Brief questions for new computer setup

[Raymond42262]

I bought a new laptop today. Nothing special compared to many others but I only surf the net and send email .

It is a HP 15G070 NRE1 15 inch with 4GB Ram and 500 GB HD.

I spend the evening trying to set it up and learn about it. But I still have some questions........

1. How do you disable the touchpad so when I type I don't accidentally hit the touchpad and make the mouse go where I don't want it ? On my last laptop, a Lenovo; I used an F key. I can't find anything similar to this on my new one. I know I can go to the control panel, but that is too much trouble. Any ideas ?

2. I downloaded google chrome but when I downloaded or at least tried to download the yahoo toolbar it said i could not do it but it worked on my last comp. Any idea how to work around it ?

3. How do I get rid of bing ?

4. Why is the F5 key blank ?

5. What apps and programs would you delete that were preloaded on yours ?


Many thanks..........!

 

[SiempreTuna]

It is a HP 15G070 NRE1 15 inch with 4GB Ram and 500 GB HD

Sounds plenty good enough for your needs

1. How do you disable the touchpad so when I type I don't accidentally hit the touchpad and make the mouse go where I don't want it ? On my last laptop, a Lenovo; I used an F key. I can't find anything similar to this on my new one. I know I can go to the control panel, but that is too much trouble. Any ideas ?

Sometime there's an option in the bios.

Re-start the computer and you'll get a prompt to hit a key (F2? F8? I forget) to modify the bios. When you do that you'll get some sort of very basic, very ugly menu. Check through the options to see if there's a way to turn off the touchpad.

Unfortunately, you'll have to go through the same rigmarole to turn it back on, too

3. How do I get rid of bing ?

Do you mean the default search engine in the browser or do you mean the Bing desktop?

5. What apps and programs would you delete that were preloaded on yours ?

Depends what they put on there. That varies between manufacturers. My Dell had relatively little bloatware. There were a couple of Office things that I removed because I had a full copy of an older version of Office.

 

[Raymond42262]

new problem........how do i get rid of TROVI ?

I don't know how I managed to get a trojan or whatever it is ......the same day i bought the computer. Just lucky I guess.

I have downloaded Spybot, Ghostery, APB and ADW Cleaner but no luck so far....

 

[Raymond42262]

Do you mean the default search engine in the browser or do you mean the Bing desktop?



Depends what they put on there. That varies between manufacturers. My Dell had relatively little bloatware. There were a couple of Office things that I removed because I had a full copy of an older version of Office.

The default browser..........I like using google chrome as my browser and yahoo as a search engine.

I know yahoo is considered old school but I like seeing the news and easy access to sports and finance when i log on. It is all on the start page but I don't have that on google. It is easier that way.

I downloaded google chrome but it keeps searching bing. Maybe it is a result of the TROVI ?

 

[lunatic59]

Since your laptop is brand new, I'd suggest doing a complete restore. Some of these malware infections are bears to fully get rid of, and seeing as how you don't know how you got it in the first place, you'll probably reinfect yourself.

 

[Raymond42262]

i downloaded adw cleaner again and this time i saw it on the infected list.......

yeah me !

then i went to settings in google......the three bars in the upper right hand corner.........and

i checked the box that said start with new tab instead of open a specific page

then i looked down and saw that under SEARCH it actually had TROVI listed first as my default browser........that was sneaky.......those people (sob's) are smart. So....I scrolled down and made google my default and I deleted trovi as well as ask and aol and bing

It seems like everything is ok now.....so far so good.


I also deleted all the games that came with the computer, I will never play them and they just take up space. I think there were about 30 that were deleted.



Under settings , at the bottom it says ...........PRIVACY.......and there is a box for :

Send a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic

I don't recall seeing this before.......do you recommend checking it......it seems like it would limit phishing and tracking spam.......but i don't want to create a new problem with websites that won't load if it is blocking them........I wonder how many people actually check the box and use it ? It seems like a good idea

thanks in advance

 

[Raymond42262]

Is it possible to cusomize GOOGLE chrome like yahoo so that when you click on google you get a start page like yahoo with all the current news etc..

I know they have a news tab but I have not been able to figure out how to integrate it to be a part of the start page like yahoo......can that be done ?

 

[Raymond42262]

Sounds plenty good enough for your needs



It was only $289.......I am happy.........



Re-start the computer and you'll get a prompt to hit a key (F2? F8? I forget) to modify the bios. When you do that you'll get some sort of very basic, very ugly menu. Check through the options to see if there's a way to turn off the touchpad.

I have gone through every F key there is and I have not been able to lock the touchpad. I wonder if they left it out of this model.



Depends what they put on there. That varies between manufacturers. My Dell had relatively little bloatware. There were a couple of Office things that I removed because I had a full copy of an older version of Office.

Once more problem to solve.........I had to restart my computer several times to run the malware etc and I restarted it after every program I deleted....
I shut the lid on the computer to eat lunch and when I returned I opened the lid.....it had my name.......the name of the computer you are forced to give it.......and it told me I had to enter a password because it was locked. I never put a password on it......I was getting worried.......then I restarted the computer, it came back up and went straight to the page with all the apps and short cuts.

Why did the page with the password request show up and how can I delete that and go around it ?

 

[palmtree5]

Is it possible to cusomize GOOGLE chrome like yahoo so that when you click on google you get a start page like yahoo with all the current news etc..

