Vista Tutorial - OEM Recovery Disk or Partition?

I have a Compaq machine with HP software. My machine is running slow (it has a 2.5 rating) and four files come up missing when it boots. I would like to reinstall VISTA (or preferably XP if I can get a copy). I got the computer from a friend who does not remember what disks, if any, came with it. I have SP1 installed but I do not have a recovery disk or an original installation disk. How would I know if there was a installation or recovery disk? Would I likely get anywhere asking Compaq or HP for help? Any other suggestions?
Stephen

Hope this helps

"If you're like most PC users, you probably got Windows Vista with a new PC or laptop. And if you're like 99% of the population, you get your new machines from one of the major manufacturers. Dell, Acer, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, they all have one thing in common: they don't give you a real Windows Vista installation disc with your purchase. Instead, they bundle what they call a "recovery disc" (that's if you're lucky - otherwise you'll have a recovery partition instead) with your machine and leave it at that. It doesn't matter that you just paid a thousand dollars for a machine that comes with a valid Windows Vista license - your computer manufacturer just don't want to spend the money (or perhaps take on the responsibility) of giving you a Windows Vista installation DVD to accompany your expensive purchase.
The problem is, with Windows Vista, the installation media serves more than one purpose. It's not just a way to get Windows installed, it's also the only way of recovering a borked installation. The Windows Vista DVD has a "recovery center" that provides you with the option of recovering your system via automated recovery (searches for problems and attempts to fix them automatically), rolling-back to a system restore point, recovering a full PC backup, or accessing a command-line recovery console for advanced recovery purposes.
Microsoft seems to have realized this problem, and have thankfully made a recovery disc for this purpose. It contains the contents of the Windows Vista DVD's "recovery center," as we've come to refer to it. It cannot be used to install or reinstall Windows Vista, and just serves as a Windows PE interface to recovering your PC. Technically, one could re-create this installation media with freely-downloadable media from Microsoft (namely the Microsoft WAIK kit, a multi-gigabyte download); but it's damn-decent of Microsoft to make this available to Windows' users who might not be capable of creating such a thing on their own."


Vista 32 Recovery Disk
http://neosmart.net:6969/torrent.htm...f55ea0016f7b7b

Vista64 Recovery Disk
http://neosmart.net:6969/torrent.htm...9747c5f7eb94b5


Link

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

You should be able to use the F11 button when you first start your computer to get into the recovery to make your computer as it was brand new. Also you could go through start, all programs, pc help and tools, then click on recovery manager to reinstall vista.

I just discovered that. Thanks mate for covering for me.

Yeah I had to do that a couple of times and I have an HP Compaq computer.

As myself and many other techs have already found out,
many of the new pc's today are made up of hardware for which there are NO XP drivers and never will be.
So backing up to XP on those Vista PC's is totally impossible.
I'm specifically thinking of a little HP laptop that falls into that category.

So if you don't want Vista, buy a computer that comes with XP installed.
I just installed a cute little eMachine (Mini Desktop) last night that was purchased from Wal-Mart, with XP installed.

That's the only retail store that I personally know of that's still selling XP loaded PC's.

Good Luck,
The Shadow