Your PC manaufacturer is obliged to give you an option whereby, should your
operating system fail, you can re-install that operating system. There are
basically three options:
1/ A set of recovery disks
2/ A hidden partition on your hard drive
3/ A complete copy of the windows operating system (OEM)
Number 1 and 3 you obviously don't have otherwise you wouldn't be asking the
question here, so the other possibility is option 3, the hidden partition.
Check your pc manual to see if there are instructions on how to create a
backup disk from the hidden partition. This is pretty straightforward, but
does depend upon who manufactured the pc.
Alternatively, if you are not sure, either telephone or email the pc
manufacturer technical support department and ask for advice. HP, Dell,
Packard Bell are the kind of companies which usually put the operating system
copy on a hidden partition.
Just as an aside to your original question you might also like to purchase
disk imaging software such as Acronis True Image, so you can keep your system
up to date in case the operating system fails. Remember Microsoft are
constantly supplying updates for Windows, these will not be available on the
backup partition/disk your pc manufacturer supplied. With disk imaging
software you can image the disk at any time, either to a partition or a set
of DVDs and you will always have a relatively recent copy of your operating
system. Just a little something to think about!
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User
Web:
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org
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