I need help with my computer.

[MuzikProd]

There are too many things I don't need on my computer.
Also, I probobly picked up some viruses along the way.

What I want to do is completly restart my computer, AKA restore it to factory settings.

Unfortunetly, I didn't create any recovery discs when I first got this computer, so I don't have any recover discs.

How can I restore my laptop without using a whole lot of money?

I'm not looking for answers like:
Buy a new laptop.
Format your hardrive.

And crap like that.

I don't have the time to look through the add/remove program thingy and try to figure out what I need and what I don't.

I'm currently running vista on a HP G60 laptop.

Please help.

[Jon]

At 7/7/09 09:28 PM, MuzikProd wrote: I don't have the time to look through the add/remove program thingy and try to figure out what I need and what I don't.

why not? looking through that list will help a lot.

if you don't have time to help yourself, why should others make the time to help you?

regardless, i'm going to be a total pushover and tell you to system restore to the day you got your laptop.

[Wonderful]

Did your laptop come with a recovery disc?

If so, pop that bad boy in and restart.

If not, format C: and reinstall Windows.

[jmbpiano]

Most HP laptops have a 'factory default' disc image squirreled away on a hidden partition of the hard drive, so as long as you haven't completely wiped the drive at some point you should be able to do a system recovery. Look in your start menu for a recovery CD/DVD creation utility. For instance, on my Gateway, I click Start->All Programs->Gateway->Gateway Recovery Managment. That starts up a program that will burn a system restore disc. Your HP probably has something similar.

Don't worry that you've already installed a crapload of garbage on your system- the utility will pull its data from the hidden partition, not your working system. Then, just boot of the disc you've burnt and let it do its thing.

[MuzikProd]

how do i system restore back that far?

[MuzikProd]

OK wait wait wait.

new questions.

How do i resinstall windows?
My comp didnt come with a vista disc.

I never made a recovery disc.
I dont think it came with one.

How do i system restore all the way back to the day i got my laptop?

[Aksumka]

Some computers will have an option during the boot screen along the lines of "system recovery." As someone else said, many computers have a partitioned part of the hard drive that contains everything that is needed to preform a full recovery (back to when you got it).

Try restarting and look for something that says System recovery or something like that. It would have a key (F10, F12) next to it. Tap that key until a new screen comes up and from there it should walk you through what to do.

If you don't have this option, take some of the advice of others. Uninstall programs that you don't need, download some Anti Virus software and all that.

[MuzikProd]

At 7/7/09 09:45 PM, wreckages wrote:

why not? looking through that list will help a lot.

if you don't have time to help yourself, why should others make the time to help you?

regardless, i'm going to be a total pushover and tell you to system restore to the day you got your laptop.

because i have no idea what came with my comp, i would have to google alot of things and it would take like a week with all the crap on my laptop

[urbn]

At 7/7/09 10:21 PM, MuzikProd wrote: because i have no idea what came with my comp, i would have to google alot of things and it would take like a week with all the crap on my laptop

Seriously. If you can't be fucked to google, then I can't be fucked to help you.

At 7/7/09 09:45 PM, wreckages wrote: if you don't have time to help yourself, why should others make the time to help you?

[TheRyoku]

because i have no idea what came with my comp, i would have to google alot of things and it would take like a week with all the crap on my laptop

But you'll come to NG, which loads slower than Google, and wait for others to answer your questions? I love your logic there, dude.

[Relish]

On an HP, I suggest rebooting and before the boot screen pops up, hold down F11.

It should bring up the recovery manager.

[DrClean]

At 7/7/09 09:28 PM, MuzikProd wrote:

I'm currently running vista on a HP G60 laptop.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^
That's your first problem. WTF, are you doing with Vista... Any windows is bad enough, but Vista? come-on, bro. Get Fedora 11-12, i have no clue which one is the latest, but even there Beta's are better than windows. It might take some time to get used to, but it's worth it. But, Just find a Vista torrent, DL, and burn to a DVD(assuming you want vista), remove any and all partitions on your harddrive, then proceed to create a new one, and install vista on it. The wizard will make it really easy.

