How to restore factory settings on laptop

Answer

How to obtain Vista Recovery Media and/or use the Vista Recovery Partition on your computer to put it back to Factory Settings.

There is no legal free Vista download available. Contact your Computer Manufacturer and ask them to send you a set of Vista Recovery disk/s.

They normally do that for a small $ cost.

Also, ask them if you have a Recovery Partition on your Computer/Laptop to restore it to Factory settings. See if a Manual came with the computer, or go to the Manufacturer's website, email or phone them for info on how to do a Recovery.

Normally, you would press F10 or F11 at Startup to commence the Recovery Process.. Another way I have seen on some models is to tap F8, and go to a list of Startup options, and start a Factory Standards Recovery from in there, by selecting the Repair computer option. Also ask them if it is possible to make Recovery Disk/s from the Recovery Partition in case of Hard Drive failure or System Crash. They will tell you how to do that.

Each Computer Manufacturer has their own way of making Recovery Disk/s. Or borrow a proper Microsoft Vista DVD(not Dell, HP, etc).

A proper Vista DVD contains all Vista versions. The Product Key determines which Vista version gets installed. There are 2 Vista disks: one for 32bit Operating System, and one for 64bit Operating System.

If a clean install is required with a proper Vista DVD (not HP, Dell Recovery Disks):

Go into your Bios/Setup, or Boot Menu, at startup, and change the Boot Order to make the DVD/CD drive 1st in the Boot Order, then reboot with the disk in the Drive.

At startup/power on you should see at the bottom of the screen either F2 or DELETE, to go into Bios/Setup, or F12 for the Boot Menu

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/918884 MS advice on doing clean install. http://www.theeldergeekvista.com/vista_clean_installation.htm A Tutorial on doing a clean install

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_install_03.asp

Windows Vista Installation Super Guide

After installation > Go to your Laptop/Computer Manufacturer's website > Drivers and Downloads Section > Key in your Model number > Look for latest Vista Drivers for it > Download/install them.

Save all Data, as it will be lost during a clean install.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For any Activation problems: Try this, and take the phone Option, and hold on for a real person to explain to:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/quick-start/activation-faq.aspx Activation FAQs at above link.

1. Click Start, and in the Search box type: slui.exe 4 2. Press ENTER on your Keyboard 3. Select your Country. 4. Take the Phone Activation option, and hold on for a real person. mm

If locked out except for 3 choices, use the reduced functionality option to get into Windows to do the above Activation.

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/genuinevista/threads

Issues relating to the Windows Vista Software Protection Platform - Non-Genuine dialog boxes, validation problems, or Software Licensing Services messages.

If the information/help supplied does not work, repost your question in the above Forum.

How To Reset Windows 7 To Original Factory Settings [Complete Guide]

By Usman on Apr 04 2011 14 Comments

We all know that the next version of Microsoft Windows OS Windows 8 will have an immensely handy option to reset Windows to original state, also referred to as, restore system to original factory settings. Many Windows 7 users feel that itd be better if there is any tool or system recovery utility which can effortlessly revert the system running Windows 7 back to its original state (provided you have not made a recovery disk). As far as Windows 7 is concerned, there are lot of methods available online, claiming to bring back the original settings of Windows 7 with default set of pre-installed programs, application compilers, and software packages, but sadly, all the contrived methods seem tiring and require a lot of effort, leaving user with no other option than to manually reset Windows to original settings. In this post, we will look at to what extent a Windows 7 user can bring the original settings back to achieve super fast processing speed and best system performance. The process of resetting Windows 7 back to factory settings will ensure that Windows doesnt contain any invalid Windows registry entries, superfluous Windows shell components and right-click context menu options, files and folders which were created by Windows for processing different kind of operations, bloated Temp folders, empty folders filled with junk files, application cache files, and other libraries which got registered in Windows System32 folder.

