Put Samsung Evo 850 SSD in Laptop, should I uninstall Elements 9 before loading 12?

As there is a wait for my new workstation, and as my OS was corrupted, needed a complere fresh restore from the factory DVDs.
So spent most of yesterday and today stripping off as much of the bloatware I could. And the nightmare to remove Mcafee! ( boy do I Detest that crap).

Sadly my Laptop came with Adobe Elements 9, so it loads from a restore - no way of omitting it.
Previously I had a nightmare withthe online update to Elements 12 - ended up buying a new retail pack with a DVD! And hours with Adobe support unpicking the half assed uninstall mess.

So I wondered this time as I have the Elements 12 DVD, is it cleaner to :-
1. Uninstall Elements 9 and then reboot; and then installl Elements 12?
Or
2. leave Elements 9 there and just load Elements 12 and let it upgrade Elements 12 itself?
Or
3. I have heard one can simply leave Elements 9 there, not activated, and load Elements 12 - but is this possible and or a better way. I will never use Elements 9.

I am Just looking for the cleanest ( speed wise ). - hassle free route!
Any views........

4. Similarly my version of Windows 7 Home Premium OEM came with Office Starter loaded. I Have the Office 2010 retail pack with the DVD.
Should I uninstall the Office Starter first and then Load full Office 2010?

5. I always wondered if there was a right sequnce to do these Operating System installs.
I have followed this sequence but am interested to know if there is a better order of doing it.
A) Restored the OS, then set up my internet etc.
B) Removed bloat ware such as PMB, Mcafee, etc
C) Loaded Norton Internet Security 2015 , updated it, done a Live update to get the latest virus updates
D) Done all the Sony Vaio Updates
E) done all the Windows Updates - probably 8 times before it stopped finding more.
F) Removed Office Starter ( and maybe unactivated Office Full) - who knows what was there??
G) re run Windows Updates.

Next proposed plan is:-
i) Create a bootable Restore Image on a USB stick
ii) Remove Elements 9
iii) create another Bootable OS image on a USB stick.
iv) Load Office
v) Load Adobe Elements 12
vi) Load Portraiture Photoshop Plug In
vii) Load Canon DPP

Then have a big drink if it all performs.

BTW the Samsung 850 EVO is awesome for the money, and the magician s/w to customise - optimise the performance is beautifully written - works like a dream. I missed the BiOS screen, yet it managed to convert it to AHIC and set "as SATA"
What a a bang for the buck!
Boot to password is 10 secs and from Password to using Windows 7 is circa 3 secs.
I even got an unexpected present ....... The old HD was a SATA II 3 Gb/s but withthe new Samsung , it says its 6GB/s so I must have had the SATA III controller there unactivated! That was a pleasant surprise.

I'd uninstall everything you're planning on installing fresh. Probably doesn't matter though.

Order:
- OS, then windows update IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise hackers will get into your decade old operating system before you've installed your software. You'll need to run windows update about 5 times before all updates will be in, it'll take HOURS. If you can download SP1 in advance that may save a bit of time. W7 is SUPER OLD, I'd really honestly just install it then immediately upgrade to W10 beta - google to find the "windows insider program".
- Sony updates
- Remove stuff
- Install stuff

When you say restore image, do you mean an image of your disk? As I've said many times, use Macrium Reflect free. Works great. Run it from a boot USB stick. That's why I don't keep data on my OS disk, so my images are small. If you have caches, images, etc, on that disk the OS images get huge. Mine are only 20GB.

I've also said this before, but I wouldn't delete then reuse a disk that I've used for years, too much risk of losing stuff. The reflect image helps of course.

tim wrote in post #17637257
I'd uninstall everything you're planning on installing fresh. Probably doesn't matter though.

Order:
- OS, then windows update IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise hackers will get into your decade old operating system before you've installed your software. You'll need to run windows update about 5 times before all updates will be in, it'll take HOURS. If you can download SP1 in advance that may save a bit of time. W7 is SUPER OLD, I'd really honestly just install it then immediately upgrade to W10 beta - google to find the "windows insider program".
- Sony updates
- Remove stuff
- Install stuff

When you say restore image, do you mean an image of your disk? As I've said many times, use Macrium Reflect free. Works great. Run it from a boot USB stick. That's why I don't keep data on my OS disk, so my images are small. If you have caches, images, etc, on that disk the OS images get huge. Mine are only 20GB.

I've also said this before, but I wouldn't delete then reuse a disk that I've used for years, too much risk of losing stuff. The reflect image helps of course.

Thanks