

23)   Check if your System protection for C drive is On or not. It is essential if you want to use Restore points.

24)   Now you can tweak your system and install your favourite apps. Enjoy! 

Thanks for reading!