Windows Vista How to format and reinstall Vista?

Hi, hope everybody is doing well! I have not bought a laptop in about five years. I just purchased a Sony and I found it odd that they did not include the operating system CD or the driver cd along with the laptop. I am old school and when I bought my Dell about five years ago it came with all of this on CD.

I was told by some friends that this is how companies are doing this now.

The reason why I am asking is if I have to format and reinstall the operating system. I have had some bad luck with some spyware viruses in the past on my Dell and I would just pop the operating CD in and boot from that CD. I would delete the patrician and that would format and reinstall the operating system.

My question is how would I do this without a CD? Can someone provide the steps to doing this? I have Vista Home.

 

All manufacturers must provide a way for the user to reinstall the operating system.

As you haven’t been supplied with a DVD, there must be a recovery partition that sets the machine back to factory settings. Have a look at your documentation and/or the Sony website for instructions.

 

Thanks

Is this the norm now not to included this information on a CD or DVD?

 

Hi gobears20;

It's quite common, but some (most/all?) do allow a recovery DVD to be created (required if your HD needs replacing).

If you post the model number then I'll try to find out what options are available to you.

 

Here is the one that I got...

Model Number: VGN-AW290
Sony VAIO
Intel® Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo Processor T9800 (2.93GHz)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
8 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2)
400 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
XBRITE-FullHDâ„¢ (1920x1080)
TV Tuner
WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Extended Battery