[zNelson24]

At 7/7/09 09:28 PM, MuzikProd wrote: I don't have the time to look through the add/remove program thingy and try to figure out what I need and what I don't.

Your just going to have to take your time and look at the long list of programs you got, and go get rid of a few.

Defrag your hardrive and run a virus scan while your at it. You can also "msconfig" and manage your startup programs (turn off everything that you dont need on when your computer starts), too many startup programs can slow down your computer.

At 7/17/09 08:09 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/7/09 09:28 PM, MuzikProd wrote:

I'm currently running vista on a HP G60 laptop.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^
That's your first problem. WTF, are you doing with Vista... Any windows is bad enough, but Vista?

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

[DrClean]

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

[Jon]

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote: That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

nothing is perfect. if the guy can't (doesn't want to, actually) keep his windows working, what makes you think he'll adjust to linux? Linux takes a LOT more managing than windows.

stop being so smug, he has vista, he's fine with vista.

[imdead597]

At 7/7/09 10:09 PM, MuzikProd wrote: OK wait wait wait.

new questions.

How do i resinstall windows?
My comp didnt come with a vista disc.

I never made a recovery disc.
I dont think it came with one.

How do i system restore all the way back to the day i got my laptop?

well... u could buy windows xp pro and install that. its a hell lot faster than windows viscrap. or get another windows vista, remove ur original partition, create another partition of ur hard drive thats like 150 gb, and install it there. that should work.

[citricsquid]

What's with the whole "Vista sux!!" "fad"? Sure Vista requires more system resources than any of the previous versions but it is an excellent OS. I despise the whole bullshit that is "WINDOWS SUCKS QUICK GET LINUX!". It's quite clearly not that simple, they're totally catered towards different audiences. If you like tinkering and playing around then sure, Linux may well be the best OS for you. HOWEVER If you just want an "out of the box" OS where you can have everything working windows works perfectly.

I went with Ubuntu, took over 10 hours to get it working properly, Vista - ignoring time for it to install - was instant.

[DrClean]

At 7/18/09 07:01 PM, citricsquid wrote: What's with the whole "Vista sux!!" "fad"? Sure Vista requires more system resources than any of the previous versions but it is an excellent OS. I despise the whole bullshit that is "WINDOWS SUCKS QUICK GET LINUX!". It's quite clearly not that simple, they're totally catered towards different audiences. If you like tinkering and playing around then sure, Linux may well be the best OS for you. HOWEVER If you just want an "out of the box" OS where you can have everything working windows works perfectly.

I went with Ubuntu, took over 10 hours to get it working properly, Vista - ignoring time for it to install - was instant.

That's because Ubuntu is a piece of... yeah... But on a serious note. You guys are right about it being catered to a different style of users. But, there are so many different Linux Distros it would blow your mind. Fedora, is more instant than vista, i can assure you. With vista I would have to install my network card driver. With fedora... BOOM! first boot, i have everything ready to go, no setup is necessary. But, I understand you guys like windows and me telling you to go to linux is a waste of time, because you won't. But, w/e.

[zNelson24]

*sigh*

Sorry I started a flamewar. I agree that there are many different OSs and they are made for different users. I merely posted a disagreement and THIS HAPPENS!!!

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

Someone was asking for help on how to make their computer run faster, and "VISTA SUX!!!" dosent solve anything. Im not withdrawing anything.

[DearonElensar]

At 7/18/09 06:36 PM, wreckages wrote: nothing is perfect. if the guy can't (doesn't want to, actually) keep his windows working, what makes you think he'll adjust to linux? Linux takes a LOT more managing than windows.

I find that Linux just works once i have everything set up i rarely have to do any "managing", certainly less than i have to do on Windows.

[FU101]

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

THIS NELSON FAGGOT DOES NO ANYTHING!!! HES GOTTA DIE!!!!!!