I know they have a news tab but I have not been able to figure out how to integrate it to be a part of the start page like yahoo......can that be done ?

To set a home page on Chrome, type chrome://settings in the bar and hit enter. Then look for the "On Startup" section which has the option you are looking for

 

[Raymond42262]

To set a home page on Chrome, type chrome://settings in the bar and hit enter. Then look for the "On Startup" section which has the option you are looking for

Thanks, it worked just like you said.

When I hit the link that says on startup go to this page.........

The TROVI address link was there, damn it's sneaky.

Then I went through and deleted my history because I was not sure if any links I opened were TROVI links and I wanted to dump them and get rid of them.

I also deleted all the programs I uninstalled yesterday and today.

I hope the TROVI problem is behind me now.

-----------------------
Any suggestions on shortcuts for the touch pad / F keys ?

Or working around the 'locked' screen ?

One more question as long as I am here...........is there some way to eliminate the 8 boxes under the google search bar .......the ones that pop up for the last 8 searches ? It's annoying......I could not find anything that would turn them off...........


OK............one more question...........how do you adjust the computer so that it does not 'go to sleep' so soon? I know that there is a tab where you can adjust the time but I can't find it...........the computer had W8.1 loaded.

-----------------------------------------

Many thanks for everyone's help here.

 

[Raymond42262]

Under settings , at the bottom it says ...........PRIVACY.......and there is a box for :

Send a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic

I don't recall seeing this before.......do you recommend checking it......it seems like it would limit phishing and tracking spam.......but i don't want to create a new problem with websites that won't load if it is blocking them........I wonder how many people actually check the box and use it ? It seems like a good idea

thanks in advance

Once more problem to solve.........I had to restart my computer several times to run the malware etc and I restarted it after every program I deleted....
I shut the lid on the computer to eat lunch and when I returned I opened the lid.....it had my name.......the name of the computer you are forced to give it.......and it told me I had to enter a password because it was locked. I never put a password on it......I was getting worried.......then I restarted the computer, it came back up and went straight to the page with all the apps and short cuts.

Why did the page with the password request show up and how can I delete that and go around it ?

I am halfway through this problem.
I went to Settings, Control Panel, System and Security, Power Options.

There is a link that says change when the computer sleeps..........I was able to change the time when the computer goes to sleep from 5 minutes to 30. Good for me. Another problem solved.

There is also a link for: Require a password when the computer wakes.

If I click on the link it says require a password (recommended) and the box is checked.

The link underneath says don't require a password and it is unchecked.

Both are these boxes are faded and I can't check / uncheck either box no matter what I do.

How do I make this change ?

I have windows 8.1 and after reading online, I notice it is common to everyone.


-----------------------
Any suggestions on shortcuts for the touch pad / F keys ?

Or working around the 'locked' screen ?

One more question as long as I am here...........is there some way to eliminate the 8 boxes under the google search bar .......the ones that pop up for the last 8 searches ? It's annoying......I could not find anything that would turn them off...........


OK............one more question...........how do you adjust the computer so that it does not 'go to sleep' so soon? I know that there is a tab where you can adjust the time but I can't find it...........the computer had W8.1 loaded.


Solved
-----------------------------------------

Many thanks for everyone's help here.[/QUOTE]


Thanks again.

 

[palmtree5]

To the lock screen asking for a password, just try pressing enter when prompted for a password (I believe this should work if you haven't set a password)

 

[Raymond42262]

To the lock screen asking for a password, just try pressing enter when prompted for a password (I believe this should work if you haven't set a password)

when i do that it comes back saying it is locked.

then I have to restart it.

i found something online that said i should go to settings and go to the box that says 'delete this user' but when i went there it said ....... ' are you sure, it will delete all information related to this user and it cannot be retrieved...' or something similar.

so i left it alone.

i thought i would get a second opinion.

 

[mrex]

When the screen is locked, you need to provide the password you have set. If you havent add any new users, try the password you have set in the first place. It has asked some password when you set the system up? I wouldnt delete any users, if you dont know whom you are deleting and hence you cannot access to the computer anymore.

 

[Raymond42262]

When the screen is locked, you need to provide the password you have set. If you havent add any new users, try the password you have set in the first place. It has asked some password when you set the system up? I wouldnt delete any users, if you dont know whom you are deleting and hence you cannot access to the computer anymore.

I clicked through with enter and I don't need a password.

I never entered one because I don't want to use one. I am the only user so I don't feel the need to use one. If it was used for work, fine; but not at home.

How can I eliminate that screen ? I want to be able to cut on the computer, allow it to cycle through the psychedelic start page and then go to the google news page.

It has done that for the last 4 computers I have had , but not this one. I wonder if it is a Windows 8.1 thing ?

I am sure it is probably a HP thing, the way the keys are set up, but I have not figured it out yet.

Thanks.

 

[mrex]

When the system is locked and you dont provide any pw, does it says "password is incorrect" or similar when you hit the enter or the arrow on the screen?

Just checked mine...power options/system settings in the section Passwords protection... Those both option are grayed and for me it says "Create or change your user account password"

When you select that one, next thing is to select option "make changes to my account in pc settings". Then you need to select "sign in options" and and "passwords policy". Under it it says "Passwords reguired when waking this pc from sleep". And there is a change button.

Dont know does this work for you.