To start off with resetting Windows 7, first, make sure that youve backed up all the important data and portable applications with saved user preferences to external storage drive or to any other system.
Remove Third-party Applications and Programs

Obviously, the first step is to head over to Windows Control Panel for removing all the applications which youve installed since first run of Windows 7. To quickly open add/remove programs window, type Add or remove programs in Windows Start search and hit enter. Once the applications get listed, start removing all the applications, desktop utilities and software suite packages except those which come pre-installed with Windows 7. The fastest way to quickly remove all programs is to select them by Publisher name. For example, the best way to quickly list down the all the items from Microsoft is to select Microsoft Corporation from Publisher column drop-down menu to view all the applications, utilities, compilers, library packs, codecs, etc from Microsoft. It doesnt necessarily mean that all the applications from Microsoft come pre-installed in Windows 7, so remove only those applications which youve installed from Microsoft, like, MS Office, Silverlight, SQL Server, etc., along with all other third-party utilities.

Remove Application Cache, MRU List, And Clean & Fix Invalid Windows Registry Entries

After youve uninstalled all the applications and utilities from Add/Remove list. It is advisable to reboot the system in order to completely remove applications cache files, registry entries, folders, and other temp files. To make sure that all the unnecessary application files / folders, cache are removed without leaving an invalid / unassociated registry key, you need to run a system cleaner. Piriforms CCleaner is a widely known utility to unclutter the system in numerous situations and has various options to clean the junk off the system. It can clean MRU (Most Recently Used) lists, saved information in installed / previously installed applications, clear application cache, antivirus generated files, saved passwords and history, and so on. After analyzing the data which is to be removed, click Run Cleaner to perform the cleaning operation.

CCleaner, despite being efficient in cleaning various kinds of application data and info, also claims to be useful in analyzing the Windows Registry integrity and then cleaning invalid paths, application keys, Type libraries, MUI cache, un-bridged library keys, etc. To begin, Click Registry from left sidebar and select all the underlying options to thoroughly check Windows Registry integrity. Once it is finished with scanning registry issues, select all the items in main window, and click Fix selected issues to fix invalid registry entries.

Glary Utilities is another popular all-in-one app to fix a slew of system issues. After cleaning the applications junk and scanning and fixing registry issues, use the free Glary Utilities to clean file traces, fix broken shortcuts, and find those incorrect and invalid Windows registry entries which slipped through CCleaner cracks.

After the scanning process is completed, click Repair Problems to fix all the issues it found during the scan process. You can also click Show Details prior to fixing the broken links and registry entries to review all the problems it discovered. The Modules tab refers to other complementary tools which ensures optimum system performance, including, memory optimizer, context menu manager, system file checker, and registry defragmenter.
Clean Unused Windows Shell Components And Right-Click Context Menu Options

Even though CCleaner removes all the registry keys which are associated with unused or missing applications, there might be a case that after cleaning the system with CCleaner and uninstalling applications

manually, you have a bloated Windows right-click context menu. Cleaning useless right-click context menu options and other Windows shell components takes a lot of effort and time. I am aware of all the utilities out there to remove unused right-click context menu options and have tested all of them with varying results. Therefore, I cant vouch for one utility on which you can rely on. To remove context menu options, try methods and applications in following articles.

Manual Guide to Remove Useless Items from Windows right-click context menu from Windows Registry. Context Menu Editor: Edit items from Windows 7 right-click menu. ShellMenuNew: Remove items from New Menu of Windows 7 right-click menu.

If there are some extra useless options present in Send to menu, you can follow this guide to quickly remove them and keep those which come by default.
Clean Unused Windows Startup Items

There are countless system cleaning utilities available to manage Windows startup items. If you dont rely on third-party cleaning applications, you can always use Windows native System Configuration utility to view all startup items and disable them promptly. However, the main purpose of using startup manager is to identify those applications which surreptitiously add process(es) into Windows Startup items list. To begin, type msconfig in Start Search, and hit enter to open Windows 7 System Configuration utility. Now move to Startup tab to select and hover mouse pointer over an item which you want to delete from Windows Startup items list. The best method would be to launch the application and manually disable the Startup item entry, however, the quick way is to un-check the item from System Configuration window followed by opening the path of application in question in Windows Explorer to uninstall or remove the application manually.

