I am looking at an e-machines (
yes, I know!) laptop for a friend.
The registry appears to be corrupted (over 1000 errors with most registry fixing utilities).
I am getting a blue stop screen and the machine just reboots itself for ever.
There are no viruses detected and there is no problem with the hardware (boots into safe mode fine, disk is fine, memory is fine)
From what I have read on the web there are only 2 solutions;
1. Recover with backup disks (none
)
2. reinstall Vista from the OS DVD.
The questions I have for option 2 are;
The system has French Vista installed.
If I find a copy, does it just overwrite what is already there (like XP)?
I have English Vista available - can I install this bearing in mind this is a laptop with an AZERTY keyboard? (I know all the utilities will be in English, but installed programs will be in French)
What about upgrade to Windows 7? How will that effect the drivers etc on the system? I know you have to pay e-machines if you do not have these.
Any help is gratefully received
Regards
Alex

The registry appears to be corrupted (over 1000 errors with most registry fixing utilities).
I am getting a blue stop screen and the machine just reboots itself for ever.
There are no viruses detected and there is no problem with the hardware (boots into safe mode fine, disk is fine, memory is fine)
From what I have read on the web there are only 2 solutions;
1. Recover with backup disks (none

2. reinstall Vista from the OS DVD.
The questions I have for option 2 are;
The system has French Vista installed.
If I find a copy, does it just overwrite what is already there (like XP)?
I have English Vista available - can I install this bearing in mind this is a laptop with an AZERTY keyboard? (I know all the utilities will be in English, but installed programs will be in French)
What about upgrade to Windows 7? How will that effect the drivers etc on the system? I know you have to pay e-machines if you do not have these.
Any help is gratefully received
Regards
Alex