Remove Old Windows

[billd766]

In the last few days my internet access plus email slowly died.

I have tried all that I can think of to make it work but nothing fixed it. It is an Acer laptop still under warranty but I live waay out in the sticks and use GPRS/EDGE from AIS to contact the world.

I had one of their guys call me and walk me through all the steps but still nothing.

I had a lot of problems with Norton 360 not giving me a live update for weeks and they could not come up with an answer.

I went to Nakhon Sawan on Thursday and found an Acer shop, explained the problem and left it with them as they said they could fix it. I came back after a couple of hours and the guy told me there was a virus and I needed to reload windows.

I did not get a copy of Windows when I bought the laptop in Bangkok at the official Acer dealers (nor the Acer disk either) but it is a legal OEM windows.

Now how can you download an original from the windows website if you can't access the web?

I loaded copy on the laptop from another source and I now have the internet and emails back.

My problem was what the guy told me, I had a virus, actually depending on which anti virus program you use I had 4 or 5.

Now I have 2 copies of Windows on the C drive and I wnt to

a) get rid of the infected original to give me space back on the laptop

format the C drive completely and start again

c) complete and go to MS Windows and reload the original OEM.

How can I do any or all of a, b or c?

frustrated user

and no I do not want to go to Linux as I have been there before and I didn't like it.

:D

[Guest Reimar]

Normally the Acer Laptops which coming with an pre installed genuine Windows having an hidden Partition on the Harddisk with the OS. If I remeber right you need to press F12 within startup to access this Partition and from their you can reinstall the whole software that the System is "virgin" again.

Check the Documentation of your Laptop or go to the Acer Website to search for the procedure.

[RKASA]

I used GPRS out in the sticks for a long time, It got worse and worse.  When I gave it up, it would not stay connected more then 3- 4 minutes and the the speed when connected was 5kbps.  I had to check e mails at 3 or 4 in the morning.  AIS said the only tower around us was getting full of traffic and the GPRS is pushed off the system by cell calls.  I switched to Sat. for Internet.  My XP hated Norton products and worked much better with out them off the system, before I dumped it it would blue screen me every month.  After I stopped using Norton, xp was not the problem I thought it was, it was Norton.  I hope you can make a CD out of the partationed backup because its going to be hard to use if the HD fails, I have only ever lost one, but it can happen.  See, not one word about Linux (oh darn!, did it anyway) 

[Jimmy in Bangkok]

Hi Billd766,

Reinmar is spot on and your "copy" of Windows is indeed on a hidden FAT32 partition on your hard disk. When you first booted up it should have asked you if you would like to create a rescue disk? Make sure to back up anything you want to keep from the original though as this will wipe all your data whilst installing the new version. I would advise getting rid of Norton as it's rubbish. If you're going to pay for an anti-virus or security suite then I would buy either Kaspersky Internet Security 7 or ESET Smart Security 3. If you are looking for a free one then I would recommend Avira Antivir as it is extremely good.

Cheers

Jimmy

[billd766]

Hi Reimar

Thanks for that information as I had no idea it was there all the time but hiding.

Normally the Acer Laptops which coming with an pre installed genuine Windows having an hidden Partition on the Harddisk with the OS. If I remeber right you need to press F12 within startup to access this Partition and from their you can reinstall the whole software that the System is "virgin" again.

Check the Documentation of your Laptop or go to the Acer Website to search for the procedure.

RKASA

I used GPRS out in the sticks for a long time, It got worse and worse. When I gave it up, it would not stay connected more then 3- 4 minutes and the the speed when connected was 5kbps. I had to check e mails at 3 or 4 in the morning. AIS said the only tower around us was getting full of traffic and the GPRS is pushed off the system by cell calls. I switched to Sat. for Internet. My XP hated Norton products and worked much better with out them off the system, before I dumped it it would blue screen me every month. After I stopped using Norton, xp was not the problem I thought it was, it was Norton. I hope you can make a CD out of the partationed backup because its going to be hard to use if the HD fails, I have only ever lost one, but it can happen. See, not one word about Linux (oh darn!, did it anyway) laugh.gif

I used Norton 360 for about 3 months and then it just would not do a live update and I posted the problem to Norton and some guy in India would call me once a day and if I missed the call there was no callback number. I uninstalled it a couple of times and it would do a live update on install and then never again. Some guy from Norton in Europe (by his accent) called me on Thursday but I was in Nakhon Sawan and I asked him to call me back on Monday but I will not reinstall Norton 360 any more.

Jimmy in Bangkok

Reinmar is spot on and your "copy" of Windows is indeed on a hidden FAT32 partition on your hard disk. When you first booted up it should have asked you if you would like to create a rescue disk? Make sure to back up anything you want to keep from the original though as this will wipe all your data whilst installing the new version. I would advise getting rid of Norton as it's rubbish. If you're going to pay for an anti-virus or security suite then I would buy either Kaspersky Internet Security 7 or ESET Smart Security 3. If you are looking for a free one then I would recommend Avira Antivir as it is extremely good.

At the moment I am using Comodo Antivirus and Firewall which seems to be OK so far but I will keep the others in mind for the future.

NOW if I find and reinstall the original OEM Windows how do I get rid of the one I just put on to get back into the internat in the first place?

Cheers for the advice.

Bill

[Guest Reimar]

The on you just installed will be completly deleted/overwritten and the Laptop come back to the virgin state as you bought it. That's all!

[billd766]

The on you just installed will be completly deleted/overwritten and the Laptop come back to the virgin state as you bought it. That's all!

Oh I do hope so as I really don't want to take my 7kg sledgehammer to it if it doesn't.

That will be a job for tomorrow as it is now time for Sang Som, soda and ice and try to find my wife who went to her mates house for a couple of refreshers and a hand or two of cards. Hope she has won.

Cheers

Bill

[marcus]

I did not get a copy of Windows when I bought the laptop in Bangkok at the official Acer dealers (nor the Acer disk either) but it is a legal OEM windows.

Are you sure you have a legal copy of Windows ? It takes around 5 minutes to make an illegal copy legal

Last year, I bought a laptop from a well know brand at a well known dealer in BKK. The box and all the papers stated clearly that it was a PC without an OS. Neither could I find a disk with Windows, and neither did I pay for a PC "Windows included". But guess what happened the first time I started the PC

But now to your problem : I would simply bring the computer back to the shop where you bought it, and ask them to install the "genuine windows" again. I'm sure they can and you don't have to worry about legal problems. Maybe just do a virus scan before installing something else.... (and I agree with the other posters, forget about Norton, I use Kaspersky for my professional PC, and the free but oh so easy to use Antivir for the hobby PC)

[billd766]

Marcus

I bought the laptop at the Acer factory outlet in Seacon Square and it is a genuine copy of Windows XP professional.

On Monday I reloaded the Windows from the hard drive. Reimar was correct but I found the WINNT32.exe file in afolder called I386 and rebooted it from there. WINNT.exe did not work but WINNT32.exe did and it also updated the C drive from FAT32 to NTFS though when the laptop finally rebooted 2 copies of Windows appear to be on the hard drive. Removing the second copy is a future job for which I need a little more knowledge than I have at present.

Taking the laptop back to where I bought would involve a 400 km trip and at least 5 hours driving each way and then I would have to overnight in Bangkok with all the "fun and expense" that would cost.

Anyway the laptop is now back up and running and I am trying to download the Acer programs via EDGE.

I did go onto the MS website yesterday and register Windows as a legal version.

Thanks to all of you who replied and helped me.

Cheers

Bill

:D