Remove Empty Folders, Stop Sharing Folders & Drives, And Delete Log Files

Even though using the Windows Add/Remove utility to uninstall the application is the recommended way for removing application files, linked libraries, and registry entries, there are times when applications folders dont get removed automatically even after following the proper application removal steps. Therefore, to clean all the empty folders and other associated log files, you need to use a dedicated application for this purpose, such as, previously featured RED. Launch the application and scan all the drives to find and delete all the empty folders. It offers some intuitive set of options to detect the empty folders according to user-defined rules, so you can create a rule to include those folders, which are, apparently not empty, but contain nothing but useless junk, such as, desktop.ini and image thumbnail cache files.

Deleting folders which are being shared over the network is rather difficult, as you need to have administrative privileges to proceed with deletion and, even, if youre logged in as system admin, you will get to pass through the shared file deletion prompt that states This folder is shared with other people. If you delete this folder, it will no longer be shared. To make shared folders deletion

easier, right-click Computer and click Manage to open Computer Management utility. From left sidebar, expand Shared Folder to view all the shares. Now select all folders and drives (while holding Ctrl on keyboard) which you want to stop sharing, right-click on any shared item and click Stop Sharing to immediately quit sharing all the selected items. Once all the selected items disappear from the list, you can easily remove all the shared folders.

Out of all the cleaning utilities that weve tried so far to remove log files, we found Del log command to be the most efficient. When run in Windows Command Line environment with all the parameters a, s, q, and f, it ensures that all the log files will get removed. The screenshot below exhibits removing all the log files from Windows directory, nevertheless, you can run this command in root path of any application folder which contains a complex hierarchy of subfolders with lots of log files.

Activate Administrator Account And Delete All User Profiles

Windows 7 User Profile folders, usually, take more than a 3-4 GB of your system, and even in some cases, they use more than 10 GB of your hard drive, Just like Windows Vista, Windows 7

saves all the application preferences, user folders, documents, music, pictures, application cache, etc in Windows User Profile folders. If your system is used by more than 2 users, it becomes indispensible to clean the junk off these folders on regular basis to save precious disk space. Since our focus is to reset Windows 7 to original settings, lets take a look at the best way of removing User profile folders. If Administrator account is not active on your system, it is advisable to activate administrator account to start afresh. To begin, run CMD from Windows Search with administrative privileges. Now enter following command to activate the administrator account. net user administrator /active:yes

Once activated, log off from Windows and log into Administrator account. Now type Advanced System Settings in Start Search and hit Enter. Under User Profiles section, click Settings to view all the User Profiles. Delete all user profiles except one which is currently being used.

Conclusion

Hopefully, after following above steps, you would be able to reset Windows 7 to the original clean state. Dont forget to defragment your hard disk volumes in the end. Weve tried to touch the most prominent aspects to retain Windows 7 default settings and may have missed out on many. If you have any other important tool, method, or a script in mind which can assist user in resetting Windows 7 to factory settings, drop it off in comments section below.

Authors Note: After moving to a new laptop, I wanted to clean my old laptop without having to reinstall Windows 7. It went better than expected. The guide above was written after many experiments and was made as simple as possible so that everyone can follow.

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

Information This will show you how to create a Windows 7 system repair disc to be able to use to boot to system recovery options to help recover your Windows 7 installation if you don't have a Windows installation disc, can't find your Windows installation disc, or can't access the recovery options provided by your computer manufacturer. A system repair disc is not able to install Windows 7. EXAMPLE: System Recovery Options NOTE: Using the System Repair Disc that you have created below, you can boot to the system recovery options screen below.

Here's How:
1. Open the Start Menu, then type recdisc.exe in the search box and press Enter. A) Go to step 3. OR 2. Open the Control Panel (All Items view), and click on the Backup and Restore icon. A) Click on the Create a System repair disc link in the left blue pane. (See screenshot below)

3. Insert a blank unformatted CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive and click on the Create disc button. (See screenshot below) NOTE: If you are prompted to insert a Windows installation disc, it means that the files needed to create the system repair disc cannot be found on your computer. Insert a Windows 7 installation disc.

4. It will now start creating the System Repair Disc. (See screenshot below) NOTE: If a AutoPlay window pops up, just close it.

