Vista - OEM Woes

I just got a Lenovo laptop with vista installed. First bummer: No Windows
Vista CD. Okay, that's par for the course these days. But not even a
recovery disk? Yes, I found the option to burn one, and I did so.

Second bummer: Crapware. Lenovo stocks its laptops with as much junk as HP,
Dell, or any of the other bad offenders. I've removed most of it, but what
I'd really like to do is get a clean install of an OEM copy of Vista.

Back in the days of Windows '98, there used to be a Microsoft number you
could call to order an OEM disk (at a steep discount) if you didn't get one
with your PC. Any idea whether that's still possible? Thanks.

The situation you describe is pretty much the same as it was with XP when
you buy a notebook. It's just the way it is. I always factor the cost of
buying whatever version of Windows I want into the price of a notebook and
purchase a full retail or OEM version, erase all the crap that came on the
notebook and install Windows. You have to make sure that whatever notebook
you buy has drivers available on the web. Some OEM manufacturer's will sell
you an OEM Windows CD. Most will not. Microsoft will not.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"David Veeneman" <davidv@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:uBr3uq5UHHA.4384@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I just got a Lenovo laptop with vista installed. First bummer: No Windows
>Vista CD. Okay, that's par for the course these days. But not even a
>recovery disk? Yes, I found the option to burn one, and I did so.
>
> Second bummer: Crapware. Lenovo stocks its laptops with as much junk as
> HP, Dell, or any of the other bad offenders. I've removed most of it, but
> what I'd really like to do is get a clean install of an OEM copy of Vista.
>
> Back in the days of Windows '98, there used to be a Microsoft number you
> could call to order an OEM disk (at a steep discount) if you didn't get
> one with your PC. Any idea whether that's still possible? Thanks.
>

It's absolutely ridiculous that one doesn't have the option of purchasing a
Vista DVD with one's system. The last system I purchased, I had to spend $10
on an XP CD, and I did. Unbelievable that one can't get an OS disc with
one's system. Crazy. Actionable, I should think...

Lang

"David Veeneman" <davidv@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:uBr3uq5UHHA.4384@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I just got a Lenovo laptop with vista installed. First bummer: No Windows
>Vista CD. Okay, that's par for the course these days. But not even a
>recovery disk? Yes, I found the option to burn one, and I did so.
>
> Second bummer: Crapware. Lenovo stocks its laptops with as much junk as
> HP, Dell, or any of the other bad offenders. I've removed most of it, but
> what I'd really like to do is get a clean install of an OEM copy of Vista.
>
> Back in the days of Windows '98, there used to be a Microsoft number you
> could call to order an OEM disk (at a steep discount) if you didn't get
> one with your PC. Any idea whether that's still possible? Thanks.
>