preinstalled Vista prob

LEDBE
N10

N10

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
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Location
Montreal
Hello everybody,
So i'd like to talk about my sister's PC which is an ACER aspire with preinstalled windows vista home premium...which is now really buggy,internet explorer and firefox lagging like some tired rat.plus i think ihave all sorts of spyware and lots of other annoying stuff.So yeah now i would like to reset the computer to the factory setting by using some program that came with the computer called acer erecovery which prompted me to make some recovery dvds from the image of windows found on my hard disk.but i was never really able to burn the DVD..so now i don't have recovery DVDs..I can hit ALT F10 during startup to get to setup window but then it asks for a password & i don't remember having made a password for that.I've looked it up online and many other users have got the same problem but no clear solution to this.so basically i want to rest the PC to factory settings and i need to find that password...which i was not able to...or do you guys/women think it's possible to reinstall everything using another vista installation DVD or ISO and using my own serial? I HATE preinstalled OS that came without installation DVDs...please help ..!thanks!
 
You're pretty much SOL unless you can get discs from the manufacturer, or you can figure out the password. Most OEM's are using their own keys nowadays so that you can't just grab any Windows disc, you need their Windows disk, with all the worthless extras.

What you could do is find a live Linux distro with spyware/malware/virus removal software, and try to use that to clean up the system. (providing that you can't do this from Windows)
 
Bottom line, Vista sucks! I bought a new computer last year with Vista with dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram and my old computer with 256k of ram and XP would smoke it in way of speed. So I returned it and ordered a new one with XP professional on it. Vista was the biggest flop in Microsoft history IMO, it's something that needs to be buried and forgotten about. So that would be my suggestion, take it to someone who programs computers, get them to wipe it clean and install 7 or XP, and be done with Vista. I have a programmer friend who did this to a laptop of mine, hooked me up with Windows XP Black, best operating system Ive used by Windows thus far.
 
i'm gonna try to find ubuntu CD and try to clean up some stuff..or maybe find the password.otherwise i'll just find another OS..fedora maybe
 
mrartillery said:
Bottom line, Vista sucks! I bought a new computer last year with Vista with dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram and my old computer with 256k of ram and XP would smoke it in way of speed. So I returned it and ordered a new one with XP professional on it. Vista was the biggest flop in Microsoft history IMO, it's something that needs to be buried and forgotten about. So that would be my suggestion, take it to someone who programs computers, get them to wipe it clean and install 7 or XP, and be done with Vista. I have a programmer friend who did this to a laptop of mine, hooked me up with Windows XP Black, best operating system Ive used by Windows thus far.
Click to expand...
You forgot about Windows ME :poke:

N10: Fedora has been my primary operating system for the last 3-4 years, and ran stable without a reboot on my server for 13+ months. They also have one of the best implementations of KDE 4 I have seen. Highly Recommended :twothumbs
 
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I haven't worked on Acer's in awhile, but according to this thread the recovery process can be initiated from Vista via Acer software that came pre-installed. Maybe this will get you out of the boot / password dilema. Or, perhaps you can download the software from Acer's support site and initiate the process. This assumes of course that the machine is running decently enough to start the process and the factory restore still exists. Seems strange to me why Acer would put a default password on a factory restore in the BIOS.

A lot of people blow away the factory recovery partition (especially on Dell's) only to need it later on when they can't find their CD. This is why I tell people that buy machines online to get the extra disks and store them as a back-up. While it would be nice for all computer makers to include a retail edition of Windows minus bloatware, it isn't going to happen. The good thing is their version includes drivers for that specific machine, which beats having to borrow somebody elses computer to download network drivers so you can get online to download drivers :sigh:

I'm not a big Vista fan and much prefer either XP/2000 or Win7. Also, most problems I run into with Vista are either driver problems or software that doesn't quite install properly. I've yet to encounter many serious virus/spyware/malware issues with Vista, and while it does happen, I find the OS far more likely to have issue for the first reasons I listed. In either case, re-installing does get you back to a working state.

'Windows Black' is a pirated version of Window I believe, which means it shouldn't be discussed here.
 
Okay ,so what happened is that i've been able to unhide the hidden partition through command prompt.nowi'm trying to find the password and maybe change it. and yes Tekno_Cowboy..i've been using fedora at school for some time and i quite like it..only problem is..my sister like windows because her applications and stuff are "more" compatible and she's used to it..i don't know why..i guess she'll have to adapt if i do swith to fedora..it's her computer though..lol:p
 
You forgot about Windows ME
Click to expand...

What about it, and what does ME have to do with the OP asking questions about Vista problem? Any time we have a thread about somebody having a windows problems we get swarmed with Linux zealots like geeks trying to pick up the last few ugly chicks before the prom.