5. When it's finished, click on the Close button. (See screenshot below)

6. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)

7. Remove and label your new Windows 7 System Repair Disc from the CD/DVD drive. Tip If you would like to create a bootable USB key drive with this Windows 7 System Repair Disc, then you could use METHOD TWO in the tutorial below to do so.

USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

How to Create a Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive Published by Brink 01-19-2009 USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

How to Create a Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive

Information This will show you how to create a USB flash key drive that you can boot from to install Windows 7 with. Tip If the USB flash drive is of sufficient capacity, say 8GB, then after copying the Windows 7 installation DVD onto it, you can create a new folder (ex: Device Drivers) in the USB key and place all of your latest driver installation files in it. This way you will have them handy to manually install the drivers after installing Windows 7 from the USB key.

Note If you booted from the USB drive to install Windows 7, then you may need to change the hard drive back to being listed before the USB key in the boot order in BIOS after the computer restarts during installation to prevent the computer from booting right back into the USB key starting the installation process over and over. Warning

The USB key needs to be at least 4 GB in size. This will delete everything on the USB key. Be sure to save anything that you do not want to lose on it somewhere else. Before installing Windows 7 from the USB key, you will need to: o Enable Legacy USB storage detect in the BIOS. When ready to install Windows 7 from the USB key: o Connect the USB key. o Restart the computer, and keep tapping the F key (ex: F10 or F8) responsible to open the Boot Menu screen for the brand and model of your motherboard or computer until it does. o Select the USB key to boot from. o Start installing Windows 7.

OPTION ONE Use a Program to Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive
NOTE: If you do not have a ISO file, then you can use a free program like ImgBurn or ISODisk to create a ISO from your Windows 7 installation DVD to use with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool program to make a bootable USB flash drive with the ISO. 1. For how, see the Part 2 section here: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.

OPTION TWO Manually Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive

Warning Using this method:

You can only create a 64-bit Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive if your current Windows 7 installation is also 64-bit. You can create a 32-bit Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive if your current Windows 7 installation is 32-bit or 64-bit.

1. Plug the USB key in. 2. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it. NOTE: Make note of what the drive size is for the USB key for use in step 6 below. You can also open Computer (step 19) to see what the drive size is to. For example, mine is 3920 MB. (See screenshot below)

3. Open a elevated command prompt. 4. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

5. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: Make note of what disk # your USB key is listed as to use in step 6 below. You can also look for the drive size (step 2) of the USB key to help ID the disk number. For example, mine is listed as Disk 1 here for the 3920 MB disk.

6. In the elevated command prompt, type select disk # (your USB disk #) and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: For example, my USB key is listed as Disk 1, so I would type select disk 1 and press Enter.

7. In the elevated command prompt, type clean all and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: Changed to "clean all" instead of "clean" to be more thorough.

8. In the elevated command prompt, type create partition primary and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

9. In the elevated command prompt, type select partition 1 and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

10. In the elevated command prompt, type active and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

11. In the elevated command prompt, type in the command below to format the USB as NTFS or FAT32, and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: This may take a few moments to finish formatting the USB key. Note You can substitute Windows 7 within quotes in the commands below with whatever name (drive label) you would like to have displayed for the USB drive instead.

FAT volume labels

Volume labels can contain as many as 11 characters and can include spaces but no tabs. Volume labels cannot contain the following characters: ? / \ | . , ; : + = [ ] < > " Volume labels are stored as uppercase regardless of whether they contain lowercase letters.

NTFS volume labels

Volume labels can contain as many as 32 characters.

format fs=ntfs label="Windows 7" quick OR format fs=fat32 label="Windows 7" quick

12. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it. 13. In the elevated command prompt, type assign and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: This will assign a new drive letter to the USB key. Make note of the new USB drive letter to use in step 22 below. For example, mine is now H.

14. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it. 15. In the elevated command prompt, type exit and press Enter. (See screenshot below) NOTE: This will exit you from DiskPart from step 4.

16. Close the elevated command prompt. 17. Insert your Windows 7 installation DVD into the DVD drive. 18. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the Windows 7 installation DVD, then just close it. 19. Open the Start Menu, right click on the Computer button, and click on Open.