[kiwi-kiwi]

At 7/27/09 05:46 PM, FU101 wrote:

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that

That's not true, all good things are made of WIN (Windows, IIS, .NET)
But seriously now, the definition for a perfect OS is a bit subjective, maybe for you it's Linux for your own reason, but for a lazy guy like me, having a GUI in front of me to take care of my needs really is absolutely perfect, not to mention that they are catching up with the release of windows 7 which comes with powershell.
Plus, when Microsoft says it all works, it actually does.

[DearonElensar]

At 7/28/09 02:37 AM, kiwi-kiwi wrote: having a GUI in front of me to take care of my needs really is absolutely perfect

Yeah, when is the last time you used Linux?

Plus, when Microsoft says it all works, it actually does.

Hahaha.

[Jon]

At 7/28/09 01:54 PM, DearonElensar wrote: Yeah, when is the last time you used Linux?

Plus, when Microsoft says it all works, it actually does.

Hahaha.

seen as that clip is from 1998 (97?) you could say you kinda contradicted yourself there

[urbn]

At 7/28/09 02:09 PM, wreckages wrote: seen as that clip is from 1998 (97?) you could say you kinda contradicted yourself there

Damn, got there before me!

[DrClean]

At 7/20/09 03:11 PM, zNelson24 wrote: *sigh*

Sorry I started a flamewar. I agree that there are many different OSs and they are made for different users. I merely posted a disagreement and THIS HAPPENS!!!

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

Someone was asking for help on how to make their computer run faster, and "VISTA SUX!!!" dosent solve anything. Im not withdrawing anything.

Really, so OP, switching to literally ANY form of linux or unix distro, would not solve the "speed" issue he/she is having? I assure you it will.

[Jon]

At 7/28/09 04:59 PM, DrClean wrote: Really, so OP, switching to literally ANY form of linux or unix distro, would not solve the "speed" issue he/she is having? I assure you it will.

statement is invalid because based on original post, OP would not be able to install a *nix based OS

[DearonElensar]

At 7/28/09 02:09 PM, wreckages wrote: seen as that clip is from 1998 (97?) you could say you kinda contradicted yourself there

Why, he says that something works when MS says it works, and i show the most well known screw-up that contradicts that.
Besides, with the size of the software that MS makes you simply cannot guarantee that something works, there will *always* be cases where it fails.

[urbn]

At 7/28/09 09:32 PM, DearonElensar wrote: Why, he says that something works when MS says it works, and i show the most well known screw-up that contradicts that.

Because technology moves forward, MS does not have anywhere near the same issues they used to have. What would *nix be if it was the same as it was in the late 90's? Probably nowhere near as good as it is nowadays.

Main reason it's an argument is because you are comparing modern day *nix with 90's Windows. It's not comparable.

[kiwi-kiwi]

At 7/28/09 01:54 PM, DearonElensar wrote:

Yeah, when is the last time you used Linux?

I actually have a dual boot and I'm running Linux every now and then. The reason I'm saying that usually there's some confiiguration I have to do in the terminal, whereas on Windows I can't remember the last time I had to configure something, it's just click click, next next.

At 7/28/09 04:59 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/20/09 03:11 PM, zNelson24 wrote: *sigh*

Sorry I started a flamewar. I agree that there are many different OSs and they are made for different users. I merely posted a disagreement and THIS HAPPENS!!!

At 7/18/09 01:06 PM, DrClean wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:53 PM, zNelson24 wrote:

Lamest, answer, EVER!!! Windows Vista has been running perfectly for me.

That's just because you don't know any better. If you had any clue what perfect was, you would surely withdraw that comment.

Someone was asking for help on how to make their computer run faster, and "VISTA SUX!!!" dosent solve anything. Im not withdrawing anything.

Really, so OP, switching to literally ANY form of linux or unix distro, would not solve the "speed" issue he/she is having? I assure you it will.

And I assure you they will go away from a quick reinstall of windows, but that will also get rid of all documents, settings, applications which are most likely the reason for speed problems on his/her computer.

Also @OP, go to start->run, type msconfig and run it, then go to startup and disable programs you don't need. If you don't really know which ones you need, ask someone who knows more about computers to help you.
This used to solve some of my speed problems, maybe it'll help you too.