Why use Recovery disks which contain all of the HP bloatware which is the worst of any brand?
He can clean reinstall with the Win7 Installation DVD's I provided above and get a much superior install following the steps I gave him to clean reinstall factory OEM perfectly.
Personally, I'd take a clean install over using the recovery disks any day. For some people though, the convenience of using the recovery disks wins out. You don't have to worry about missing drivers and maybe finding some hardware that doesn't work etc. A couple of mouse clicks and swap a DVD or two in and out and you are done. It is convenient for somebody that may not be that technically inclined or intimidated by maybe having to delete the old factory install etc.
+1 for the above. Exactly my view point and I couldn't have put it any better.
Thanks for the reminder: Clean up factory bloatware
Also if it's HP it's guaranteed to have Norton on. Uninstall is not enough. You need to download the Norton removal tool and run it 3 or 4 times. Even then the system may try to load drivers that are no longer on the HD. At that point you may need to do CCleaner Registry Issues fix.Thanks for the reminder: Clean up factory bloatware
It takes longer to get rid of Norton than the rest of the bloat combined. PC-decrappifier won't do it. It just runs the uninstall.
https://www-secure.symantec.com/nort...edirect_pubweb
Thanks for the responses guys. I contacted HP but they said they don't stock the discs and would refer me to the company they get them from (so I could buy one). No thanks. I'm a bit disappointed by the lengths they'll make us go just so they can save a few pennies on a disc :-(
Anyway, rant over. Thanks a lot for posting the links to the ISO files!
I was considering downloading one off a torrent site but I'd always be worrying about whether it was full of trojans or whatever. Are these 100% legit? No chance of viruses or anything?
The link is to official Win7 ISO download. It was provided because you have a COA sticker for that version with Product Key which can be used to get the superior clean reinstall.
Follow the steps in Reinstalling Windows 7 to get a perfect reinstall of factory OEM. In particular put the wireless driver on stick or CD so you can get online quickly after install if it is not provided as most drivers will be by installer, to get newer drivers from optional Windows Update. Any drivers then missing in Device Manager can be found on the HP Support Downloads webpage for your model.
Quote