Reformating new laptop

[Whitey]

 :-? Hello All
Dose anybody know how to reformat a new acer aspire 5100 with windows media on it.
I would like to put xp-pro on.
The hd is 100gb and seems to be partitioned in half 50/50 with acers recovery on the 1 half
Thanks Whitey

[street1 (RIP)]

Have you made your one time set of backup restore disks? :-?

[GX1_Man]

Boot with your legal XP Pro CD and format the C drive and install it on there.

Acer has a hidden recovery partition as well as reinstall CD's for putting Media Center back on if you ever choose to. You can also use their backup software to create a backup image of your existing Media Center installation and put it on the D drive (the second partition you describe).

[Whitey]

Boot with your legal XP Pro CD and format the C drive and install it on there.

Acer has a hidden recovery partition as well as reinstall CD's for putting Media Center back on if you ever choose to. You can also use their backup software to create a backup image of your existing Media Center installation and put it on the D drive (the second partition you describe).

Thanks for the imput, If I put xp-pro on will my existing partitions be erased and will I have to flash or erase the bios ?? :-/

[dl65]

 Whitey........  There is no need to reflash or erase the bios ........ Just do as GX1_Man has already suggested .
And yes anything on the partition you formatted will be erased .

dl65  

[street1 (RIP)]

In reply#1 ...I was just trying to point out that most manufacturers now ship computers with a backup restore used to make a copy of the restore disks
to return your system to it's original way it was when first purchased.

If you format and lose that capability you may wish you had did your restore
disk set first.Read your owners manual before you do the format. :-?

Your owners manual should give you instuctions on making a restore disk
set.

They really have messed up that part of the good old days.

[GX1_Man]

Whitey,

Did you buy a copy of XP Pro to load on a brand new laptop that already had an operating system? If so, why? (Just curious.)

Acer lists that computer as coming with XP Home or Pro only.

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/as5100.htm

Maybe they updated it to Media Center later.

[Whitey]

Whitey,

Did you buy a copy of XP Pro to load on a brand new laptop that already had an operating system? If so, why? (Just curious.)

Acer lists that computer as coming with XP Home or Pro only.

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/as5100.htm

Maybe they updated it to Media Center later.

Hello GX1_MAN
Thanks everybody for the imput  
I have made the backup discs you inquired about....
Ipicked up some bad spyware that got by Webroot [smiley=shocked.gif]
Itried to get rid of it with no luck, so I backed up and ran the disc restore, and didn't recover everything.
My OS was very unstable and things just were not running right.
So I went back and restored to original factory condition, and things seem to be alright now.
Needless to say I'm not impressed......... But I'm up for suggestions........
Thanks Again  Whitey

[street1 (RIP)]

Get AVG Anti-virus And

AVG Anti-Spyware.

They are free and do a good job
that's what I use all the time. :-?

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

[Whitey]

Me Again
Hay you guys are awesome
Again thanks for the help.... Things seem to be alright for now and I have a free upgrade to Windows Vista I'm waiting for.
I haven't purchased any os yet.
But I am courious ,did my system just overlay new copies on top of the bad?  Will the spyware come back in time  :-?
I can't keep buying software...........
Thanks     Whitey

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!   [smiley=beer.gif]

[street1 (RIP)]

Me Again
Hay you guys are awesome
Again thanks for the help.... Things seem to be alright for now and I have a free upgrade to Windows Vista I'm waiting for.
I haven't purchased any os yet.
[highlight]But I am courious ,did my system just overlay new copies on top of the bad?  Will the spyware come back in time  :-?[/highlight]
I can't keep buying software...........
Thanks     Whitey

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!   [smiley=beer.gif]

If you did the complete restore it formatted and restored to original
when you first got it.You should not have that problem now but, you
must keep your antivirus and spyware up to date.

Even though AVG is free ,it is still a superb program,use it.