Hmm, no USB booting???

[clash-city-rocker]

Well, perhaps my overjoyment with the hardware in my FS-295XP was premature.

Got my system setup perfectly, and am going to make a Norton Ghost backup of the system. My usual method involves a bootable USB memory key. Every PC I have owned in the last 5 years has been capable of booting from it, including my 3yr old Dell laptop.

Can I get this Vaio to boot from it? Nope.. Looks like USB booting is not supported (unless someone knows different).

Can this really be true?? If so, I may consider returning it, as I cannot function without bootable removable storage, and this laptop has no floppy.

[tonybeard]

Well I have to agree with you regarding Dick to DVD and the Hortons rubbish and spyware prone toolbars but you can't knock the Adobe package plus I got the MS Works but they are obviously not doing that anymore (when it installs LOL). Overall I was quite impressed with the package onboard and you can simply uninstall anything you don't like. Nero would have been better too but I would rather have more than I need than less.

[jumpsuit]

On an interesting note, some of the sony software thrown at random onto my pc when it was welded together by monkeys had spyware detected in it, eg keyloggers.

[kee-lo_]

Yeah the Adobe stuff is great - a nice addition to the VAIO family

[intradinkq]

i'm with mgillespie on this issue. Booting from usb is a very useful feature. I have external usb drives with an OS installed so that I can use it for recovery or to try out OS's without trashing the native install on the laptop.

I also use a usb thumbdrive with a bootable linux installation from time to time.

On the question of software, machines should come with a clean OS install and maybe a script that offers the option of installing your preferred choice of cr@p.

[kee-lo_]

True
You'd think Sony VAIO would be flexible as it's meant to suit the multimedia crowd