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[jereboam]

Don't laugh.

My son, in his infinite wisdom, has managed to destroy the Acer laptop we bought him when he went of to university 3 years ago.  He managed this by the time-honoured process of connecting to every dodgy looking file-sharing site he could locate.  Naturally, he succeeded in picking up enough malware to utterly destroy his Windows Vista OS.

Now, having been unemployed for nearly two years, I can't afford to replace his computer - I can't even afford to replace mine!  An intelligent friend of his has helped him to recover almost all of his files, but she can't get rid of the virus (or whatever it is), because it has disabled the AV software. 

My advice is to wipe the system and start again, but Acer don't seem to have provided any recovery mechanism - no disc, no recovery partition.  And I've not actually managed to get my hands on the system to have a look - I suspect there may be things there that he doesn't want me to see. 

So - the question: anyone know how to restore Windows Vista without a disc?  Alternatively, anyone know where I can get hold of a disc?

All advice gratefully received.

[tunnie]

Acer hide the partition for recovery, if he has all the data he wants safe then factory reset it by:

ALT+F10 (tap both while booting)
Press enter at the "edit boot options" screen
select "restore to factory defaults"

[Chris_H]

Sadly, MS spend most of their time trying to prevent you from re-using their OSs these days.  I can't get you past that one.  Sorry.

If he's still a studnet then there are discounts on buying new.  Also there's Linux if he was prepared to make the transition.

Otherwise, you don't say how far the machine boots.  Can you run a free AV downloaded from t'internet onto it?  Can you get the HDD as a second drive on a good desktop and run an av scan from there?

Sorry about the 2 yrs.  Not far off that myself.

HTH

[tunnie]

3 years is damn good for Windows lappy, bet it was running like sack of poo! I re-built mine at Uni every 3-5 months (XP), but i had a recovery image DVD that restored it to factory settings within 20 minutes, so re-builds were a doddle

[johny5]

I dont think Acer's come with recovery disks, so u maybe able to go on there site and download the recovery software that way if possible?

[jereboam]

Acer hide the partition for recovery, if he has all the data he wants safe then factory reset it by:

ALT+F10 (tap both while booting)
Press enter at the "edit boot options" screen
select "restore to factory defaults"

I always thought that "restore to factory defaults" only applied to the hardware settings.  But I have only come across the phrase in connection with old mainboards and a fairly well-hidden microswitch.  Is it part of Vista? 

My knowledge of MS operating systems only goes as far as XP.  Vista seemed like a step backwards, so I didn't bother to upgrade, and I can't afford to go to W7 now.

Edit: forgot to say "thanks" - thanks.

[jereboam]

I dont think Acer's come with recovery disks, so u maybe able to go on there site and download the recovery software that way if possible?

It was nearly 3 years ago - can't remember what came with the system. 

[Whisper mode] There was a Sony Vaio on offer for much the same price when he got the Acer - I thought he should have gone for that. [/Whisper mode] 

[same #same#]

content deleted as it discussed duplication of copywrite software

[Lazydocker]

Both my Acer Laptops came with software to burn your own recovery discs

[Teebee]

Is he still at Uni or does he still have contacts there? If so just google Windows 7 academic, you can buy a new full copy for 30-40 quid if I remember correctly. I know thats precious drinking money but it solves the problem of accessing the hidden partition, gets rid of Vista and gets you a CD ready for future reinstalls 

[jereboam]

Is he still at Uni or does he still have contacts there? If so just google Windows 7 academic, you can buy a new full copy for 30-40 quid if I remember correctly. I know thats precious drinking money but it solves the problem of accessing the hidden partition, gets rid of Vista and gets you a CD ready for future reinstalls 

Now that's an interesting question!  He passed his exams, but he hasn't graduated yet - that's 2 weeks away.  So I suppose he's still a student.

I tried to check it out, but it needs his university e-mail address, and the validation process sends a message to it, so he'll have to do it himself.  I don't think they'll bother to check with the university offices to see if he's staying on as a student - I think it will all depend how long he can retain the academic e-mail address.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Chris_H]

Is he still at Uni or does he still have contacts there? If so just google Windows 7 academic, you can buy a new full copy for 30-40 quid if I remember correctly. I know thats precious drinking money but it solves the problem of accessing the hidden partition, gets rid of Vista and gets you a CD ready for future reinstalls 

Now that's an interesting question!  He passed his exams, but he hasn't graduated yet - that's 2 weeks away.  So I suppose he's still a student.

I tried to check it out, but it needs his university e-mail address, and the validation process sends a message to it, so he'll have to do it himself.  I don't think they'll bother to check with the university offices to see if he's staying on as a student - I think it will all depend how long he can retain the academic e-mail address.

Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome 

[jereboam]

content deleted as it discussed duplication of copywrite software

Thanks for the offer! What's the difference between the Acer Vista DVD and the "Vista setup disc from Acer"?

[Mr Skrunts]

Not sure how vista works, but is there a keycode /licence sticker on the laptop, then would not a copy of Vista be able to be installed using your own code.

[same #same#]

acer dvd is just a standard setup disc, acer setup disc is from acer has all vista settigs and for all acers its 9gb disc coded and i need to put pass code in.