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Thread ID: 83144	2007-09-20 22:51:00	Would this be legal?	curly (6655)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
593332	2007-09-20 22:51:00	I have an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop. It runs Vista Home premium and is an OEM version, I do not have a disk. Though it has 3 gig ram, it performs like a snail in a backwards slithering race. Somewhere round here I have a brand new copy of Win 2000 Pro, complete with all the bits of paper, certs and a serial number to stick on the comp case. Its said that SP1 for Vista might come out round mid next year and I think Vista will be a viable op system then. For this reason I do not want to just dump Vista, but could I clone Vista to an unused HDD and save it. I would keep all stickers, paperwork, certs etc. Then in place of Vista I would install Win 2000 Pro, to fill the gap till they sort out Vista. I would stick the 2000 serial number sticker next to the Vista one. I can't see why this would not be legal, but would be interested in your thoughts. Norton Ghost used to be very good at cloning HDD's, but it does not work with Vista. Any suggestions on what I could use in place of Ghost?	curly (6655)
593333	2007-09-20 22:55:00	Thats all above-board :D. You could have fun finding drivers for Win2000 though. Use Acronis, Ghost does wacky things to Vista, as you no doubt found out, judging by your post. With 3GB of RAM, it should be running reasonably well... have you got the indexing dervice and prefetch running? If so, disable those two services, and see if that makes any difference.	wratterus (105)
593334	2007-09-20 22:59:00	Gidday, No I have never tried it, but read about it somewhere. Any hints on how I disable indexing and prefetch?	curly (6655)
593335	2007-09-20 23:10:00	To disable the indexing service (or see if it's already disabled) go to the control panel/programs and features, and open 'Turn windows features on or off'. You can see it in there, it's the simple matter of unchecking a box. Turning prefetch (it's actually called superfetch in Vista, my bad) off is a tad more complicated, BACKUP THE REGISTRY Open regedit Navigate to the following registry key, and set it to a value of "0": HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnableSuperfetch A value of 1 prefetches boot processes, 2 prefetches applications and 3 is for both.	wratterus (105)
593336	2007-09-20 23:11:00	As it is an Acer there will be a recovery partition on the hard drive as well as in Vista there will be a program to create the Recovery Discs. I would create the discs as well leaving the recovery partition in tact. This way when you want to go back to Vista you can turn on the laptop and press ALT+F10 which will make it boot from the recovery partition and reinstall Vista. The recovery discs you make are a backup in case the hard drive ever fails.	CYaBro (73)
593337	2007-09-20 23:16:00	Seeing as you have a legit license I don't think it would be illegal to acquire a Vista disk. That way you wouldn't have to worry about cloning the drive and when you do decide to reinstall Vista you can do it without all the extra crap the Acer puts on their laptops. Before you go blaming Vista for you poor experience i would definitely try and kill all the pre-installed Acer crap. My Dell laptop ran like a dog until i did a clean install with my own XP disc using the Dell cd key.	Pete O'Neil (6584)
593338	2007-09-20 23:18:00	Go to control panel / admin tools / services for Indexing. Prefetch, you may have to disable in the registry somehow/where.	Speedy Gonzales (78)
593339	2007-09-21 22:07:00	As it is an Acer there will be a recovery partition on the hard drive as well as in Vista there will be a program to create the Recovery Discs. I would create the discs as well leaving the recovery partition in tact. This way when you want to go back to Vista you can turn on the laptop and press ALT+F10 which will make it boot from the recovery partition and reinstall Vista. The recovery discs you make are a backup in case the hard drive ever fails. Gidday Mate - Bloody wet in Whangarei ain't it. Good advise, thanks. Had already done the recovery disks onto DVD, but I also have a recovery set on the data partition. A back of a backup of a backup, so to speak!	curly (6655)
593340	2007-09-21 22:21:00	Gidday Mate - Bloody wet in Whangarei ain't it. Good advise, thanks. Had already done the recovery disks onto DVD, but I also have a recovery set on the data partition. A back of a backup of a backup, so to speak! Yes it is wet again! Since you have made the recovery DVDs you will be fine formating the hard drive and installing Windows 2000, just leave the recovery partition there. The problem you will have will be trying to find drivers for Windows 2000. Even Windows XP drivers could be a problem.	CYaBro (73)
593341	2007-09-21 22:26:00	Seeing as you have a legit license I don't think it would be illegal to acquire a Vista disk . That way you wouldn't have to worry about cloning the drive and when you do decide to reinstall Vista you can do it without all the extra crap the Acer puts on their laptops . Before you go blaming Vista for you poor experience i would definitely try and kill all the pre-installed Acer crap . My Dell laptop ran like a dog until i did a clean install with my own XP disc using the Dell cd key . Two points Pete, This laptop is very new and I have not had an Acer product before . Being new to it I would be reluctant to delete anything, until I have used it more, just to make sure I am not deleting something that I might need later . But I think you are right, and eventually the Acer add on stuff will go . As to cloning, again you are right, but as I am about to make significant changes to a desktop here, being able to clone its HDD would be a bonus and make the process easier .	curly (6655)
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