Ok, so modern PC manufacturers (along with bundling Vista) have decided to no longer include recovery media. Exceptions are Toshiba and Dell. Both include recovery discs with their machines. But if you decide to purchase one of the many other brands out there, what do you do? Go to the manufacturer and pay a premium for discs you can make yourself with a few dvd’s? Heck no. Here are some quick little tips:

For HP and Compaq: Open the START menu and go to all programs. Scroll down and you should come to a selection titled either Recovery Console, or Recovery Disc Creation. If you do not see it, you should be able to find it under PC Help and Tools. It’s going to take 3 dvd’s and a few hours, so be patient. Just click the selection and follow the instructions. It’s that easy.

For Sony Vaio: Open the START menu and go to the HELP selection. Click on it. Then go to the Sony Recovery Manager at the very bottom of the help page that opens. Click on CREATE RECOVERY DISCS. This is going to take 2 dvd’s. Follow the instructions and you’re good to go.

For Gateway: Open the Start menu and go to all programs. Scroll down until you see Gateway Recovery Manager. Click on it and follow the instructions. You’ll need 1 dvd.

For Acer: Ok, this one’s fun. Whenever you get a new Acer, you get this bar at the top. Click on the CD icon on the bar, this is the Acer eRecovery Tool. You’ll have to go through this convoluted process of creating a password just to create recovery discs. Once that’s done, go to, I think it’s either Burn Disc or Create Disc. Once there, you can create a drivers and applications disc that’s going to take 1 dvd and standard recovery discs that are going to take 2 dvd’s.

Well, I believe that’s everything. Thanks for visiting TheTechFellows.com