On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:14:01 -0800, Dave Ditner <Dave
Bought a used laptopwith XP pro installed.
If I bought a used computer, the first thing I would do with it would
be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the
computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly,
what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I
wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems,
possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone
else do either.
Was fine for a month or so, now
on start up I get this message \Windows\System32\Config\System. is corrupt or
missing. Install disc.....
I have no disc. Can I use any XP pro disc? Can I buy a repair disc? What
will work? I do have another computer that I can download and burn from.
You need a valid license. As with all other versions of Windows, a
single copy is licensed for a single computer, and you can't use what
is on your other computer. You need to buy a copy for this machine.
You can buy a retail Full version, a retail Upgrade, or an OEM
version. I always recommend against OEM versions. I recommend that you
buy a retail upgrade version from a reputable discount source. You can
buy an OEM version instead, but it's usually only slightly cheaper
than an upgrade version, and the small difference in price isn't worth
having the disadvantages of an OEM version, the most severe of which
is that once installed, it can never legally be moved to another
computer, even if the original one dies.
By the way, contrary to what many people think, the requirement to use
an upgrade version is to *own* a previous qualifying version's
installation CD, not to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a
previous qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to insert
its CD as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous version's CD,
and follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and quite
legitimately.
Most people own a CD of a previous version, but if you don't you can
buy a used copy inexpensively someplace like eBay.
There is no such thing as a "repair disk."
