Thread: Need help with reformating my pc

Oh, and your right andrian, no option or step to format the drive. I don't even know what it did when it "deleted" the files. ':|

Rofl
I've actually formatted all 4 of my computers in the last week, and that kept on happening on the Media Center edition one. My suggestion: use linux to format for you

The recovery CD I got is basically just a copy of Norton Ghost and a disk image of the OS installed. It actually worked pretty well.

The 'recovery CD' is a big synonym for:

1. You don't actually own a copy of Windows XP - you own an installed image of it.
2. Everything you added to the computer since you bought it will be erased.
3. Since the driver's provided are proprietary if you have a driver problem you CANNOT go to the manufacturer of the device and get the drivers. You must go to HP or Compaq, Gateway or whatever messed up company you bought it from.
4. You cannot alter Windows in any way shape or form without using their stupid HP 'Hi I'm Bob and I'm going to help you....' wizards. Yeah Bob is a big help. He walked through the door for me, and crashed about 10 seconds later. Thanks Bob.

In a word - proprietary sucks like a big pile of poo. It's the worst invention of the century and the worst part of modern computers. Build your own or have one of the mom and pop shops in your town do it for you. It might be more costly but at least you get the CDs to all your components, your motherboard, etc,. and if you want to upgrade....just take out the old device and stick the new one in. So much simpler and you don't have to talk to someone from Tanzania or TimBuck2 to get the job done.

Be warned. Those proprietary companies integrate stuff into Windows so that it is not supported directly by Microsoft and so that your copy of Windows does not behave in the same fashion as a standard copy does. There are several lawsuits pending against these companies for these practices. I wouldn't have their crap if they paid me to take it home.