Windows Vista Recovery Disks after program deletion

I have a used Compaq machine that has third party software like "Magnetic Mail" that is full of whistles and bells. Also it has useless programs like, "Internet Connections ", "Norton 60 day trial" etc. I want to remove these programs and want to know if I should make new "Recovery Disks ". I am new to Vista and think the recovery is from "D:\" drive.
Thank you.

 

Hi oldbear,

More is better, talking about recovery. There are several things called recovery, however. What is called recovery from the D: drive just returns the computer to factory fresh condition, and that's fine for the first few days. But after you remove all the garbage software you mention, you'll not wish to re-install it if a problem arises. What most of us do to avoid that situation is use an imaging program that makes an image of the computer's main drive in its current state. Norton's Ghost is widely used as is Acronis Trueimage also.

I make the image from D: first, then clean up the computer and afterwards make a new image with Ghost. Then, after a change such as installing a new program, I make another, and so on.

As a general rule, all images should be stored on a separate disk such as a DVD or external Drive.

I don't use other backup programs, but system restore is left on for emergencies.

 

Thank you. That is what I thought but wanted to be sure.