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Is there a way to reinstall Vista, or reset Vista to it's default settings so that it's like a brand new install without installation disk

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2 Answers

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You could try using System Restore to restore it to the earliest possible restore point available. This can be found by searching for "System Restore" in the start menu.

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Thank you, I can try that – Roland Oct 9 '09 at 8:20
@John T - And installations doesn't it? – GaryJL Oct 9 '09 at 8:21
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From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore , it will only revert to a previous state. It will not fully remove files. – John T Oct 9 '09 at 8:23
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Hence why my palm quickly makes it to my forehead when users try to remove viruses with system restore. It will revert files, but not remove new ones. This "feature" is there to retain new documents created by the user, so you can restore a system without losing files created recently. – John T Oct 9 '09 at 8:26
This helped, thank you – Roland Oct 9 '09 at 8:52
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Unless you have a recovery partition from your OEM, or a backup (Windows Backup and Restore, Ghost, Acronis, etc) then you need the DVD.

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+1 it's the only way. – alex Oct 9 '09 at 8:24
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The question says these are not available... – GaryJL Oct 9 '09 at 8:59

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