I never had to install a single copy of Windows ME because at the time I was only involved with NT image building, which is an OS that adults used. I either had whiners and complainers back-track to 98SE, or if they were serious I'd load NT4, and show them how to use a restricted account and negate spyware issues. End of problem. If you want to have problems with Windows and spyware/malware issues, then by all means run an open account while Linux users give you bad advice.

If you want to be totally off topic and want an example of 'Epic Fail', it's none of the recent Linux distros being able to install on a couple Dell based 845Gs I support at a non profit. Seems the latest Linux kernel and installer (used by most of the distros) has a problem with the integrated video with the 845 chipset, which is likely the most prolific platform ever made. Luckily I found a supporter with an OEM XP that worked with the keys. I don't use pirated version of Windows because I don't live in my parents basement and consider it totally unprofessional.

my sister like windows because her applications and stuff are "more" compatible and she's used to
Click to expand...

Not sure what she's using specifically, but some people like to use these things called 'Applications', of which common ones like Photoshop don't run native on Linux. Or, you can spend a month in Linux / Wine forums beating your skull against the wall at which point Vista will seem a godsend. Applications > Operating Systems, and if you think the lastest Linux distros are perfect feel free to visit some Linux support forums.
 
blasterman said:
What about it, and what does ME have to do with the OP asking questions about Vista problem? Any time we have a thread about somebody having a windows problems we get swarmed with Linux zealots like geeks trying to pick up the last few ugly chicks before the prom.

I never had to install a single copy of Windows ME because at the time I was only involved with NT image building, which is an OS that adults used. I either had whiners and complainers back-track to 98SE, or if they were serious I'd load NT4, and show them how to use a restricted account and negate spyware issues. End of problem. If you want to have problems with Windows and spyware/malware issues, then by all means run an open account while Linux users give you bad advice.

If you want to be totally off topic and want an example of 'Epic Fail', it's none of the recent Linux distros being able to install on a couple Dell based 845Gs I support at a non profit. Seems the latest Linux kernel and installer (used by most of the distros) has a problem with the integrated video with the 845 chipset, which is likely the most prolific platform ever made. Luckily I found a supporter with an OEM XP that worked with the keys. I don't use pirated version of Windows because I don't live in my parents basement and consider it totally unprofessional.



Not sure what she's using specifically, but some people like to use these things called 'Applications', of which common ones like Photoshop don't run native on Linux. Or, you can spend a month in Linux / Wine forums beating your skull against the wall at which point Vista will seem a godsend. Applications > Operating Systems, and if you think the lastest Linux distros are perfect feel free to visit some Linux support forums.
Click to expand...
Wow, now who's off topic and ranting?

If you've never worked with Windows ME, good for you. I didn't work with it much myself, but I remember it being an epic fail.

I never said Linux was perfect, just that it was a good choice in several situations. Just because my experience with Linux has been good it doesn't mean it's for everyone, or that I think everyone should use it.
 
yes I have sp2

I have never used windows 7

but I keep my computer updated - bios -viddriver windows update - etc -etc

never have any pronlems with it

itis much nicer than the pos I am using right now xp

actually the keyboard on this thing sucks - not xp's fault

wireless pos
 
I have a Vista laptop that my wife mostly uses. It's been stable except for the MBR getting corrupted somehow once. I suspect it was maltreated somehow. :duh2: A quick chkdsk /r fixed that and it has been fine for over a yr since then now.

I've worked on my nieces Vista laptop when it went belly up. The hard drive went on that one. Not Vista's fault. She was instructed on proper care and usage. Couldn't read a thing off of it even when connected to another machine. Reloaded Vista on a new drive... been working fine again for months now.

The machine I'm on now is also Vista. It's about 2 yrs old and has run everything I've thrown at it. The only problems I can think of having with it are some GUI issues of it not retaining some my user settings. Like icons and view preferences in Win explorer and Control Panel. That's minor to me tho.

It's my feeling, that the growing pains of Vista was not so much different than XP. I remember many XP early adapters cursing and reverting back to 98SE because of both the hardware and/or software issues. And WPA wasn't very welcomed either. Then the SPs started coming. Given time, everything worked its way out.

Vista's increased hardware demands caused it be sluggish when installed on and older XP box that was running fine. That, and software developers had to adjust to the different way Vista handles its environment. Pretty much the same kinds of problems early XP had.

That said, is Vista perfect... no. The SuperFetch and search indexing is a bit annoying at startup, but to tell the truth, it doesn't seem the affect performance at all running programs. It just shows HD activity w/ very little CPU usage. I'm sure these can be disabled but I'd rather put up with it for the few minutes it runs if it will speed up my searches and program launching.

Early adapters of Vista that had issues at least had a nice XP Kernel'd OS to revert back to and did. It was different than the likes of 98SE to XP. XP was so much better you just had to make the switch sometime. Most everyone early gave up on Vista and just stuck with their tried and true XP till the polished Vista/Win7 came out.

