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    Reformatted 6860FX and Q's

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by Lykhan, Aug 15, 2009.

  1. Lykhan

    Lykhan Notebook Consultant

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    I just reformatted to clear off my laptop to start fresh for going back to school, and some of the pre-installed programs disappeared. Is this normal?

    Plus Windows AERO theme disappeared and the tray icon to enable/disable the scroll pad.


    :confused:

    Plus, do I need the recovery partition or can I remove it?

    Thanks.
     
    Lykhan, Aug 15, 2009
    #1
  2. Lum-X

    Lum-X Notebook Evangelist

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    you have to install drivers and other software that you will use them.
    Aero will not work until you install the GPU drivers.
     
    Lum-X, Aug 15, 2009
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  3. stephen0205

    stephen0205 Notebook Consultant

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    if it was a factory laptop, you will find that the bloatware is gone, preinstalled crap, maybe some of it that u used, but a format means all the programs and drivers and everything is gone, you only installed the operating system
     
    stephen0205, Aug 15, 2009
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  4. sparkyman2000

    sparkyman2000 Notebook Consultant

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    I would keep the recovery partition or at least ghost it or clone it. Its only 10gigs. As for the bloatware just remove it using http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ .
     
    sparkyman2000, Aug 15, 2009
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  5. Lykhan

    Lykhan Notebook Consultant

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    I just noticed that. Oh, well. I found the drivers on Gateway's website. Seems a lot of the random crap is gone. Which is nice.


    What exactly is the recovery partition though? If I have my CD, do I really need it?
     
    Lykhan, Aug 15, 2009
    #5
  6. Starcub

    Starcub Notebook Consultant

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    The recovery partition is the first partition on your HDD; the partition is normally hidden (you can't access the files through explorer). The partition contains the drivers and applications that were pre-installed on your machine, basically, it's everything other than the Vista OS, which you should have a separate DVD for.

    You are supposed to create an apps and driver recovery DVD using the Gateway Recovery Center program before wiping and re-installing the OS. This program is how the data on the recovery partition becomes data you can use. I've found that Gateway's web site does not have all the latest versions of the software that was installed on my 6860. For example, the modem driver on their site is an earlier version than the one on my recovery DVD, and the online version does not work, while my DVD version does.

    If you need to, you can still access the drivers and apps that are on the recovery partition (provided you have not erased that partition). However, you need to use special software (which you can d/l for free) which is capable of extracting the files from the partition image.
     
    Starcub, Aug 16, 2009
    #6