My laptop has in recent month been getting slower & slower, despite carrying out numerous scans and repairs checks using software including McAfee & Spotmau.
As a final resort I was advised to wipe the hard disk clean. Using Spotmau, I first cloned my laptop's hard drive to a new external hard drive, then using Spotmau's disk wiper software, I wiped my hard drive clean.
However, when I tried to clone the remote drive back to my laptop it failed. Spotmau support have been trying to rectify this for over two weeks without success. So I need to purchase Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 Bit, because my Dell Laptop, which I purchases in New York, came with Windows already installed, but without a Windows disk.
The prices I am seeing on the Internet of nearly 200 GBP makes me think it may be more prudent to simply buy a new laptop, especially since my current laptop in almost 3 years old.
Does anyone know where I can buy Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 Bit for no more than 200 GBP?
If you had Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 Bit on there previously and you download a clean (unmodified) OEM Dell version of exactly the same it will just validate in the normal way without any need to enter a key.
Surprised you lot did not know that. ;)
That said, if the recovery partition is still intact I would restore it that way. Have a look HERE to see if this helps.
I can only assume that somebody told you "wipe the operating system, clean the hard drive and then replace the operating system".
It sounds like this is exactly what you were attempting to do.
What they should have told you was to either RESTORE your laptop to it's factory settings using the dell factory restore process (If that is what you have on your laptop) or do a CLEAN INSTALLATION of windows 7 (not helpful if you do not have the disks)
Dell should be able to provide you with a replacement disk for the operating system (it should have come with one) however you will run into the problem that Dell (USA) will not ship to France. If you call Dell France they will supply you with the US version of your original operating system - you may even be able to download it - and Dell France are very helpful (if you speak French). I had to do this a couple of years back and it worked out fine. BUT they only work 9 - 5 M-F !
James, Howard and so have been suggested and here are the links to the downloads. You can easily complete each of the three Linux operating systems then install from a USB stick, do not even need a CD. You have to boot to USB only change the BIOS. And, it is guaranteed to restore your data from the external drive again. Also UNIX it sooo much faster then DOS because it is using lot less resources. Also, before you are getting used to WIN 7 or 8, you can change right away to these better OS:
Ubuntu 12.10 http:/www.ubuntu.com/download comes with most basic software, photo & video editing etc must be downloaded, but is for free. I'm using this Linux Version because a photo editing software is working best on this OS.
You don't have to use all this intrusive anti-virus like on Windows. Opensource software is checked by thousands of people and if any software has backdoors of malware included, a shitstorm would be the result, so you are full in control. However, what ever you use when you choose Linux: you will need "bleechbit" (its like CCleaner for Windows) and you should encrypt at least your home-folder straight from the beginning (don't forget to note down the code).
If you now can not download because your laptop is flat, send a PN to get a CD.
Do you know if you wiped the main partition (usually C:) or the complete hard drive? As Howard Perry has already mentioned, many manufacturers these days include a "Recovery Partition" separately on the hard drive. This could get you up & running quickly (& free!) if it wasn't touched by the wipe procedure. I suggest you take a look at the options that are shown in the technical screen that appears when the machine first starts up. These usually appear on the bottom line & you may see something like F8 - Recovery, although it may be F3 or one of the other F numbers. Don't worry if this screen disappears - just power off, usually by holding the power button, & then power on again. The idea is to press that F(unction) key whilst the message is visible; if the recovery partition is intact, pressing the correct F key will recreate the main (C:) partition as it was when it was new. (Sometimes you have to press & hold the F key for a while to make this work.)
If you need any help with this, or if it doesn't resolve the problem, please email me your phone no. & I'll try to talk you through some alternative (free) approaches to the issue. You can reach me by combining satprof gmail at .com in a sensible sequence.
Do you have to use Windows? There are a few free alternatives such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu, you can try these out first using a flash drive. I recently installed Mint on a laptop and it was very straightforward.
Can you not "unwipe" the hard disk using Spotmau? It's the thing these days to supply PCs with everything pre-installed and without a Windows setup disk. I bought an Acer 4 years ago and I had the same problem. I copied my files to external disk and then reinitialised laptop HD in pre-windows setup using a control key sequence, which I obtained from acer. Dell should have info on how to do this. It wipes the disk except operating system and then you need to install all your programs again.
A new computer is not much more than GBP200. Alternatively, you could install Linux, also considerably less than Windows.
You could try an OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. It's considerably cheaper, but comes with a couple of caveats. You can install it on only one computer -- if you replace your PC, you'll need to buy another copy. Also, there's no support from Microsoft. In theory, it's supposed to be used only by "system builders" who sell the computer they've installed it on and provide any support that's necessary. In practice, Amazon and other outlets are happy to sell you a copy. It installs without any problems in the same way as the "full retail" version does. The internet is full of discussions about Microsoft's labyrinthine and changing terms and conditions covering OEM versions. It's worth reading a few of the comments and then making up your mind. It's a grey area, but in reality there shouldn't be a problem.