Even though Vista has a small percentage of the market share, there are a lot of users out there. You hear talk like it's completely unusable or something. The Vista machines I've used and managed seem fine to me. I like it better than my XP machine, if not for the eye-candy alone. They both just work.

I haven't graduated to Win7 yet. But it seems to be the first OS since 98SE to not get a bad rap. Vista SP2 is not so bad. At least not from what I've experienced.
 
i've got the problem solved..thanks everyone for your inputs!...don't fight ..i guess you can keep the thread going and i never said linux was perfect..just that they have some advantages just like windows does..i almost always have windows somewhere when i use linux.
 
N10 said:
Hello everybody,
So i'd like to talk about my sister's PC which is an ACER aspire with preinstalled windows vista home premium...which is now really buggy,internet explorer and firefox lagging like some tired rat.plus i think ihave all sorts of spyware and lots of other annoying stuff.So yeah now i would like to reset the computer to the factory setting by using some program that came with the computer called acer erecovery which prompted me to make some recovery dvds from the image of windows found on my hard disk.but i was never really able to burn the DVD..so now i don't have recovery DVDs..I can hit ALT F10 during startup to get to setup window but then it asks for a password & i don't remember having made a password for that.I've looked it up online and many other users have got the same problem but no clear solution to this.so basically i want to rest the PC to factory settings and i need to find that password...which i was not able to...or do you guys/women think it's possible to reinstall everything using another vista installation DVD or ISO and using my own serial? I HATE preinstalled OS that came without installation DVDs...please help ..!thanks!
Click to expand...
For what it's worth (I see you fixed your problem) you might want to contact Acer for install discs. A lot of manufacturers won't include them and you have to burn them, but if you just claim the discs turned out to be corrupt and didn't work (the only way to find this out sometimes really is when it's already too late to turn back) they might send you install discs for free. Worked for me with a Thinkpad, I just had to call Lenovo and after a brief chat the media was shipped to em.

Also Vista... I used it since it was released and have used 7 since it was released (actually before since I ran the release candidate for a while too). Vista's biggest failures weren't Vista itself but stupid marketing decisions and lousy third party support. I'm not going to get in to that in detail since it's a bit OT though.
 
I assume you've tried 000000, 111111, 123456, password? IIRC, acer default PW should be 000000.

Alternatively, if you find the correct vista OEM disk (I.E. if the sticker on the bottom of your computer says vista sp2, get the vista sp2 installer) you can use the product key on the funny sticker on the bottom of the computer. Ask any buddies you have in the IT field if you can borrow one :twothumbs

Edit: oh, and make sure you doublecheck that it is an OEM builder disk.
 
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N10 said:
Hello everybody,
So i'd like to talk about my sister's PC which is an ACER aspire with preinstalled windows vista home premium...which is now really buggy,internet explorer and firefox lagging like some tired rat.plus i think ihave all sorts of spyware and lots of other annoying stuff.So yeah now i would like to reset the computer to the factory setting by using some program that came with the computer called acer erecovery which prompted me to make some recovery dvds from the image of windows found on my hard disk.but i was never really able to burn the DVD..so now i don't have recovery DVDs..I can hit ALT F10 during startup to get to setup window but then it asks for a password & i don't remember having made a password for that.I've looked it up online and many other users have got the same problem but no clear solution to this.so basically i want to rest the PC to factory settings and i need to find that password...which i was not able to...or do you guys/women think it's possible to reinstall everything using another vista installation DVD or ISO and using my own serial? I HATE preinstalled OS that came without installation DVDs...please help ..!thanks!
Click to expand...

My brother's Hateway:grin2: computer :thinking:won't let me install an OS other than the one from Hateway.

Could recovery program just be prompting you to put in disk for backup of user files prior to recovery so you still have them later?????? That's what my brother's recovery program does. I just copy the backup to a external drive in order to keep him from losing it totally later.


I'll switch to the new program when the Department of Defense switches. They are still using a previous edition of XP last I heard. I heard one of the services paid Microsoft big bucks to make a installation version with all the max security settings defaulted at installation for maximum security. Any changes are probably logged so they can go back and reset them to most secure settings.
 
N10 said:
i've got the problem solved..thanks everyone for your inputs!...don't fight ..i guess you can keep the thread going and i never said linux was perfect..just that they have some advantages just like windows does..i almost always have windows somewhere when i use linux.
Click to expand...

How did you fix it?

(And see if it will let you create DVD's now.)

By the way, the DVD creation program will only run once, but I believe you can copy the DVD's with most CD burner programs.
 
I did try "000000" didn't work.as i said before i was able to "unhide" the hidden partition on which the vista setup was and in there there's a file containing the needed password which i opened with notepad and yeah i was able to restore the computer to the factory default state.i actually found some instructions on the web which helped alot..am i allowed to just copy paste some of the steps on here?..apollo cree,do you have an acer also?I was able to burn the recovery disks after resetting the system...i hope the recovery discs will work nxt time something happens...
 
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