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I recently bought a Compaq Presario V3000 notebook, with Vista installed. It does not have the Windows Vista installer, instead it has a copy of all the files in C drive and some other files. I would not have purchased a notebook with Windows installed, if I knew that I would not get the installation CD along with the package! I would have bought it separately...

This is not a safe way to store the installer files! If my notebook were to be affected by any virus, then all these recovery files would also get infected.

I tried using the Recovery Manager to make a copy of the files in the recovery partition, but 2 among the DVD is corrupted. What can be done to again make another set of DVD with the recovery partition files? It does not allow me to make another set again!

I also noticed that the installation that came with the notebook had some worthless software pre-installed with the computer. How do I remove these programs and files without affecting the functions? I do not want the HP customized Help section, but want the actual Windows Vista Help files. I do not want the other HP programs either.

Is it possible to view all the files on the D drive, such that I can remove the unwanted files before the next installation. When I set the "Folder Options" to display system files then I get a list of files and folders. It now shows me a message that it is a recovery partition and should not be modified. Do any of the files such as "BLOCK.RIN" and "PROTECT.ED" change the protection setting?

Thanks. All comments will be helpful...

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mechbas
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I'm guessing here but drive D is a DVD drive?
DVD OS discs are all READ ONLY and can not be infected via any virus.
if 2 of the original discs ARE in fact defective then you need to take that up with Compaq for another set. further, some discs have encrypted sectors that can not be read at the dos level which is probably why you can't copy them.
most OSs have a uninstall programs feature, if this is insufficient then contact Compaq as to howto get rid of them.
the recovery partition and/or the files therein are there for your protection and modifing/deleting them is always a bad idea.
user created files are usually not targets of virus and/or hacker activity. It's always a good idea to back such files up on a regular basis, then, even if you have to install the OS from scratch it's annoying but reasonably painless.
As for making a backup copy of the install discs that may not be possible either, again, consult Compaq if such is possible, and if so, how.

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