System Restore from Hidden Partition Procedure

Hi,

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop with Windows 7. Note: I also have
the same, but I don't use mine on the internet.

Her computer is "fouled up", she said. With her permission, I plan
on bringing her laptop home. Remove the HDD and place it in a USB docking
station connected to my computer so I can copy data files that she wants onto
a USB flash drive. Afterwards, put the HDD back into her laptop and
use a System Restore from the hidden partition to restore her laptop to the
condition it was in when it was new.

Note: I have been involved with computers since the beginning of the
1980s. I never did this type of "system restore".

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thank You in advance, John

wrote on 10/28/2015 3:25 AM:
Hi,

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop with Windows 7. Note: I also have
the same, but I don't use mine on the internet.

Her computer is "fouled up", she said. With her permission, I plan
on bringing her laptop home. Remove the HDD and place it in a USB docking
station connected to my computer so I can copy data files that she wants onto
a USB flash drive. Afterwards, put the HDD back into her laptop and
use a System Restore from the hidden partition to restore her laptop to the
condition it was in when it was new.

Note: I have been involved with computers since the beginning of the
1980s. I never did this type of "system restore".

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thank You in advance, John


I would think it's pretty straight forward, but never done it.

Once you do it, and first get all updates to Win7 done, I would then load something like Macrium Reflect and make a
virgin image. That restore partition is useless if her drive goes up. Also the time to restore & update etc is more
involved than just dropping an image back on the drive.
You could hold onto the image for her if you have space. Then load her data & pgms.

I do this for my sister. But this is just one option.

| I never did this type of "system restore".
|
| Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?
|

It's designed to be very simple. You might just
have to look up the key needed at boot. Sometimes
Delete, sometimes F2, sometimes F12, etc. If it
doesn't show on the boot screen you can look
it up online.

Once you boot into the restore menu you just
select that option and let it proceed. The result will
be like the day you bought the computer.
Unfortunately, that also means added software will
be gone and any Dell shovelware will be back. So
there are two good reasons to make a disk image
once you get it all set up:

1) You'll have a restore of the system you want
and not just the system Dell gave you.

2) You'll have a restore that can be used even if the
hard disk dies.

On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:25:59 +0000, jaugustine wrote:

Hi,

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop with Windows 7. Note: I also
have
the same, but I don't use mine on the internet.

Her computer is "fouled up", she said. With her permission, I
plan
on bringing her laptop home. Remove the HDD and place it in a USB
docking station connected to my computer so I can copy data files that
she wants onto a USB flash drive. Afterwards, put the HDD back into
her laptop and use a System Restore from the hidden partition to restore
her laptop to the condition it was in when it was new.

Note: I have been involved with computers since the beginning
of the
1980s. I never did this type of "system restore".

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thank You in advance, John

First, if it's not too late leave the hd where it is. You can simply make
a live Linux USB and use that. Keep the stick, comes in handy. I use
Puppy, it's small and works well, but any light distro will work.
You might also make yourself a standalone virus checker. There are a
number out there, but I use AVG rescue since it will reliably update it's
definitions if you have an Internet connection, not sure about WIFI.
If she has system save enabled, you might be able to use an earlier
restore point. Going back to day one might mess up some installed
programs or things like registration.

In article ,
lid, FredW says...

On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:25:59 +0000, wrote:

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop with Windows 7. Note: I also have
the same, but I don't use mine on the internet.

Her computer is "fouled up", she said. With her permission, I plan
on bringing her laptop home. Remove the HDD and place it in a USB docking
station connected to my computer so I can copy data files that she wants onto
a USB flash drive. Afterwards, put the HDD back into her laptop and
use a System Restore from the hidden partition to restore her laptop to the
condition it was in when it was new.

Note: I have been involved with computers since the beginning of the
1980s. I never did this type of "system restore".

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

After reinstall, run this program:

- PC Decrapifier Free
https://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

to remove all trialware and other promotional (useless) crapware.

No isntall, just run.

I like "Should I Remove It" - wondering if you've tried that, as a
comparison to PCDecrapifier ?

http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/index.aspx

--
Duncan.

On 10/28/2015 12:59 PM, dave61430 wrote:
On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:25:59 +0000, jaugustine wrote:

Hi,

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop with Windows 7. Note: I also
have
the same, but I don't use mine on the internet.

Her computer is "fouled up", she said. With her permission, I
plan
on bringing her laptop home. Remove the HDD and place it in a USB
docking station connected to my computer so I can copy data files that
she wants onto a USB flash drive. Afterwards, put the HDD back into
her laptop and use a System Restore from the hidden partition to restore
her laptop to the condition it was in when it was new.

Note: I have been involved with computers since the beginning
of the
1980s. I never did this type of "system restore".

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thank You in advance, John

First, if it's not too late leave the hd where it is. You can simply make
a live Linux USB and use that. Keep the stick, comes in handy. I use
Puppy, it's small and works well, but any light distro will work.
You might also make yourself a standalone virus checker. There are a
number out there, but I use AVG rescue since it will reliably update it's
definitions if you have an Internet connection, not sure about WIFI.
If she has system save enabled, you might be able to use an earlier
restore point. Going back to day one might mess up some installed
programs or things like registration.

I'm not a big fan of restoring to as sold from the hidden partition.
The work involved to get the PC back to a usable condition is a huge
time sink. Duplicate (Clone) the HD is a first choice and first step
after determining if it's really necessary to make a major effort.
The Linux suggestion and Linux based utilities and malware checkers
Are one of several usually successful methods.
I've usually had good results without such extreme measures.