Emachines T3642 Vista Recovery CD format HD

Hoping someone can help me out here! I have a Emachines T3642 (Vista) that I just bought in March 08, that did NOT come with a Recovery CD, only it did come with the Operating System Disc. I had to format the HD because the modem quit working one month after I bought it, so I installed another modem. That new modem is a US Robotics 5699B, which is causing the modem interface to ask for permission to run each time I start/restart my pc. I've downloaded the modem drivers for Vista thru USR, so it works, but then my pc started (and still is) freezing up. I thought I had to reformat my HD because I suspected a virus or spyware possibly, so I figured I would start all over. After formatting the HD, Emachines lost BigFix, Adobe Reader, Java and possibly other programs. I called Emachines and they told me I had to buy a Recovery CD for $20 because my machine and Emachines didn't provide any warnings as to not format the HD with the OS Disc.

Question is: Has anyone else had this problem with Emachines and why would my pc be freezing up now?