Ok guys heres the deal. I am a student ...between classes but still study all day. Don't have much money until I get employed. Cannot purchase a new operating system at the moment but having problems with it.

Necessary system files got deleted (long story) and I need to re-install my system. I googled it could not find it anywhere. A Vista operating system that is. I have an external HDD that I am assuming I can burn an image onto to boot from .. correct??? A partition is set aside for such a thing. Though I have not had much luck booting from something connected to a USB (any ideas on why this is???...it has never worked for me... I am guessing from the boot sequence in BIOS that the USB is not properly or recognizably named for some reason..only thing I can think of).

The problem is I need a copy of Vista Home Premium in order to re-install. From there I can back up from my HDD if I want to. Can anyone give me a hand that knows how to do this??? Microsoft no longer services software such as a download for an image to burn of Vista. I have no idea where I can find a good copy of Vista Home Premium.

And no I cannot currently do a system restore... again long story..

Little help please.

:)

My vista system was stolen a year ago. I think your only hope is to find someone with one and have them send you their disk or burn a copy for you. Wish I could help.

Every Operating system has a unique id key... so the software is somewhat valueless without the key.
If you right click on on the button that says "Computer" in the start menu... or any "Computer" icon. It will bring up a drop down menu. From there scroll all the way down to properties and click it. This will take you to a system information screen (assuming your on WIndows..any version I am pretty sure)... On this screen it will give you your unique key for the operating system. The key I have. I simply need the software for it.

While it's considered immoral, in case you're left with no options and no help, I suggest torrenting a copy of Vista (though I suggest XP or Windows 7).
A torrented OS usually comes with a keygen or crack that will generate a key. In many cases it's precracked so you will not need to enter a key.

See here the thing.. I like XP and 7 is Ok... However I have a Vista Key..not sure that it will operate on a different Windows version....


You bring up a good point with the torrent downloads... I have used Phex and File something or other... have not had much luck though they are supposed to be similar to Frostiwre , Limewire and Napster type of file sharing... I am going to design a networking client for the gnuttella network here shortly... part of my online computer science project... the protocol is complex such as requesting a file and it travels the network before returning with the results... not the easiest I have done so far...but until then I am stuck with file sharing cleints as such...


what one is working these days for you????? do have a link to the site for it???

If your initial system files are damaged you wont be able to get a system image of Vista without looking around for quite a while, which will take a considerable amount of time.

Do any of your friends have a copy which you can borrow and install? Is the software that you are running absolutely necessary?

I had a desktop computer which had Vista natively installed on the system with on board system recovery. However part of my course requires me to experiment with different OS systems, so I installed a copy of Linux Ubuntu onto the desktop, which is free and has lots of support on the forums if you get stuck.

To summarize, if you absolutely have to have a replacement copy of Vista, either borrow a copy from a friend or use a torrent, though the latter is not recommended. What happened to the original installation disk?

If you can live without some of the Windows software, then switch over to Linux Ubuntu, the OS and all supporting software is free, so you don't have to worry about straining your current budgets. If you need compatibility with Windows software there is also the WINE emulator.

Hope that helps..

Actually I went ahead and installed my XP home edition on it. I wanted to keep Vista on because it is the only one that I have a key for. I don't know if the key will work on my XP version or not....it might...

still have a couple issues with that lap-top but as far as practicing network programming on it it will work...until I can get some needed hardware for it ( needs a fan...should be good hardware practice aye )...

my operating system was running kind of funny ...it kept jumping up for some un-known reason and staying at like 100% processing power for a long time... it was like something running in the background that did absolutly nothing that I could see... but the new install fixed it... just a couple minor problems and its good to go...


do you know any good file sharing networks off the top of your head????

This is an important question... I have had a hard time getting my usualy ones to work...not too familiar with the torrent ones...the one time I tried it it worked once out of like ten times and I did nothing differently...

If you have a bad fan, it's probably overheating. That's not good for the components at all.

I know especially on a lap-top because it is so compact compared to towers... It will get fixed though just need to get it a replacement...

The overheating could cause the computer to act goofy. You can also do damage to components, if you let them overheat too much.

Yes I know Totage... that is one of thew main reasons that one should not overclock a lap-top becuase the components are so close together and additional cooling is not exactly possible to do for a lap-top so much as a desktop...

more importantly however do you know of a good file sharing client that is out there until I can make my own??? In my computer science class a gnuttella network client is in the mix but it is a ways off... until then I am stuck with my choices from search engines (never know what your going to get).. do you know one of the top of your head that is solid and works well???

Start reading here perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrostWire

At the end of the article there are links to

Comparison of bitorrent clients and
Comparison of Gnutella software

simply put iff u have to use windows get win 7 its far better then pista. If u dont care get PCLinuxOS far better then any windows os and its free for life . Its linux. Its easier to use and alot less crashing. Way more stable. Oh yeah again I say its free. you have to burn the cd /dvd from iso image

http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/pclinuxos/live-cd/pclinuxos-kde-2012.02.iso

Yes, Linux/UNIX is the way to go! 10 foot tall and practically bullet proof! Windows is trash really. Just think...If Gates had not been touring the IBM factory at the time he did he may have never even seen the windows program IBM had, and I guess sold to him, cause it did not work. Well in their opinion it did not work. and we may not even have the hallmark name of widows now...haha maybe the world would be a better place..LOL. I also don't think Gates put to much into it before releasing it out to the public either....hence why it is a bucket with 150 holes in it :)

actually he started by making ooks on Amiga basic which is true unix gui from ground up. Gates doesnt know how to program he stole it from a guy and then leased it to IBM when he didnt own it. So in all truth we dont have to buy anything that is mickysoft. To top it off he uses one Amiga without a hardrive and 2megs of ram to control his whole house. He is a member of Amiga users group in Sacramento and owns several Amigas and no pcs=macs.
Amiga is the best OS / hardware there is . Linux was invented on an Amiga 3000 to get people over to Amiga. It took IBM and Sony and Intel to do that. The PS3 is a direct clone of the Amiga. We Won