20. Right click on the DVD drive (ex: E: ) that has the Windows 7 installation DVD in it, and click on Open. (See screenshot below)

21. Highlight all of the contents, right click on the highlighted contents, and click on Copy. (See screenshot below) NOTE: You will need to copy all of the files and folders on the Windows 7 installation DVD to the USB key.

22. Go back to Computer, right click on the USB key drive (ex: H ), and click on Paste. (See screenshot below)

23. The contents of the Windows 7 installation DVD will now start copying over to the USB key. (See screenshot below) NOTE: This may take a few moments to complete.

24. When finished, you can close the Computer window and unplug the USB key. 25. You now have a Windows 7 Installation USB key. That's it,

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

How to Get and Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Published by Darryl Licht 10-24-2009 Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

How to Get and Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Introduction
Information If you would like to burn your downloaded or converted .iso image to a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive, this free Microsoft utility is for you. In very little time this can be accomplished by even a novice, and in this tutorial I'm gonna show you how. I have seperated this tutorial into 2 sections: Part 1 covers how to burn a bootable DVD and Part 2 is on creating a bootable flash drive. This is primarily going to be useful to XP and Vista users who do not have .iso burning software installed on their current HDD and wish to perform a clean install.

Here's How:
First visit the MS Store Website and download and run the installer.

Or just click on this easy to use button ---> After you have successfully downloaded and installed the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, you should see its icon on your desktop. Double click to start the program.

PART 1 - How to Burn a bootable Windows 7 DVD

1) After you launch the app, you will see the Step 1 of 4 dialog box. Here you will navigate to the location of your .iso file by clicking the Browse button. Once you have successfully located your iso file click Next to continue to step 2.

2) In step 2 of 4 you are given the choice of making a bootable DVD or a bootable USB flash. In this first section of my tutorial I show you how to burn a bootable DVD. So click DVD if that is what you want.

3) Make sure you have a blank DVD in your optical drive, or you may see this message.

4) Once you have inserted a blank DVD you will see the folowing screen, click Begin burning to continue.

5) Once the burn starts, you should see the progress bar here at Step 4 of 4. Remember the amount of time it takes to complete the burn depends on many factors... be patient.

6) If all you wanted was a bootable DVD, you are finished when you see the image below, close the program or start over if you wish to make a 2nd copy.

PART 2 - How to create a bootable Windows 7 USB Flash Drive

Warning

You need a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of free space, and the flash drive will be formattted to NTFS! So backup your data before creating this bootable USB, or you will lose all your data!

Follow the instructions in the Introduction at the beginning of tutorial and download and install the tool. The installation will add the program shortcut to your desktop, just double click to start. 1) After you launch the app, you will see the Step 1 of 4 dialog box. Here you will navigate to the location of your .iso file by clicking the Browse button. Once you have successfully located your iso file click Next to continue to step 2.

2) In step 2 of 4 you are given the choice of making a bootable DVD or a bootable USB flash. Here in Part 2 of my tutorial I show you how to create a bootable USB Flash Drive. So click USB device if that is what you want.

3) Here in step 3 of 4 you will select the USB flash drive of your choice by using the drop down list arrow. Once you have chosen the correct Drive, click the Begin copying button.

4) Here in step 4 of 4: Creating bootable USB device, you should see the progress bar move across the screen. As always your speed depends on many factors, have patience!

5) Once completed you should see the following dialog box.

I found it interesting that the USB device icon in "Computer" now looks identical to that of the DVD!

Here are the contents of the USB device after completion...

I hope this helps out some of you who are "stuck" when it comes to burning an iso to DVD or creating a bootable USB device. Thanks!

Windows 7 - Repair CD - System Repair Disk

Recommended Fix: Click here to fix Windows 7 errors and optimize system Performance

Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 >

12-31-2009 iseeuu Repair CD - System Repair Disk 7 Home Pre x64, Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9.04 2,698 posts
MO, USA

#1 (permalink)

Recently questions were raised as to what functions are available on the System Repair CD - Create that Windows 7 will create and burn to a CD.

These clips are are from a 32 bit CD I made: Insert the CD in the CD / DVD drive and reboot the computer. When requested, "Hit any key to boot from CD." Select the Language and click next.

Windows will search for an Operating System to repair.

