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ziggy©

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I recently bought a PC from Ebay that came with windows 7 pre-installed.
The PC did not come a windows 7 CD or DVD. It did however come with a vista installation DVD which was the original operating system that was on the pc.

I asked the seller and he said that he does not have the windows 7 CD as it was installed by his friend.

I know from experience that i have had to format my PC at least once every 6 months. Is there a way i can format this PC and not loose the windows 7 OS?

There is no recovery partition on the PC. Is there a way i can create a windows 7 DVD from the current installation? I saw that there was an option to create a backup image but this required 750GB :thinking:

In terms of the validity of the OS, should i be worried about whether the license is genuine. I have used it for the last two weeks and have recieved updates from Microsoft which suggests that it has been activated but i am not really clued up on this activation process.
 
I've seen non legit machines revive updates. TBH it seems fishy but if it works and you don't mind using a bootleg copy I wouldn't worry, but keep in mind what ever method was used to activate it could be patched any day by Microsoft.

Your only real option is a backup image. Norton Ghost is verry good, you can backup specific folders, you can leave out your documents and what not. 750GB sounds like it wants to backup the whole drive.

Its best done when you first get the machine, preferably before you even connect it to the internet.
 
if his friend installed windows 7 but did not give him a disk or product key id say its not a legit version of windows.

windows 7 comes with a backup tool that images the system, thats what ive done on my desktop.

incidentally id like to know why you need to reinstall windows every 6 months.. simply not necessary unless youre installing and uninstalling lots and lots of software.
 
neil_g said:
incidentally id like to know why you need to reinstall windows every 6 months.. simply not necessary unless youre installing and uninstalling lots and lots of software.
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Yup... I've only ever reinstalled windows once in 11 years. We have 6 PCs with Windows here all running as they did the day they were bought....
 
ziggy©;3445314 said:
I recently bought a PC from Ebay that came with windows 7 pre-installed.
The PC did not come a windows 7 CD or DVD. It did however come with a vista installation DVD which was the original operating system that was on the pc.

I asked the seller and he said that he does not have the windows 7 CD as it was installed by his friend.

I know from experience that i have had to format my PC at least once every 6 months. Is there a way i can format this PC and not loose the windows 7 OS?

There is no recovery partition on the PC. Is there a way i can create a windows 7 DVD from the current installation? I saw that there was an option to create a backup image but this required 750GB :thinking:

In terms of the validity of the OS, should i be worried about whether the license is genuine. I have used it for the last two weeks and have recieved updates from Microsoft which suggests that it has been activated but i am not really clued up on this activation process.
Click to expand...

I would say it's not legit. You haven't been supplied with the media or a Windows 7 COA.

There are ways trick windows in to activating with OEM keys. I fear this is what has been done with your installation. :(
 
Being a second hand PC, I'd be inclined to either buy a copy on Win 7 or use the supplied Vista disc and do a full/clean install of the os.

Gives you the chance to setup/partition the hard drive to suit you and removes any remnants of the previous owner. It's being overly suspicious but they could've installed virus/phishing files on it with malicious intent
 
Thanks all for the comments. I've decided i will use the Vista CD and install a fresh copy of the OS. The reason for this is i dont know what software is on the PC. I would have loved to keep the Win 7 version but decided its not safe because i do a lot of online banking.
 
Has Windows 7 shot up in price recently?

I was going to suggest buying a geniune copy of 7 and just going for it now rather than later but it's floating at around £115 for it after a quick search. I'm sure I only paid about £60-70 for the DVD full version of Home Premium when I bought it for my brother last year and that was from PC World.

Makes the £40 I paid for a family licence of Snow Leopard a veritable bargain!
 
neil_g said:
ebuyer had OEM version of 7 home premium for 80 odd quid last week..

and OSX is cheaper due to the closed nature of the hardware therefore less development work etc.
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Good call, ebuyer £73 for it. If OP can stretch, I think I'd be thinking about going straight to the Windows 7 route.

Ah ok, but vs £73 for Windows it's not a massive chasm, whereas vs £115 it looks shocking. I'm sure this argument has been done to death, but if it was simply say £75 across the board for a boxed copy of Home Premium it would be a lot less attractive for most to download a pirated copy. So on a balance of things it maybe in Microsofts interests to drop it, at least under a 3 figure price.
 
ziggy©;3447190 said:
Thanks all for the comments. I've decided i will use the Vista CD and install a fresh copy of the OS. The reason for this is i dont know what software is on the PC. I would have loved to keep the Win 7 version but decided its not safe because i do a lot of online banking.
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Personally I wouldn't use any Microsoft operating software for banking. I dual boot with Ubuntu and do all my banking/online purchases on there.
 
