Windows 7 laptop

She bought this laptop. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Compaq-15...Processor-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium/19716578 I don't know for sure what she did to it but it is pretty messed up. Instead of taking it to a shop, she fed-exed it to me. There is no restore cd or paper documents. I don't know Windows 7 either. There are a whole lot of preinstalled programs on it that are not wanted.

I can go to a computer store here and get a recovery cd for Windows 7 but I honestly believe that it would be better to install XP since I have 2 extra keys. Then we don't have to learn anything new and I can help easier when problems do arise. PLUS it will get rid of Norton in one fell swoop. Is this something that I can do without tearing my hair out? Or should I suck it up and learn Windows 7?

Thanks for reading.

 

Well, having used Windows 7 for almost 2 years, I sure would not want to go back to Windows XP.

I'm assuming the hard drive has a recovery partition on it which contains an image of the system as it was when new. Try hitting F11 right after turning on the power. That should start a recovery from the recovery partition. If you can't get a response during startup by hitting F11, another option is to order a system disc (DVD) from HP. A fee applies but it's not very expensive and makes much better sense then installing Windows XP, in my opinion. For some info, see: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...0334&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

 

I went to get a sandwich and the laptop was still on the back of my wheelchair. The pawn shop guy was also at the sandwich shop and asked me what I was up to. I explained about the laptop and he found the place to click to restore to factory settings. So in a few minutes it will be like new again. Thank you much for the link. I will go ahead and order a recovery cd from HP as well.