You can choose to restore a System Image you created, or go the Recovery Tools screen.

These are the same utilities available through the Install DVD, or via the function of the 100 MB System Partition (if installed).

Tapping the F8 key before Windows loads (Safe Mode) opens this menu:

Selecting "Repair Your Computer" also opens the "System Recovery Options" menu, but requires a password to proceed.

Cheers! Robert Please find a complete list of related tutorials here:

MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record

How to Restore the Windows 7 MBR (Master Boot Record) Published by iseeuu 08-14-2009

MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record

How to Restore the Windows 7 MBR (Master Boot Record)

Information If you have been dual booting with Linux, then you probably know one of the Linux boot managers like Grub or LILO has been installed in the MBR of your hard drive. What can you do when you no longer want Linux on that hard drive? This tutorial will show you how to use your 7 DVD and BOOTSECT.EXE to restore the "bootsector code" of the MBR and allow you to begin booting to Windows 7 again. Tip You can use this method to update the bootsector code for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000 or switch between Bootmgr and NTLDR. Just check the Microsoft TechNet site for the correct command.

Here's How:
1. Boot your computer to the Windows 7 DVD (or to a "Repair CD"). At this screen choose to install now. Click this bar to view the full image.

2. Select your language and click next. Click this bar to view the full image.

3. Click the button for "Use recovery tools".

4. Then select "Command Prompt". Click this bar to view the full image.

5. When open, the command prompt will look like this: Click this bar to view the full image.

6. The command we will use, bootsect.exe, is in a folder (named boot) on the DVD. We need to know what drive letter has been assigned the DVD drive to access the folder. Code:
Type: diskpart and press Enter Type: select disk 0 (zero) and press Enter type: list volume and press Enter

In this screen shot, the 7 DVD is letter: G Click this bar to view the full image.

7. Use your DVD drive letter and Code:

Type: exit and press Enter to close Diskpart Type: G: (use the letter of your DVD drive) and press Enter Type: cd boot and press Enter

Type: dir and press Enter

to verify that bootcect.exe is there (if you really need to) Click this bar to view the full image.

8. To restore the "bootsector code": Code:

TYPE: bootsect /nt60 SYS /mbr and press Enter

Click this bar to view the full image.

NOTE: If this method fails to restore the MBR, you can try the bootrec command as it is also a tool for repairing the MBR. 9. When completed successfully, Code:
Type: exit and press Enter

This will close the command prompt window. 10. Now select Shut Down or Restart Click this bar to view the full image.

11. Then you can reboot your computer into Windows.

Clean Install : Factory COA Activation Key

Clean Install Windows 7 to Remove Factory Bloatware Published by Bare Foot Kid 07-13-2011 Clean Install : Factory COA Activation Key

How to Clean Install Windows 7 Without the Factory Added

Bloatware
Most all factory built PCs today come with many programs and applications added by the PC manufacturer that have little or no use in everyday life, they tend to take up space and in some instances cause performance issues and using Windows to uninstall these progs/apps may result in startup and / or shutdown issues; here is a way to get a fresh, clean installation of Windows without all the factory added software; this method also works for Windows Vista. Warning

Some of the methods outlined below will completely over-write any and all data on the entire Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive depending on the method you use. Doing a clean install of Windows will overwrite the "old" factory installed Windows and may void any factory warranty the PC came with. You will have to reinstall all the programs/apps that you use as they integrate themselves into the Windows registry and are not moveable from one Windows installation to another so be sure to save the program installers and the product activation keys where applicable. Note

It would be a good idea to copy out or make backups of any data you need to save to the external media of your choice before you start this; also be sure to create the set of Factory Restore disks if you haven't already so you have a path back if need be. You may also choose to create and store externally an image of the entire HDD / SSD so the PC can be restored to factory condition if the need ever arises, have a look at this tutorial. Imaging with Free Macrium More than likely your factory built PC didn't come with a Windows 7 installation DVD so you will need to borrow or download installation media of the exact same Windows 7 version the PC shipped with so you can do a clean install using the Windows activation key on the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) sticker attached to the PC though it may require a robo-call to MS to sort the OEM batch-key; the factory COA sticker MS Windows activation key will be similar to this one below, 5 groups of 5 letters / numbers. G0BUY-TH3S0-FTWAR-3ATM1-CS0FT How to Activate Windows 7 by Phone If you can't find an exact same version, you could use the information in this tutorial to create an "all versions" installer of any version Windows 7 installation media so you are able to install your version

