Newbie Question: Reinstalling

I am pretty sure at this point that I am going to clean out and reinstall everything when I receive my dv5000z. I'm a newb though and I've never done this kind of thing before. Are there any guides in the forums somewhere that would help or does anyone have any sugestions? Thanks.

 

Hello! This might be a good read for what you need;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=5787

 

What I would suggest is to uninstall every little HP junk. First,disconnect from Internet, uninstall Norton and all symantec stuff (get AVG or some other anti-virus program before hand), open msconfig and in the startup sheet remove anything you don't think is essential; go to Add/remove programs and start removing en-masse software you've never heard of or you don't need. Windows can run flawlessly even with no programs in this list, so don't be afraid, you won't damage it. After the manual cleaning process, restart, install a better anti-virus/firewall, connect to Internet and tell us how's the new notebook.
If you haven't ordered the installation disks, then you have a recovery partition on the HDD with all the data. You can burn the data to a DVD or you can just use it from there if you need it.

Yet, if you still want to reinstall everything, then get a Windows disk, boot from it and follow the instructions. It will allow you to format the C: partition, where you will install Windows and the result will be a brand-new Windows with no junk. This might be preferable in some cases but I think you should first see the original installation and its performance. If it's OK, then use it for some time, gain confidence, experiment a little bit and when you feel ready, reinstall.

 

how much do the installation discs cost from HP?

are the discs "recovery discs" or full "windows xp" disc?

 

The instalation discs with just your version of windows that came with your laptop are $10. If they will let you ordered them after the fact of getting your notebook is another question.

 

there wasn't any option available for me to order the original windows disc when i purchased my laptop. I will try calling HP see what they say about this

 

What happens to the 2 other partitions (the quickplay invisible partition and the recovery partition) when you format windows?

 

when you format the windows partition (i.e. c:/) nothing will happen to other partitions that may exist, including D (Recovery) and the other for quickplay. Just make sure you don't press ok too fast between questions

 

And if I want to replace the hard disk, how do I reinstall the Quickplay partition?


Thanks


Endurance

 

Thank Goodness. I was afraid that I'd lose interaction with the Recovery Partition once I remove its program files from windows.