I have purchased an Acer and was wondering if I can uninstall all the bloatware using PC Decrapifier and Add/Remove Programs, create an imae with Norton Ghost and use this as my backup dvd image rather than Acer's recovery partition. My goal is to get a perfect clean image without junk. Any input from Acer users would be appreciated.

If I was doing that I'd probably do a fresh install. If you don't wanna use the recovery partition there's no point having it so run set up, repartition the drive so you can access the extra space and then take an image of the clean install. Just my opinion... others may vary...

Do you have a proper Vista DVD that came with your PC or is the recovery partition the only thing you have?

If you have a Vista DVD with the full OS on it without the Acer crap, then Shuck is right. (Uninstalling always leaves orphan files and other problems behind. Fresh install is much better.) His point about deleting the recovery partition also makes sense if you have the Vista DVD handy and will never need the Acer recovery.

If you DON'T have a Vista DVD, then I understand why you want to do what you want to do, with uninstalling the crap and imaging the drive, because it's the closest you can get to a clean install. However, if you don't have a Vista DVD, keep the Acer partition intact so down the road if you change your mind or need your Acer factory install back, it's there for you.

I don't have a VISTA dvd, just the partition. So you think at this point it is better to keep the partition then in case I need it?

This is what i would do. Go online download Vista Home Premium ISO from bitorrent and use your OEM key to activate Windows. It will work and it's perfectly legal as long as you are using your OEM product key that came with your system. See in Windows people don't pay 200+ bucks for the OS disc they pay 200+ bucks for the product key, which is why if you lose your product key you have to pay 200+ dollars again to get another one.

In a word... yes!

Once I thought I was wrong, now I'm not so sure!

is there a simple way to restore windows vista home premium to its original factory settings without any disks?

Like in what way, are you talking about viewing purposes?

I'm assuming you mean just a standard install of vista without any programs or anything installed and basically the answer is no... you have two options, the recovery partition or use a vista dvd. Now, did you get a vista upgrade dvd with your computer or I'm sure if you ask around you will know someone who has. It also can be used to perform a fresh install of vista.

I did get a Vista upgrade dvd with my laptop. I thought that was just simply an upgrade. I was able to run a key lifter program an find my key within VISTA (it was differnet than the key on the bottom of my laptop.) Can I use the upgrade dvd to format and e-install with this key?

Cobra_R : I did'nt think you could use a OEM key on a retail version. There are keys for OEM specifaclly no?

Thanks,

booboo

Install Vista from upgrade DVD:

http://apcmag.com/5223/vista_upgrad...

There is no diff between an OEM and Retail version of Vista, the only difference is the Product Key licence and what version you can install it on.

When you install an OEM Product Key you can no longer use it again on any other pc. With a Retail Product Key you can use it on another PC as long as you uninstall it from the last pc you were using it on first.

You can't you use a Vista Home Premuim 32bit OEM Product Key on a Vista Home Premuim 64bit version, but you can with a Retail Product Key regardless if it's Vista Home Premuim 32bit or 64bit.

As long as you use a Vista Home Premuim 32bit version then it doesn't matter, because your OEM Product key is for Vista Home Premuim 32bit.