dirty install....

I was time constrained and antsy when my hp upgrade kit came. Did a dirty install, now want to start over. I was dumb and did not make 'recovery disks'. I do have the hp recovery directory copied to a separate hard drive now, after the upgrade. I also have a licensed full version of MS Office H&S, but no disk. Thanks HP. I do have the key code however.

I'd like to know what I can do to get back to a clean install, and if I can get MS Office onto it also. I've read most of the tutorial in detail, but don't know if my embarassing predicament has really been covered.

Thanks!

Welcome to clean reinstall. These are the challenges we face when we attempt to overcome the sponsored bloatware that manufacturers have come to enforce, since it provides most of their profit margin nowadays. Now even to get ahold of a clean copy of OS DVD is a challenge for many, but fortunately MS has forced manufacturer's to provide one in the Upgrade Kits; they know their OS runs better without the bloatware.

I would call MS Office tech support and ask for the CD to reinstall with your license, or borrow or locate one otherwise. You can read all of your license keys by running Belarc Advisor hard/software audit. There should be HP apps/drivers you may need on their Support Downloads page for your model. Many makers include a drivers/apps CD with the Win7 Upgrade kit.

Adobe flash/Reader and Java runtime/free compatible Ofc suite are at their sites.

Wonderful advice here, clean install done, Office loaded, all is good. Need the hp osd for the volume slider is all, and looking for it now...thank you, thank you, thank you!

After dissing HP I dug through the discs and papers and folders, etc. and the actual licensed office disk was in hiding! So that made me brave enough to go ahead with the install. Event viewer says boot time is still getting shorter, and sometimes no errors or anything. I had an unknown device object, which was the hard drive protector. All is good for now.
thanks!