using the same activation method posted above. Windows 7 / Vista is version specific and not bit-rate specific, i.e. a Home Premium COA Windows activation key will activate either the 32-bit or the 64-bit Windows Home Premium Operating System. Vista users, click here to view important information concerning the Vista process. Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create ISO - Disk Image File : Extract to the Desktop After you have made backups of everything you care to save to external media, the best method forward is to do a complete wipe secure erase of the entire HDD / SSD first, it over-writes everything, all the old Windows code including all the old hardware drivers and installed programs and any and all old personal data, giving you the best possible space to do a clean installation of Windows 7 to. SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation Additional Secure Erase / Wipe Information For those with netbooks and no CD/DVD drive, have a look at this tutorial. USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post to this same tutorial using the orange "Post Reply" button and someone will be glad to help. Enjoy!

Acer Aspire System Recovery Partition

in Acer Restoring from the Acer Aspire System Recovery partition is easy. Most Aspires will have a second partition that can be used to restore if you do not have CDs. It is recommended that you make those CDs when you first buy the laptop. If you dont, you run the risk of not being able to install Windows again if that second partition fails.

Restoring From The Acer Aspire System Recovery Partition

Keep in mind that running the recovery will restore the computer to the way it was when you first brought it home. Anything you added will be lost, so make sure you have program disks, passwords, favorite websites, photos, documents and anything else you need backed up before proceeding with the recovery of your Acer Aspire. Hard Disk Recovery should be enabled by default. If it is not, you may need to go into your systems BIOS by hitting F2 at boot and enable it under the Advanced tab.

Once Hard Disk Recovery is enabled, restart the system and hit ALT+F10. This will begin restoring from the Aspire system recovery partition. You will be prompted to type six zeros as a security step. Type 000000 to proceed. You will then see a screen to select your Operating System. Do this and hit enter and the recovery process will begin.
You Cannot Use The Acer Aspire System Recovery Partition

The process for restoring from the Acer Aspire System Recovery partition is similar with all major brand names. The most important thing to remember is to always have backups of your data and take a few minutes to burn recovery DVDs using Acers built-in utility. Creating these backup DVDs is vital. If the hard drive fails, you will not be able to perform a recovery from the Acer Aspire system recovery partition. Create the media and store it in a safe place along with the rest of your software and computer documentation. http://www.pctechbytes.com/acer/acer-aspire-system-recovery-partition/

Hard Drive Utilities

in Hard Drive Software Major brand name hard drive manufacturers will usually include software with the purchase of a new drives. This software can help you partition, copy files from the old drive to the new drive,

or even diagnose problems with your disk. We are including a list of the major hard drive manufacturers and the software they prvide for download. If you have any of these drives, make sure you perform the download and keep the disk in a safe place in the event your hard drive experiences problems in the future.

Major Brand Name Hard Drive Manufacturers

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Maxtor MaxBlast Seagate SeaTools Some of these drives may also have free backup software or drivers that you should also get. Visit the respective websites and browse their downloads areas for any software that might be available for those drives.
Other HDD Utilities We Recommend

Dariks Boot and Nuke (DBaN) is a program you burn to disk and use to compeltely erase your hard drive. DBaN will make numerous passes across your drive, writing ones and zeros, until the contents are completely erased. Great tool if youre disposing of the drive and are worried about security. Cleanup Assistant is a program that helps you find and remove duplicate files, as well as locate large files that are taking up a lot of space on your hard drive. It also has a file shredder similar to DBaN. Partition Magic is a commercial program by Symantec that allows you to move partitions without destroying data. This is called a non-destructive partitioning. Typically, if you wanted to make two partitions out of one, you would have to delete the large partition and create two. With partition Magic, you can simply resize the large one and create a second partition without losing data.

http://www.pctechbytes.com/software/hard-drive-software/hard-drive-utilities/ ____________________