...but not quite.
Nearly two weeks ago, I was rolling on BitTorrent in pursuit of an important ingredient in the maintenance of most people's sanity, despite the general reluctance of the fairer sex to admit it. That's right, I was downloading porn. Not content with the wonder of RedTube and other such sites, I sought to add to the collection on my personal drives. After bringing in one particular file, I tried to view it, and got a notification that something malicious had been detected. The more I looked into it, the more frustrated I was with what I saw. The word "rootkit." Volumes of tech support forum posts containing registry entries. More safe mode boots that one should have to endure in a lifetime. Finally, after a few days without success, and with a noticeable drag on the computer's performance, I decided to proceed with the "nuclear option" - format the hard drive and reinstall the operating system.
I didn't get a copy of Windows Vista with this computer, but I did have a copy of XP Professional. In the course of my troubleshooting research, I discovered that one could not install XP onto a computer that previously carried Vista. I figured that formatting the hard drive would remove that restriction. If you know anything about computers, you know that I just committed a serious personal fail there. The hidden recovery partition - ironically enough, the "X drive" on my computer - still recalled the existence of Vista, and it couldn't be overwritten. So there I was, with neither an operating system nor a means if installing one. I called it quits for the night, a decision influenced heavily by the facts that it was already 12:30 at night and that the next day was the opening day of classes at college.
After the classes and lunch, I pondered whether to attempt to acquire Vista via the Internet, thanks to the old computer now in the use and care of my mother. I decided to instead resolve this problem by paying for a fresh copy of Vista. The first place I looked, the Wal-Mart in East Meadow, had it on sale for a hundred dollars. I wanted to at least look at Best Buy, although I highly doubted they'd come with a lower price. But when I got there, I was blown away by the number I saw - $199.99. Bitch, say what? Are somebody's synapses misfiring? You really think I'm going to pay double what Wal-Mart wants? Please. I continued on to another Wal-Mart and paid up.
Once I got home, I proceeded immediately to the install. First I tried the product key on the copy of Vista I'd bought. I was swiftly rejected, being informed that I'd have to work from a previously installed copy of Windows. Not so much an option. Had I really wasted $100 plus tax on a product I couldn't use? Only one path remained open - using the product key on the bottom of the computer. I typed it in...
...and away the installation went. In the following hours, I repeatedly gave thanks to my external hard drive. The last time I did a clean reinstall and recovery - four and a half years and two computers ago - it took nearly half a day to get everything back to normal. Having all the important stuff backed up on a single drive - including install files of several important programs - my computer had been recovered around five hours after I'd commenced the Vista reinstall. And a lot of the unimportant software that was present when I bought the thing was no more. Most certainly not a pleasant experience, and a time sink to boot, but at least I did come out a little bit ahead. Unfortunately, this might make me less inclined to upgrade to Windows 7 immediately after it comes out next month...
Nearly two weeks ago, I was rolling on BitTorrent in pursuit of an important ingredient in the maintenance of most people's sanity, despite the general reluctance of the fairer sex to admit it. That's right, I was downloading porn. Not content with the wonder of RedTube and other such sites, I sought to add to the collection on my personal drives. After bringing in one particular file, I tried to view it, and got a notification that something malicious had been detected. The more I looked into it, the more frustrated I was with what I saw. The word "rootkit." Volumes of tech support forum posts containing registry entries. More safe mode boots that one should have to endure in a lifetime. Finally, after a few days without success, and with a noticeable drag on the computer's performance, I decided to proceed with the "nuclear option" - format the hard drive and reinstall the operating system.
I didn't get a copy of Windows Vista with this computer, but I did have a copy of XP Professional. In the course of my troubleshooting research, I discovered that one could not install XP onto a computer that previously carried Vista. I figured that formatting the hard drive would remove that restriction. If you know anything about computers, you know that I just committed a serious personal fail there. The hidden recovery partition - ironically enough, the "X drive" on my computer - still recalled the existence of Vista, and it couldn't be overwritten. So there I was, with neither an operating system nor a means if installing one. I called it quits for the night, a decision influenced heavily by the facts that it was already 12:30 at night and that the next day was the opening day of classes at college.
