I've been given a HP laptop running Vista. There are no discs to install the
operating system. You are advised to create recovery discs using the HP
recovry manager before you do anything else. You can only ever create one
set of recovery discs, so you have to get it right first time.

The re-seller has already installed some applications, which I don't
necessarily want to re-install with the operating system. I'm worried that
the HP recovery manager will include these in the backup. I don't see how
the recovery manager can distinguish between programs like Internet
Explorer, which is part of the operating system, and Firefox, which isn't.

Also, I've installed Vista SP1 and I doubt I'd ever want to re-install Vista
without it.

What should I do?

Obtaining a HP Recovery CD or DVD set:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/f...cname=bph07143


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Puzzled" <noaddress@fuspammer.com> wrote in message news:M1vak.19063$E41.4173@text.news.virginmedia.co m...
I've been given a HP laptop running Vista. There are no discs to install the
operating system. You are advised to create recovery discs using the HP
recovry manager before you do anything else. You can only ever create one
set of recovery discs, so you have to get it right first time.

The re-seller has already installed some applications, which I don't
necessarily want to re-install with the operating system. I'm worried that
the HP recovery manager will include these in the backup. I don't see how
the recovery manager can distinguish between programs like Internet
Explorer, which is part of the operating system, and Firefox, which isn't.

Also, I've installed Vista SP1 and I doubt I'd ever want to re-install Vista
without it.

What should I do?

The recovery partition (normally drive D: on the laptops) will only copy the
recovery partition information to the backup media. It is just an image of
the hard drive as HP created the system drive. Nothing installed on the C:
drive will be copied (and for that matter anything that may have been copied
to the D: drive also won't be copied with the recovery program HP supplies.)
Make sure you have at least 3 DVDs to do the copy and you should be fine.
Also you can use the information in Carey's post to order a full set of
backup media. I created the disks for my new HP laptop when I first got it
but went ahead and ordered the backup disks anyway. They arrived within 1
week of ordering them. They are relatively inexpensive (although HP should
include them with the system IMHO.)

Hope this puts your mind at ease, let us know if it helps.

"Puzzled" <noaddress@fuspammer.com> wrote in message
news:M1vak.19063$E41.4173@text.news.virginmedia.co m...
> I've been given a HP laptop running Vista. There are no discs to install
> the
> operating system. You are advised to create recovery discs using the HP
> recovry manager before you do anything else. You can only ever create one
> set of recovery discs, so you have to get it right first time.
>
> The re-seller has already installed some applications, which I don't
> necessarily want to re-install with the operating system. I'm worried that
> the HP recovery manager will include these in the backup. I don't see how
> the recovery manager can distinguish between programs like Internet
> Explorer, which is part of the operating system, and Firefox, which isn't.
>
> Also, I've installed Vista SP1 and I doubt I'd ever want to re-install
> Vista
> without it.
>
> What should I do?
>