On the advice of a bank manager friend, I avoid internet banking completely
 
Nod said:
On the advice of a bank manager friend, I avoid internet banking completely
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There you go everybody. Someone's mate who works at a bank says don't bank online - that's all the evidence I need. Thanks :thumbs:
 
Most online banking sites dont actually ask you to enter your password. You have to enter random characters from the password.

This is quite difficult to hack unless the virus tracks the history of characters you entered for a couple of months :)
 
Move along everyone... Nothing to see here it's just Elmer rearing his ugly head... ;)
 
neil_g said:
incidentally id like to know why you need to reinstall windows every 6 months.. simply not necessary unless youre installing and uninstalling lots and lots of software.
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Probably one of these folk that installs all manner of PCToolsSomeCrap on the PC.



JustJoe said:
Personally I wouldn't use any Microsoft operating software for banking. I dual boot with Ubuntu and do all my banking/online purchases on there.
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neil_g said:
going on the internet with windows doesnt expose all of your secrets to the world you know.

(this place really needs a rolleyes smiley)
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Overall the TP userbase seems pretty streetwise, but when it comes to computers it seems that a lot of people here are stuck in a rolling sea of stupidity... :lol:

Honestly, a rolleyes smiley isn't enough. We need an implied facepalm smiley. Extra large.
 
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arad85 said:
Yup... I've only ever reinstalled windows once in 11 years. We have 6 PCs with Windows here all running as they did the day they were bought....
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lol ... Arad, are you saying that you have six 11 year-old PCs, 5 of which are running 11 year-old Windows installations ....... perfectly? :eek:
 
Sergei said:
lol ... Arad, are you saying that you have six 11 year-old PCs, 5 of which are running 11 year-old Windows installations ....... perfectly? :eek:
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LOL - no... They were bought at different times and only ever get a first install of Windows. I did reinstall the laptop I use as a glorified terminal, but that was because I wiped all the crud off it from work (it was an ex-works PC).

What I was saying is that I've only ever had to resort to re-installing windows once (significant changes like motherboards & processors etc excepted). I don't subscribe to Windows slowing down - it's the user that slows it down by installing lots of stuff and not cleaning up after themselves ;)
 
ziggy©;3450672 said:
Most online banking sites dont actually ask you to enter your password. You have to enter random characters from the password.

This is quite difficult to hack unless the virus tracks the history of characters you entered for a couple of months :)
Click to expand...

There are quite a few ways that malware can bypass banking security.. it's fun.. banks constantly update security... AV vendors constantly update security... Malware constantly updates....

I'm ok with internet banking, but I'm very confident I would know if there was anything malicious on my computer.

it's the user that slows it down by installing lots of stuff and not cleaning up after themselves
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Yup. That said you can still get the occasional file corruption and such like.

I reinstall Windows far more than necessary, but I have my reasons :lol:

For older computers with XP on them, I would say reinstall every once in a while though, but thats if you're not maintaining it properly throughout it's use. Depends how much time the user has to fix things.
 
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oooops!!!! Did I inadvertently kick a sleeping dog here?
 
....... or am I ducking when I don't really need to?
 
I think maybe you've been comparing Meerkats a little too long.
 
I should have just replied "Yes" ;) :D
 
Don't worry about it, guys, I'm used to it - I have the same effect on women! :shrug:
i.e. I usually miss something that they've said, and even though I'm not sure they're aiming at me, I duck anyway! ;)
 
I can aim & fire :naughty:

Sent from my iPhone 4 using TP Forums
 
Well that painted an... interesting image
 
neil_g said:
seemed like a trolly dredge dig but if not then i apologise :)
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I'm currently toying with Linux (Ubuntu) and was having a read through some threads on this Forum and I misunderstood Arad's post, so I asked the (with hindsight rather silly) question - no ulterior motive was intended!
lol - IF an apology was owed, and IF it was owed to me (neither of which I'm totally sure about!) - then I of course accept it in the manner in which it is offered. :)
Now..........................what the hell is a 'trolly dredge dig' ???? ............... can I get one for a D300? ............... and will it still work if I upgrade to full-frame?? :thinking:
 
Sergei said:
Now..........................what the hell is a 'trolly dredge dig' ???? ............... can I get one for a D300?
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Yes - of course!!

Sergei said:
............... and will it still work if I upgrade to full-frame?? :thinking:
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Crikey no. What the heck are you thinking!!!!
 
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