CLean install -doesnt look like when i bought the computer-

Ok, so long story short...i have had this laptop for about 2 weeks...I usually run a linux o.s. so i installed that on the empty space of my harddrive. Well it didnt recognize my nic so i wiped my harddrive clean, and reinstalled windows with the disks that came with me New Dell Inspiron.

I have a few problems...One is that when i got the pc i had a nice feature on my desktop that you find in alot of linux o.s. that was like a taskbar, or a quick lauch, and it held the desktop icons, Now i dont know what this is called, and cant find a screen shot of it anywhere on the net so far. I want to put it back on my desktop, but i dont know what its called.

When i think of the other issues i will let you know any help is appieciated thank you.

Ok so i just thought of the other issue. I originally had the option to use facial recognition when logging on, and now after the clean install i dont have that option at all...does anybody know how to get that option back?

Hi Lonewolf and welcome to the forums. The first feature you are describing may be the Pin to Taskbar feature. If you have a shortcut, you can drag it dow to the Taskbar and you should have the Pin to Taskbar option. Select that and your shortcut will stay there for quick access.

As for the Face Recognition, you'll have to go to the Dell website and grab the drivers from them if you we not given any physical media with these drivers.

If you have any issues, just post back.

Thank you for your quick reply, I was giving media when i purchased the pc, and i am sure i installed all the drivers but iwill try again.

as for the pin to taskbar, yes it was letting me pin to taskbar, but it was one that sat at the top of the screen, and had options like glow, swing, and grow as you scroll over them. I had as well as the regular task bar any ideas how to get the other one back?

I believe it's a 3rd party tool that Dell packages with their machines. My Dell laptop came with a bunch of that stuff installed. It was installed in Vista however as Win7 wasn't in full commercial release at the time.

My first task with any laptop is to do a full wipe and then install retail media because I actually don't want anything that Dell puts on there - however, you obviously do - and you should have a second recovery disc that has all the applications on it. You can usually specify in the system restore whether or not you want the applications all restored as well (during the ghost restore process) - if not just check support.dell.com and put in your service tag - it should be there in 'other software' or something like that. If you can't find it there, just post a message on the support forums and I'm sure you'll have an answer fast.

If I were to guess, I'd say it was the MS Task Launcher that comes with MS Works 8.x + Did you reinstall works if you had it. If you don't want to do that (and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't) then you can just download one of the freeware or shareware program launchers. There are several to choose from (you can google for them) or maybe someone on here has suggestions.

I personally like RocketDock - it operates very similarly to the one in OSX. There are others that are probably more comfortable to you coming from a Linux familiarity - take a look at Launch Bar Commander or Nexus Dock.

Thanks digicidal....I just looked up Rocketdock and the rest, that is what i was asking about thank you so much! I do have works 9 and i did reinstall even tho i didnt want to lol so i will have to see if the other launch bar is on there...b4 i down load one of the suggested ones Thank you so much!

Well, the quick launch bar that you are describing that came from Dell is actually just RocketDock. There isn't really anything different about it except for the fact that it's called "Dell Dock" within Dell's modified version of Win7.

Personally, anything that has the Dell name on it I avoid like the Ebola virus!!

Just my humble opinion.

Dell makes tough business computers, Latitudes have made them a fortune over the years, and are still going strong. If I were to buy a laptop today, it would be a Latitude, even though I'd pay a small fortune for it. They last and last. The only thing that was wrong with my C640 was the battery charger would only give a trickle charge. It was in it's last month of warranty with Square Trade, so I called them, they had me send in the laptop for free (they emailed me a UPS label), and within a week, I had the full $180 that I paid for it. Otherwise, it ran good for an 8 year old laptop.