new member, new laptop need help!!

hi all

I just got my first laptop
Acer aspire 5633WLMi
intel core 2 duo processor T5500 (1.66 ghz, 667 mhz fsb, 2mb l2 cache)
15.4" wxga acer crystalbrite lcd
intel graphics media accelerator 950
160gb hdd
dvd-suoer multi double layer (support dvd+r double layer/dvd+rw)
1gd ddr2
802. 11a/b/g wireless lan


ok firstly I didnt get a "boot disc" when I bought laptop, is this normal now??
if it is how am I meant to "reboot to factory settings" I want to wipe everything off it and start afresh with it. any ideas on how to go about doing this, i have everything backed up online with PC Performance so now is the time to do this.

I also want to use Firefox to download videos of youtube, thats ok but I can use the Super programme to convert them for watching.

Am also looking help with dvd writing, I have ripped dvds onto laptop to watch them later but cant do that - what programm would I need to do that and also then to write them to a dvd disc.

Hoping someone here can help me, I have posted in about 10 forums for help and no1 can give me the answers I need

Thanks

Janet

 

The "boot discs" that you are thinking about aren't provided by most manufacturers anymore these days. Basically there is now a hidden partition on your hard drive which contains an image of your notebook as it was fresh from the factory. Inorder to access this partition and restore windows to a fresh state press "ALT+F10" at the POST screen (the first screen you see marked ACER) that will start the recovery console and allow you to restore windows. Manufacturers do this now so that they don't have to waste time and money pressing thousands of discs, they now require the user to make there own discs. I personally don't agree with this practice but it is normal these days.

You should have made your own windows restore discs. The first time you turned on that notebook erecovery should have prompted you to insert a DVD so that it could make the back up windows restore discs did you disregard this and not make them? If you did then I would suggest that you open erecovery and make them ASAP as these discs will be your only hope(besides paying acer $$$ for them to send you a recovery DVD) of getting the notebook back to a factory state if the hard drive were to stop working.

 

Once again, Evolutions advice is spot on :yes:

 

follow evo's words to the letter and you will not go wrong.

 

thanks for the help and advice, got it sorted and have made back-up discs

 

Glad we could be of some help! =)

One more suggestion I have for you is this. Go out and purchase a $40.00 copy of Acronis True Image Home from best buy / compusa / acronis.com etc. I would highly suggest that you do a 1:1 backup of your hard drive every 2 weeks, and then do an incremental backups from there on out for the month.

This way if your hard drive dies you have a 3rd method of backing up your data. Please remember that the recovery disks that you burned do NOT back up data after you have used the pc! It is just windows, and nothing more.

I have seen too many people get burned by this, and I'd hate to see the same thing happen to you.

--ssx--