formatting a machine with windows vista

[Violet_82]

Hi all, I have to fix a laptop with windows vista on it (asus) and I was wondering if anybody can assist me with that please. The laptop is very very slow and has some more problems and needs to be formatted.
I have the recovery disk and the drivers disk so whouldn't be too much of a problem. I have never done anything like that to a windows vista machine though.
All the data is backed up, so everything can be deleted.
First of all, what's the procedure here, do I have to reformat the whole HD or use the recovery disk and do something with the recovery partition - don't know much about this sorry but happy to try. Usually I format the whole HD but I am not sure if with Vista is the same thing ot not. ALl I want to make sure the laptop gets fast again.

Do you think I should install a different version of windows (perhaps 7 or xp on it?)
thanks

[JorgeM]

Hello,

The process of recovery should be the same. The version of OS shouldnt be a problem. If there is a recovery partition, you need to find out what keys you need to press during POST so that you can access this partition. You should be able to find that out by checking with the support docs on the laptop vendor's website.

The recovery process will reformat the partition for you.

I would suggest a different version of Windows. Vista is not really one of their better versions. If you have Win 7, that's a better option. Windows XP is great, but will be out of support in 2013.

[Violet_82]

hi thanks. Thinking of it, I won't install XP. As for windows 7, if I decide to install it and replace vista, then there is no point using the recovery process anymore, but reformatting the whole HD. Perhaps I stick to vista. I know it is not a good OS, but the laptop is for my parents, and they are old generation, meaning that they have learned vista and I think it is better they stick to it ;-)
As for formatting and restoring vista. I understand you can do it in 2 ways; accessing the recovery partition or do it from the recovery dvd. What I don't understand is the number of options I will have to restore the system. DO I have to create 2 partitions when I restore the laptop?
thanks

[JorgeM]

If you are using the recovery process that the vendor has provided you then you will be guided through the process..no need to worry about partitions or formatting.

Just to clearify, I'm not referring to a Windows Vista Recovery, or Repair.

If the laptop vendor provided you with a recovery CD, then you only need to boot from it. If the laptop has a recovery partition, you only need to boot to it.

If you have the Vista media, booting to it will start the installation and in this case, you would choose a clean install, delete the existing Vista partition, and create a new one and proceed with the install. You would can leave the vendor recovery partition intact for this scenario.

[Violet_82]

ok I see,thanks i will use the recovery dvd and see how it goes. I assume, all the drivers need to be reinstalled after that

[JorgeM]

If you use a vendor supplied recovery CD, all of the drivers should be included.

[andy1966]

Hi Violet,

Jorge is correct,

In this situation I would stick with Vista, if you change the operating system you would need to know if you can get all the drivers for the machine first before doing anything.

The recovery CD should have all the drivers included but after a re-install I would go to "Device manager" and check everything is OK.

Check the VGA driver, I know from experience sometimes it has an MS driver not the manufacturers driver. This can lead to a "Jerky" playback of vidoes etc.

If this is the case, find the correct VGA driver and install.

Andy.

[Violet_82]

all done thank you very much : - ). I have used the recovery dvd and the driver cd, all is well