Computer question....

aceduecetrey · Nov 19, 2004

I have a gateway that is less than 2 years old that I paid about 2500 for at the time. It just seems to be running very badly. I really never used it much, but let a buddy who was staying with me use it all the time. I know he downloaded alot of junk to it. Anyway my question is can I just dump everything and get it back to like when I first bought it? The problem is I dont have the disks that came with it, if they did even come with it. I have tried scanning with norton and bought some spyware programs and I have also bought some other things like system mechanic and clean sweep. Thanks in advance.

joez148 · Nov 19, 2004

Call Gateway or maybe try on their Website. Ask to purchase the System Restore Disks for your Model. All the other "Name" Computer Makers have this as a purchase option. Sony,Dell, HP.etc... So theres a good chance they do also.

WorldRunner · Nov 19, 2004

You can go out and buy windows XP on your own and format the drives.... and reinstall XP.

Glaken · Nov 19, 2004

If you live near a large city there may be a Gateway store near you and you could get the recovery disk there.

Muddy · Nov 19, 2004

If you have windows xp on this pc you can go to:

Accessories/System Tools/System Restore

Select "Restore my PC to an earlier time" and then select a date from the calendar

Maybe that will fix your problem.

TheGeneral+ · Nov 19, 2004

Tough situation to fix over the net. Sounds like you will need the help of a guy personaly. Finding drivers and getting the reformat is not that hard, but very tough over the PC communication and not in person.

aceduecetrey · Nov 19, 2004

Thanks al for the help, I am in contact with Gateway now to see if they can help resolve the problem.

Has anyone ever reformatted their computer without haveing the system disks? I is it possible to just reformat it and then install windows and start from scratch with no problems?

WorldRunner · Nov 19, 2004

aceduecetrey said:
Thanks al for the help, I am in contact with Gateway now to see if they can help resolve the problem.

Has anyone ever reformatted their computer without haveing the system disks? I is it possible to just reformat it and then install windows and start from scratch with no problems?

Yes but your local computer store may only charge you $25 to do it provided you have the software to give to them (copy of windows xp is $100 or so) If you've never done it before you might have a harder time doing it.

But if you're fairly saavy you can do it easily. WinXP walks you through the whole process. You just have to set your BIOS up to boot to CD. Then boot to your CD, format, install XP, and bam you're done.

Defrag your hard drive once a month and scan for spyware/viruses daily.

joez148 · Nov 19, 2004

The only problem with a clean reformat is, you lose all the bundled software that originally came with the computer. In My case, I know, I use a lot of the stuff.

WorldRunner · Nov 19, 2004

joez148 said:
The only problem with a clean reformat is, you lose all the bundled software that originally came with the computer. In My case, I know, I use a lot of the stuff.

What choice does the guy have? His computer is acting up on him. He's chosen to no longer deal with it.

joez148 · Nov 19, 2004

Wait and see what Gateway says, I buy recovery disks all the time. Its not that unusual of a request or problem.

Muddy · Nov 19, 2004

Its good to get system and application recovery disks in case you need to reformat your drive again later

aceduecetrey · Nov 20, 2004

Thakn you all for the advice! I have been in contact with Gateway and they are shipping me out what I need.

Does anyone have a preference between windows xp home and windows xp pro? I have them both and have never actually loaded xp pro anywhere. Does anyone have any reasons not to go with pro?

bookie · Nov 20, 2004

Windows XP Professional include unlike Home Edition the follow features: SMP support, Roaming user profiles, Remote desktop, Access control, Encrypting file system, Offline files and folders, Remote installation service, Windows server domain support, Group policy, Software installation and maintenance, and Multi-lingual user interface support (add-on).

What this means....I have no idea. :icon_conf

GrandMasterB · Nov 21, 2004

xp pro comes with excel, and the home ed does not.

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