After the classes and lunch, I pondered whether to attempt to acquire Vista via the Internet, thanks to the old computer now in the use and care of my mother. I decided to instead resolve this problem by paying for a fresh copy of Vista. The first place I looked, the Wal-Mart in East Meadow, had it on sale for a hundred dollars. I wanted to at least look at Best Buy, although I highly doubted they'd come with a lower price. But when I got there, I was blown away by the number I saw - $199.99. Bitch, say what? Are somebody's synapses misfiring? You really think I'm going to pay double what Wal-Mart wants? Please. I continued on to another Wal-Mart and paid up.
Once I got home, I proceeded immediately to the install. First I tried the product key on the copy of Vista I'd bought. I was swiftly rejected, being informed that I'd have to work from a previously installed copy of Windows. Not so much an option. Had I really wasted $100 plus tax on a product I couldn't use? Only one path remained open - using the product key on the bottom of the computer. I typed it in...
...and away the installation went. In the following hours, I repeatedly gave thanks to my external hard drive. The last time I did a clean reinstall and recovery - four and a half years and two computers ago - it took nearly half a day to get everything back to normal. Having all the important stuff backed up on a single drive - including install files of several important programs - my computer had been recovered around five hours after I'd commenced the Vista reinstall. And a lot of the unimportant software that was present when I bought the thing was no more. Most certainly not a pleasant experience, and a time sink to boot, but at least I did come out a little bit ahead. Unfortunately, this might make me less inclined to upgrade to Windows 7 immediately after it comes out next month...
- Location:Northport, NY
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kingpin248- Matt Carberry
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I absolutely HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE recovery partitions and the ENTIRE CONCEPT of them. They're reasonably handy until you remember that the first component in a computer to mechanically fail will almost always be the hard disk, taking your only recovery partition with it... all to save what, the pennies it costs a manufacturer to slip a DVD - which you should rightfully be entitled to in the first place - into the box?!?
Recovery partitions, virii, spyware, malware, rootkits, drivers, the registry, pre-loaded crapware installed at the factory, etc... all perfectly good reasons to jump ship for Mac dude. Not to mention Apple has never put a freaking lame-ass CD key restriction on any consumer OS disc that they've shipped.
I also love how the flavor of Windows still preferred by most PC people I know (XP, by a mile) still boots to a 16 color, all ASCII DOS window to format the hard disk before the install gets rolling. Just awesome.
Oh, as far as your unfortunate episode with having to purchase Vista goes, I wonder if the two stores you visited were selling two different versions for such vastly differing prices?? There's like seven or eight different freaking versions of Vista. I'm sorry, but that's just absurd. One of the great things that I love about the Mac is that whether you own a $999 Macbook or a $6,000 Mac Pro, you use the same OS.
Come on over dude. Think Different. You'll be stoked.
...In the meantime though, do yourself an hour's worth of reading about Ubuntu Linux. It's a really polished Linux OS that you can install on fifty PCs if you want, unrestricted, for free. No virii, no spyware, no nonsense... just good, clean, streamlined productivity. :)
I'm glad that you got this all fixed and straightened out for now. I'm proud. :)
The "just works" argument has an easy response - the very existence of the Genius Bar at every Apple store. If Apple products "just worked," one of my best friends wouldn't have his current job.
This argument also kind of shoots itself in the foot on the price comparison. Is $999 really the cheapest MacBook? Maybe it might have been worth it seven months ago when I was in the market for a new computer, but after having sunk the $400 into this one, I'll run it until it irrevocably breaks down.
The stores could have been selling different types of Vista. The one I bought at Wal-Mart was an upgrade version, hence why I had to use the product key from off the bottom of the computer. And I didn't necessarily have to buy it; I probably could have contacted Toshiba and had them send me a reinstall disk, but I chose to proceed to the quickest solution, and that involved laying out some cash.
All this said, there is one overwhelming knock on Vista - despite being over two and a half years old, its predecessor is still three times more popular.