Thank both for the awesome help.
I totally agree with what Jan says about learning in the course of wp installation. However I often witness WP beginners go with auto installation for the sake of convenience.
As I prefer ‘clean’ install, I could not agree more with what Lyle says. Managed WP hostings sneak in so called ‘optimization plugins’. I have always doubted its effect. It might help site performance, but having it as a bundle plugin bothers me somehow.
Once again, thank you for the contribution! much helped